A stair lift is a piece of home medical equipment that is used to carry people up and down the stairs. They are often called stair chairs because they frequently use a chair that is attached to a set of rails in order to transport a seated individual across the distance of the stairs. They do however make some models that utilize a small platform instead of a chair. The units themselves typically attach to the steps, and are found in several different shapes and sizes. For people with straight staircases, the installation is fairly straight forward and simple. Curved stair cases prevent a much more complicated installation and are much more expensive.
When you purchase a stair lift for a straight stair case, the rail system is cut to fit your specific stair case length. As long as you do not have abnormally narrow stairs, this is really the only custom part of your stair lift. When dealing with curved stairs, however, the whole track must be custom built to fit your specific stair case. Since there is no standard when it comes to curved stair cases, you will have to have a professional installer come and measure your stairs. The turn around time to build the custom track is usually anywhere from 1 ½ months to 3 months.
The fact that your track must be custom built translates into much higher costs for the consumer. A curved stair lift can easily cost in excess of $15,000. In addition they have little or no resale value. This is because every stair case is a little different; it is incredibly unlikely that you will be able to use it on any stair case with the exception of the one it was built for. This means that if you decide to move, in addition to not being able to sell it, you will not be able to put it in your new home.
In some instances it is actually possible to install 2 straight stair lifts in the place of 1 curved stair lift. This will save the consumer tremendous amounts of money, but is only possible on some types of stair cases. If your stair case features a landing halfway down, and if the stair case is 'L' shaped then it may be possible to use two stair lifts. If the curved stair case can be divided into 2 straight staircases, then it is possible to get away from the large costs associated with a curved stair lift.
If you have no other recourse than to get a curved stair lift, you will want to do a good deal of research before you commit to a specific model. Since you can expect to wait at least 6 weeks from the time you order it to the time they finish building it, you should resist the urge to purchase one just to get the ball rolling. Instead it is better to take your time and carefully find a company that has good reviews, both in the quality of their product, but also their responsiveness to customer needs. Curved stair lifts have notoriously been prone to mechanical problems, so ensure that you have found a dealer that provides a very good warranty as well.