What is the difference between curved and straight stair lifts?

Are you shopping for a stairlift and wondering which one is right for you? Have no fear. The team at Southern Mobility Solutions is here to help. A member of our team will visit your home, assess and measure your staircase, and provide you with your options. It’s our goal to keep you moving independently and safely throughout your home, and a stairlift – curved or straight—can help.

At Southern Mobility Solutions, we carry stairlifts for every set of stairs. We’ve got one for you, no matter the size, shape, or configuration! Narrow stairs, long stairs, or curvy stairs; our lifts will move you up and down with ease. Let’s take a closer look at straight and curved systems to give you a better idea of how they differ from one another and which one you might need for your home.

Straight Stairlifts

Every chairlift system consists of a mechanized chair that travels along a track up to move the user smoothly up and down the stairs. In a straight stair lift, those tracks are perfectly straight. Straight tracks are made in standard lengths that can be easily cut to fit your stairs. The “straight” and “curved” delineations refer to the rails of the chair lift, not necessarily the shape of your staircase.

For lift design, straight stairs do not –

• Turn
• Bend
• Or have a landing

But wait – what difference does a landing make? What about “straight” stairs with a landing halfway up or straight stairs that travel more than one story? Sure, in these situations, you could choose to install two (or more) straight lifts between each landing or story. However, this would require the user to sit in the chair, strap themselves in, use the lift, and then transfer to the second lift and repeat the process. This option is too cumbersome for home stairs that will be used multiple times a day for most folks. It’s much more practical to have a single lift that moves the entire length and path of the stairs. This brings us to curved lifts.

Curved Stairlifts

To go around a corner, any corner, your stairlift rails need to curve around that corner so the chair can travel smoothly without stopping. Curved rails are required in these situations:

• Stairs that have a landing, half, full, or quarter
• Stairs that travel more than one story (each story is treated as a landing)
• Fanned stairs where sets of stairs meet at a less than 90-degree angle
• Where the stairs are actually curved in a spiral

Curved rails can be made to fit any angle or curve. If our expert can measure it, we can make a stairlift to fit it. Curved lifts systems are custom made; no two are alike. This means a perfect fit, but it also means that the lead time between order and installation is longer than for a straight lift that can simply be shipped from the factory. It also means that curved systems are more expensive since they are each specially made.

Comfort Features

Your stairlift – curved or straight—is like a piece of quality furniture that needs to look good, feel good, and serve its intended purpose. To that end, our stairlifts feature the following:

• Cushioned seat. Our cushioning provides maximum comfort on every ride. Custom colors and fabrics are available to fit your home’s style.
• Easy seatbelt. The seatbelt is easy to find and easy to operate with one hand.
• Comfort footrests. You can choose the size and angle of the footrests to give you the comfort and stability you need. Footrests also fold up, so they’re out of the way when not in use. And no bending! You don’t have to bend to fold footrests up or out; they either move when the seat and armrest move or can be moved with a button at arm level.
• Toggle controls. Our easy-to-operate toggle controls can be operated with your hand or wrist, so there’s no pain, no fiddling with small buttons, and no strength required.
• Locking mechanism. You can lock your lift so no one—including small grandchildren—can operate it without the key.
• Obstruction sensors. These sensors bring the chair to a gentle stop if they sense anything on the tracks.
• And so much more.

Are You Ready to Get Moving?

Southern Mobility Solutions has a stairlift system for you. Our curved and straight designs will fit your home perfectly and get you moving safely and independently throughout your home again. What are you waiting for? Take the first step to a step-free home by calling us today.