Residential Lifts
Vertical Platform Lifts
For easy access between floors, various kinds of vertical platform elevators exist that can add value and convenience to any home or other residential property. Hydraulic elevators usually operate quietly and they place most of the equipment within the lift shaft, negating the need for an external machine room and saving space in the process. The more traditional pulley system lifts are also now available with the machinery mounted inside the shaft so an elevator should be available to fit in whatever space you have available.
Vertical platform lifts are often capable of traversing anywhere from 2 to 30 floors and can be designed for the comfort of one or two people, or as mass transit for 15-20 people at once. The price range for vertical platform lifts is equally diverse, so it pays to shop around and find the most cost effective solution for your needs.
Chair Lifts
Particularly popular with the elderly and infirm, chair lifts need no special housing or lift shaft and instead are installed on to an existing stair case. Basically a motorised chair on a railing, chair lifts provide an effort free way to move between floors for those with limited mobility. The most popular manufacturer of chair lifts in the UK and abroad is Stannah. A family run company with over a hundred years experience in elevator manufacture, Stannah provide a huge range of sophisticated solutions at some competitive prices.
Stair Risers
Similar to chair lifts in that they operate on a railing attached to an existing staircase and need no additional complex machinery, stair risers are essentially platforms designed to carry wheelchairs up and down stairs. A great space saver, when not in use a stair riser platform can simply be folded away neatly against the wall and even when in use most staircases can also accommodate additional people without causing too much of an obstruction (unless in the home of course where staircases are particularly narrow). Stair risers are a great and cost effective way to provide disabled access to multiple floors within a residential building and they can even be fitted to multi-storey buildings and winding staircases with ease.
Emergency Wheelchair Lifts
Although not technically falling within the realm of elevators, emergency wheelchair lifts are a manual method of moving a wheelchair with passenger up or in most cases down flights of stairs in an emergency situation as a kind of last resort. Basically a trolley, these wheelchair lifts are designed to take the strain away from the handler and make it relatively easy for someone of limited strength to manually lift a disabled person down stairs. These should be considered in residential properties with disabled tenants in addition to elevators in case fire or other disaster makes the elevators unusable.
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