Do you or a member of your family need a stair lift in the home but are worried about the cost involved? Did you know that there are housing adaptation grants available, often up to 100%, to help with the cost of purchasing stair lifts and adapting the home to suit your specific needs?
We have many years of experience in the area of grant applications, in every council throughout Ireland, & will guide you through the process with minimum fuss, answering any questions you might have.
You must satisfy the local authority that you will occupy the property as your normal place of residence when the works have been done. If you are a tenant, you must also get written approval from your landlord.
Your application for the grant will be prioritised according to your medical need. Highest priority will be given to people who are terminally ill, or where alterations or adaptations would facilitate their discharge from hospital or the continuance of care in their own home.
When the local authority receives your application, it may request an occupational therapist’s (OT) assessment. The local authority can arrange for this, or you can employ an OT yourself and recoup up to €200 of the cost from the local authority as part of the grant, subject to the maximum grant limit of €6,000.
Before the technicians come to install your stairlift, you should look for obstructions on the stairway. The sales consultant will have made a note of things like window sills and heating pipes, but if you have plant pots or photos in the way of where your stairlift will be, you should remove them to help the technicians.
If you’re concerned about damage being done to your house, you could take a picture of the stairs before installation for added peace of mind, but our technicians are always very careful and clean up after themselves; so the only difference you should spot is your new stairlift.
The only requirement for a stairlift is a plug near the staircase to plug the lift into (this is checked during your initial home visit). Your stairlift runs on batteries, but plugging it into the outlet ensures that they’re constantly charging. If there is a power cut, you won’t get stuck on your stairs, your lift will keep working to keep you safe.
Often, when people start looking to buy a stairlift they want to find out what’s available to them, both in terms of price and quality.
That’s where we can help you out. Our stairlifts are of the highest quality on the market, because we control the manufacturing process of our stairlifts from start to finish.
We offer stairlifts for a range of prices, and with a range of options, but you can always be sure that we never skimp on quality, because your safety and comfort are our priorities. Honestly, we don’t differentiate between premium and economy stairlifts because we want to give you the highest quality possible, for the lowest price.
Whichever stairlift you happen to choose, you know all our expertise and research has gone into making it as safe and comfortable as possible – and our stairlifts come with options so that they can be customised to match the décor of your home.
As a general rule, every corner in your staircase will double the initial price. If you have a staircase formed of two straight flights of stairs with a landing area in between, it may be cheaper to buy two straight stairlifts instead of one curved one. You would need to be mobile enough to move from one lift to the other, though.
Because curved stairlifts are made to measure, a deposit is normally required. This isn’t usually necessary for straight stairlifts, though.
Prices and quality vary between manufacturers and by type of stairlift. In our stairlift brand reviews, we’ve included average prices for brand new and second-hand Acorn, Handicare and Stannah stairlifts, as well as smaller brands such as Bespoke, MediTek and Thyssenkrup.
It is possible to get the full cost of a stairlift covered through financial aid, meaning that you can essentially get a stairlift for free.
However, the process of applying for financial aid for a stairlift is not as simple as getting a stairlift fitted for free through a local council or through a charity. There are stairlift grants available that can cover the full or partial cost of a stairlift. This does mean that you essentially are able to get a stairlift for free, but it involves a thorough process of applications through local authorities and health and social workers.
We also understand that you might not need a stairlift permanently. That’s why in certain situations, we’re able to offer you the option of taking a stairlift under a short-term rental agreement.
Please note that short-term rental is only available on Straight Stairlifts. Please contact us for more details on renting a stairlift for your short to medium-term needs.