Looking for stairlifts for awkward stairs? If you’ve been turned down for a stairlift installation, or, if you’re concerned about an awkward fitting, we can help! A few years ago we were turning away customers because our stairlifts wouldn’t fit in certain houses. This wasn’t ideal!
Not only were we turning away customers, but we felt we we letting people down who desperately needed help with mobility in their home. We’re passionate about helping people with stairlift installation – it’s why we do what we do! We get to use our expertise to offer life changing equipment, helping people to be independent in their homes! So we looked into alternative solutions when it came to difficult, awkward and narrow stairs. See also our post stairlifts for narrow stairs.
Stairlifts For Awkward Stairs
We use a couple of stairlifts for awkward stairs, but the one which shines out the most is the Flow X stairlift from Access BDD (formerly Thyssen). The Flow X is the most nimble stairlift on the market. It can navigate staircases as narrow as 61cm in width.
Most stairlifts too have an outward facing chair, which limits their ability on very narrow staircases. The staircase width usually has to be at least the distance from your lower back to your knee/toe, whichever is the greater, (plus the room for the chair).
This is the biggest limiting factor when it comes to staircases which are particularly narrow. The Flow X gets around this problem by facing the user downstairs.
This saves a massive amount of leg room. But, it also brings up the problem of corners on a curved staircase. However, this isn’t a problem for the Flow X. It has a patented technology known as the ASL (Advanced Swivel and Levelling) which means it can pivot the seat while moving and staying level. This is something most stairlifts (even advanced ones) cannot do.
Stairlifts For Awkward Stairs – Rail
The rail of the Flow X is also similarly versatile, allowing the stairlift to fit on difficult and awkward staircases which have narrow corridors or doorways at the top or bottom. Some stairlifts would need a run-off rail at the bottom, to allow the stairlift to turn for easy exit/entry. But this doesn’t work well when there’s a doorway or corridor at the base of the stairs.
The Flow X rail can be customised to fit almost any situation. Here you can see its “drop nose” rail cleverly avoiding a doorway at the base of the stairs.
This might present the problem of stairlift parking, for some stairlifts. But not the Flow X – it allows you to park the stairlift anywhere on the rail. Simply call the lift when you need it using the remote control situated at the top and bottom of the staircase.
Here’s the top of the same installation. As you can see, there’s a doorway here too. Not a problem with the customised rail.
Other Stairlifts For Awkward Stairs
We also use the Stannah 260 for awkward stairs. Stannah have done their homework. This allows for a stairlift to be fitted on a very narrow staircase. Stannah have cleverly designed their stairlifts to be very versatile as far as measurements are concerned. It allows the ride position of their stairlift to be very far back against the wall/bannister rail – allowing for more legroom. Here’s a reconditioned Stannah 260 on a curved staircase.
The fully customised rail allows for a very close fitting of the stairlift against the wall or the handrail (pictured above). This gives the user more legroom on a narrow staircase. The Stannah 260 is the “go-to” stairlift for a narrow staircase in most situations.
But in more extreme cases, we will use the Flow X stairlift when nothing else will fit! If you’re on a budget, we also specialise in reconditioned stairlifts to suit your budget. So whatever your budget and needs, we can offer a solution!
Give us a call on 0800 046 3438 or visit our contact page and leave a message. We offer free, no obligation assessments UK wide and can call out on short notice.
