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Five Reasons to Have a Lift Installed at Home

JayneLeave a comment
Five Reasons to Have a Lift Installed at Home
Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash

If you’re like the vast majority of us, living in a modest three bed semi detached house, you may think that having a lift for the home is utterly ridiculous. There are however quite a few reasons for having a lift installed, even if you don’t live in an expansive mansion. Here are five reasons that you should consider before thinking about having a lift installed at home.

Accessibility

While you and everyone living in your home may be perfectly able bodied at the moment, there may be a time in your future where accessibility is an issue. Having a lift installed means that even if you’re wheelchair bound, there won’t be areas of your house which suddenly becomes inaccessible to you. Lots of people even move home if they start to need a wheelchair, to a property which is on one level, however this won’t be an issue if you have a lift.

Safety

It might surprise you to know that having a lift in your home is actually a boost to your safety for a couple of different reasons. If you replace the stairs with a lift you reduce the risk of accidents caused by falling up or down the stairs, which is a common place for people of all ages to break bones and hurt themselves. More than 100,000 elderly people are treated for injuries resulting from stair falls every year and one of the most common injury from falling down the stairs is a broken hip, which can be devastating.

Another safety aspect to consider is that some lifts can be locked in position or prevented from reaching certain floors of the house. This means that if everybody is sleeping upstairs, you can lock the lift while you’re up there and if you don’t have an additional set of stairs no one would be able to get to the upper floors of your house while you sleep.

Independence

The old adage of pride coming before a fall is extremely accurate when it comes to age related mobility issues. Many people don’t like to admit that they need help getting around the house as they get older. Having a lift installed at home in place of stairs means that pride won’t be an issue because mobility problems will be catered for before they even become apparent. Traditional stairlifts, where the user has to sit in a chair can look clunky and incongruous in the home and many elderly people don’t like the way this type of apparatus will make their home look.

Aesthetics

While many of the practical aspects of having a lift in your home speak for themselves there is also the issue of aesthetics. If your home has a modern look to it then a sleek lift will add to the overall appearance. Walking into a house which has a proper lift installed will never fail to impress and it could give your home a high end look and feel.

Value

One of the most obvious benefits to having a lfts installed is that it can add a lot to the current value of your property. Any major renovations like this can see your house price skyrocket, so even if the initial investment is large, you’ll likely see it returned if you ever sell the property.

Disabilities

5 Accessibility Fixtures Which Still Look Great

JayneLeave a comment
5 Accessibility Fixtures Which Still Look Great
Photo by CDC on Unsplash

If you have mobility issues and need to adjust your home to make your life easier, it’s a common worry that these accessibility fixtures and fittings will detract from the overall look of your property. There are however some accessibility improvements that you can make to your home which will aid your day-to-day movement and still make your property look high-end and well designed. Here are five examples of things that you can add to your property while still making it all look great.

Platform Lifts

There is a tendency for aftermarket lifts in houses to look clunky and incongruous, and most people don’t like to have a constant reminder of the fact that they need help with their mobility.

There are however lots of platform lifts which can be installed in houses which look as though they were designed to be there in the first place, and look sleek and high end.

Handrails

When we think of handrails which are placed in properties to aid movement, we often think of the clunky white handrails that you would see around a hospital or care home. This doesn’t need to be the case as there are many handrail options out there which are made from materials which blend much better with the design aesthetic of your home. Take a look around the internet to help you find something which looks less mobility related and more like a design feature.

Ramps

If you use a wheelchair to get around, having ramps installed in your home will make your life a hell of a lot easier. However, this doesn’t mean that you need to have obvious and unattractive structures attached to the outside or the inside of your home to improve your accessibility. If you find the right carpenter or craftsman they can often add ramps to your property which don’t even look like ramps and will act more like undulations in your flooring.

Bathrooms

As with the other items in this list, accessible bathrooms no longer need to look like something you find in a care home. There are many different options out there for wet rooms, walk-in baths and showers and low-level sinks which will look just as good as a bathroom for the able-bodied. A skilled bathroom fitter will be able to add these features to your bathroom without making them look out of place.

Kitchens

Making a kitchen accessible for a person with mobility issues doesn’t need to be expensive or difficult. Often it’s just a case of taking eye level units and worktops and making them lower so that you can get into them without needing to be standing up. A good kitchen designer will have the skill to create a kitchen which looks beautiful but is completely functional.