More and more people are living with some kind of disability. There are about 53 million Americans in this boat right now. The most common kind of disabilities impact people’s ability to get around. As a consequence, there are more than 6.8 million people in the United States who use mobility devices to get around. For many people who have problems with their mobility, the stairs present a number of problems. The good news is that whether you are dealing with straight stair cases or curved stairways, it is possible to get a fitted stairlift to help you get from one floor to another. When you are looking to add a stairlift to your home, you will want to take the following things into consideration.

1. Look at the design of the different chair stairlifts that are out there. By far, the stairlift that most people go with is one that is just a chair on a track that goes smoothly up and down the stairs. The typical chair that is used for these kinds of stairlifts has a seatbelt, footrest and armrest. These can have seats that swivel manually or have a powered mechanism for this. These can be made to go up and down straight stair cases or ones that are curved. They can be made to handle wheelchairs. They can also be made to accommodate perches. You can get lifts that have armrests that can be adjusted (if there is more than one person in your home who may use it). The same can be done to the seats and footrests.
2. You may want to consider standing stairlifts. If the people who have problems with their knees or hips and that is why they have trouble getting up and down the stairs. People can step onto the lift and ride it that way to go up or down curved and straight stair cases.
3. Make sure the stair lift works with your stairs. You need to look at how the person using the stairlift will get off when it reaches the top of your staircase. The best kinds of stairlifts will arrive at the top of the stairs at the correct angle. There are different options for this angle so you need to look at your staircases to see which one would be the safest for your home and your stairs. If you are having trouble picking one that you know will work with your home, you should bring in a professional to look at your home and give your their assessment of what would work best for you.
4. Think about the people who will be using the stairlift. It is important to make sure the person or persons who will use the stairlift can. This means you should look at their weight, height and how much trouble they have moving in and out of the lift.
5. Give some thought to the size you want. This may be determined, at least in part, by the size of your stairs and the size of the person or persons who will use the stairlift. You should remember that people will have to walk around your stairlift if they are going to walk up or down and therefore you need to build that room into the size constraints. Some stairlifts fold up to take up less room.
6. Think about the power source you are going to use for your stairlift. For most people, using AC power is the best bet because you never have to worry about charging a battery. The main drawback is if you live in a place that sees a lot of power outages, a battery powered model might work better for you.
7. Get the warranty. No matter what kind of stairlift you get, you should make sure you opt for the warranty so that any problems will be covered. These are pricey devices and you want to be covered if something goes wrong.

More and more people are able to stay in their homes longer with stairlifts that work on straight stair cases or ones that curve. That is a good thing. If you keep these things in mind you can get the right one.