While for a great many homes, the straight stair lift will be a very cost effective way to increase safety, without requiring any major home modification, they are only designed for straight staircases. This means if you have a curved staircase, you might have to purchase a curved stair lift. This can be very expensive and incredibly time consuming.
The reason a curved stair lift is so much more expensive is because it must be custom made to fit the staircase. Since there is no standard way that curved staircases are built, a professional contractor will have to come to your home and measure your staircase.
After the measurements are complete, it can take well over two months for the lift to be built alone, but it still needs to be professionally installed. A curved stair lift usually costs at least a ten times more than a traditional straight stair lift.
You also have to be extremely careful about who you buy from. Many companies take old curved stair lift tracks and bend them, so that they will fit your staircase. This is very dangerous, because when they bend the track it becomes much weaker and more unstable.
One way to tell is the cost of the stair lift and how long it is covered by warranty. If they are bending the track, then they usually only ensure it for about a year, because they know it is no longer built to last.
Even though curved stair lifts are exceptionally expensive, they have very little resale value. This is because the track will only work with staircases that have the exact same measurements. This means unless you know of someone with an identical staircase, your curved stair lift will have a very low resale value.
In some cases, it might be possible to save a good deal of money by installing two straight stair lifts. This can be done instead of going with the curved stair lift. If you have a staircase that has a ninety degree bend in it, is shaped like an 'L,' and has a landing, this method might work for you.
One stair lift will be installed onto each of the legs of the staircase and while this means you will have to switch stair lifts halfway down, but you can easily save over $10,000. In addition to saving all that money, you can also have your stair lift up and ready to go in less than a week, instead of having to wait over two months for your curved stair lift.
Our highly trained staff is standing by and can help you determine if a dual stair lift setup might work for you, so please contact us to find out more.
