In house wheelchair lift

[steve.jones]

In previous post I have been looking at converting my garage to a bedroom, but basically not enough room, my wife is disabled and needs wet room etc. I am now looking at an in house wheelchair lift. These cost about 11k, however second hand I see people selling them for =A31500 which is a significant saving and often only a couple of years old. Does anybody know whats involved in installing them? Cutting a hole in the floor and supporting the joists does not look too bad and they appear to just plug in the mains? all help appreciated

thanks

[Jethro]

Make sure they have battery power.

[Peter Parry]

They are pretty self contained and designed for quick installation although some require guardrails at the top. The more common sort which have an overhead piece which fills the hole in the floor as they come down may not be suitable if you have youngsters or ever expect very young children to visit. When installed, the floor upstairs when the lift is down should form a very good seal with the lift "floor"as it is an important smoke barrier in case of fire.

Some lifts are hydraulic, some electrical traction. All incorporate some form of emergency power failure backuo but this usually allows you to get down only.

It is a really good idea to see the lift installed and working and take it out yourself if possible (with a camera carrying assistant photographing everything). If it has been taken out by a builder you will almost certainly find wires cut and small but important bits missing.

You usually have to install the lift with its back (the transport frame) to a load bearing/structural wall.

The solution described here

probably less than ideal.

[John Rumm]

Even if they don't they could probably be protected up by a large UPS.

[NT]

IME mains power is alot more reliable than rechargeable battery, I'd steer away from a battery operated one.

NT

[John Rumm]

The battery ones recharge from the mains when in the rest position. You can get problems with "health practitioners" who will refuse to operate non battery ones on the grounds that they might get the patient stuck due to a power cut.

[NT]

and have more failures per decade than mains ones. A classic case of teh cure being worse than the disease.

[Andrew Gabriel]

There was a lift in the Grand Designs house last night. I didn't hear any mention of it during the program, but it showed the mother going up to her new granny flat in it at the end.

[Jethro]

SWMBO has a bath chair, which is battery powered, from a rechargeable pack. Considering the size (and weight) of earlier types, this one is amazing. Total weight about 10Kg (with battery pack). It must have a very fast low-geared motor, but lifts 60cm in about 45 seconds. To be fair, it's a very good design, and can be instantly removed, for the more able bodied if needed (although it's possible to have a shower with it in place.

Personally I would be concerned about power failures. Last year we had 4 significant outages (more than 15 minutes). No idea why, maybe metal thefts ? But they seem to be increasing.

[Roger Mills]

When I read that, it conjured up a picture of something like:

be my age!