My gf has one that goes around the corner too and it's fantastic.

We have one on our motor home and while it has been a "life-saver" I have a love-hate relationship with it. It moves a person (me with a bad knee) from the ground up and into that narrow and steep door of the MH. Slow as molasses. It grinds away at 1 inch per minute (I have not timed it, but seems that way when it is raining or hot hot). However....I broke my shoulder and badly wounded other arm in a fall (in Mexico) and can't imagine how I would have gotten to Oregon from Mexico without it. I once got stuck in that stairwell too, when my knee gave up and I couldn't move in any direction....lift to the rescue, as it gave me a lever to use to pull myself out of that narrow passage.... and have broken my ankle an needed it. The seat part unhooks from the unit and takes up a good amount of space in the storage bay....and, yes, if I were not so darned independent I would use it more.

When my neighbor was adding a suite (sitting area, kitchenette, bedroom, handicap accessible bath) to their house to accommodate her mother, they did something 'beefier' behind the wall leading up the stairs in preparation for the stair lift chair. They hadn't installed the lift, when her mother actually moved in there was going to be some coverage for some of its expense but not available until she was living there full time. Mom, who isn't particularly elderly but has MS, has so far refused to move in.

We have one, and it's enabled us to stay in our home... it goes from the central hall right down into the basement. A Godsend for us!

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.

This adaptation puts me in mind of my concerns about reverse mortgages. They both offer temporary 'fixes' before the light dawns that the house is no longer the *best* home for a person. (Smaller, less-maintenance, one-story home; assisted living; other options.) Of course, sometimes they are the right move, but I'd think 'outside the box' for either one.

My inlaws installed one on the back staircase, but the staircase was so narrow that it was impossible for their cook/housekeeper to get up the stairs. MIL was not about to have the help using the front staircase. It was time for them to move but she refused.

After a fall, the EMTs came and she ended up having to taken to the hospital by having a hook and ladder brought in (fire dept) and being taken out by that strapped to a stretcher.

When I can no longer live in my house as a mobile person, I will sell it and move elsewhere. I'm not ruining a lovely home by turning it into an assisted living facility.

I find that alarming! The Fire Dept should not need a 'hook and ladder' to maneuver a stretcher out of a two story home....maybe if the patient is huge. I am large, FD guys have been able to maneuver me easily thru a crooked hallway...upright...with no trouble. AND.....there is nothing "unsightly" or "ruining" about "assisted living" features in a "HOME". What are you talking about!

We live in the top floor of a triplex. The stairs going up are tight going around the corners. We found out how tight, when after surgery, hubby was in severe pain and we called the medics.

They couldn't get the stretcher up the stairs. The asked if he was able to walk at all, and they hobbled, half-carried, supported him down the stairs.

The other thing that people don't think of in making homes accessible is door width. All doors should be at least 36 inches to make it possible to get through from an angle, like from a hallway, in a wheelchair or in an emergency, a stretcher. Even when using a walker, it is much better to have that extra width.

Taste is a personal thing but most accessible homes I've seen are far more "lovely" than a lot of other homes I've seen. And you obviously don't know what an assisted living facility is if you think a homeowner will be able to convert their house to one! LOL

lol..so what does dh do? he's a private consultant for the elevator industry....now generally he's not a fan of chair lifts. however there is one company called STAIRLIFT...be sure for weight, installation, and repair. installed, can run quite a bit ...but less than a home elevator, at 25-30 grand. and you have a place for it...actually either can be a selling point for homes.