With a summer upon us – which surprisingly is actually quite sunny – the last thing that anyone wants is to be housebound. Opening the windows may give a sense of fresh air but nothing beats sitting in a beautiful, sunny garden with a cold drink and a good book or some nice music.

However, many beautiful homes were not designed with the mobility impaired in mind. Those lovely, decorative steps which lead down to the back garden or up to the front door can be a form of torture for someone who is longingly looking out of the window but cannot face the agony of struggling up and down the stairs.

Luckily the lovely people at Stannah Stairlifts have already thought of this – enter the Outdoor Stairlift. This excellent product solves the problem of getting out of the house without assistance and avoids unnecessary risk.

The Outdoor Stairlift does exactly what it says on the tin and can be fitted to solid concrete, solid wood or solid metal staircases. The rail is fitted to the actual stairs so there is no actual damage to the supporting wall. The Outdoor Stairlift has a handy fold away design, so will not block your staircase when you are not using it. It also comes with a great protective cover to ensure that it is safe from the elements.

Stannah’s Outdoor Stairlift is relatively customisable as you can choose which arm you would like the controls to be on and whether you would prefer a joystick or buttons to control the stairlift. If there are two or more people sharing the stairlift you can get a ‘call station’ installed so that if the chair is not where you need it to be you will not have to tackle the stairs to get to it, which would defeat the point of having the damn thing! I feel your pain, can you tell?  Go with the call station to avoid the stress.

Stannah’s Outdoor Stairlift

The Outdoor Stairlift is designed to be practical and secure. The seat and arms are comfortable and the swivel seat makes getting in and out of the chair as easy as possible. The foldaway elements and protective cover make the stairlift practical, plus the built-in recharging battery means that you will always be able to use the stairlift, even if there is a power cut.  That’s important.

There is also a built in seat belt for the user’s safety and a blockage detector to ensure that if there is an obstruction on the stairs the stairlift will stop automatically. That means pine cones, conkers and pesky leaves ‘on the line’ won’t be a problem. The stairlifts also come with a key operated immobiliser so you do not have to worry about children playing around on the stairlift and having accidents. An added bonus is that you can always get on and off with grace, looking like the true gentleman or lady that you are!

For more information about stairlifts, don’t forget to visit Mobility Compare and download the stairlift buyers guide! 

Our thanks to Alex Gaiger who is our guest contributor.