You don't mention any future plans for the basement. Do you have expectations to finish it or leave as a utility space? We finished ours after several years of living in the house. Original steps were painted wood and were fairly noisy when walking upon them. So, in conjunction with finishing the basement we did the following: Relocated the door in the hallway to the stairway landing in order to relieve congestion of a door opening into the main hall. Painted the walls with a quality washable paint. Painted the stringers. Upgraded the bannister. Added better lighting. Carpeted the steps and risers. Now with an open stairway the basement is inviting and traversing up and down is quiet. Better foot traction too.

We had one installed for our daughter who uses a wheelchair. It was a reliable one and didn't give us any problems. Once, it wouldn't work and the repairman found a sock in the works! LOL When she moved out,we tried to sell it/give it away and had no takers! Since it was an older one, you couldn't get parts for it. (Planned obsolescence!) We finally donated it to a group that installed them in homes for disabled vets.

Mom lives with us, I work full time so when I'm not home she is up and down stairs and it's starting to be an issue. She has been experiencing a lot of pain for the last month or so, we can't figure it out but it is limiting her movement. We've considered moving her downstairs but she actually has more freedom and room upstairs. We've given her 3 of the bedrooms and she has her own bathroom. If we move her downstairs we would essentially have to give up 2 of our rooms and enlarge the powder room into my laundry leaving me with having to do laundry in the basement. Not an option. I'm hoping she will be open to the stairlift.

Depending on the stairs, they can be costly. I have been nagging my cousin to get one. She has a 96 year old husband! She now is having issues. They live in a townhome and actually saw one that was installed, their same staircases. She said if would cost $10,000. They can afford it, but for whatever reason she claims her husband doesn't want it. He is not spry, has to practically crawl up the stairs. He uses a walker! Don't get me started. That said, I tried to talk her into it by saying the same as Yaya mentions., You can use it to send up laundry, packages etc. Roxanna, of course your other option is to explore ways to add a walk-in shower on your lower level. The least costly would be if you have a straight staircase. Once turns are involved, the price goes up.