Most people know what a stairlift is, but perhaps not as many people will be familiar with the concept of a through floor lift.
Through floor lifts are similar to the lifts (or elevators) that you find in most shops and public areas with more than one floor. These elevators travel up and down between floors allowing the general public, disabled or elderly people, people with pushchairs or buggies, and people with trolleys or heavy items to easily move from one floor of a shop or public area to another.
Through floor lifts are based on the same concept as this, but they are generally a lot smaller, accommodating individual users rather than groups of people. They can be supplied and installed in both public and domestic premises, but in this article we will look purely at through floor lifts for domestic purposes.
Domestic through floor lifts are an ideal option for people who don’t want to leave their home, but find that installing a stairlift is not a viable option – for example if their staircase is too narrow to accommodate a stairlift, or if other issues such as radiators or the angle of the staircase make it impossible. It may also be that an individual’s specific disabilities or injuries means that they are unable to use a stairlift, for example if they can’t get out of a wheelchair or cannot sit in the position required to use the stairlift. There is a wide range of through floor lifts available depending on the individual user’s needs, allowing them to either stand or sit in it, or use it in conjunction with a wheelchair.
If it is impossible for a stairlift to be fitted into a property then there are often only two real alternatives: moving everything that is upstairs to downstairs (which may involve installing a new bathroom if there isn’t already one on the ground floor), or moving out of the property altogether. For many people who have lived in the same home for many years, leaving it is not an option they want to consider unless they really have to. A through floor lift can therefore mean that they are able to stay in their own home for longer. It can make an elderly or disabled person’s life much more easy, happy and comfortable. It means they can still sleep in their own bed and don’t have to go into a nursing home, care home, sheltered accommodation or live with a relative.
In order to install a through floor lift you need to have enough room in both the downstairs and upstairs of your home. You would normally have the through floor lift installed in the corner of a downstairs room (ideally the lounge), going up to your bedroom. Through floor lifts go right up against the wall and therefore doesn’t intrude into the room too much because of the way they are designed.
To install a through floor lift, an aperture is created in the ceiling of the room where the lift is going to be installed. This involves a couple of days of work to create the aperture, and then a further couple of days work to fit it. So, in total, the whole process of installing the through floor lift takes around four days, which means not a huge amount of disruption to the homeowner, especially compared to the alternatives of rearranging your home to live downstairs, or moving out altogether.
Therefore, it is relatively quick to install, and is incredibly convenient and non-intrusive once it is installed. It might mean some rearranging of the furniture – perhaps having to reposition your sofa in the lounge or your dressing table in the bedroom – but if the only options are that or having to move out of your home, this is a very minor inconvenience in comparison.
Obam supplies, installs and maintains both public and domestic through-floor lift solutions. With many years’ experience of installing these in houses, leisure centres and other commercial premises, the installation is fully project managed to minimise any impact on you. For more information about through floor lifts and other Obam products, please give our friendly and experienced staff a call on 01427 787532, email info@obam.co.uk or visit https://obam.co.uk/.
