My Stairs Are Very Narrow – Will A Stairlift Fit?

Do you have very narrow stairs, or a door near the stairs? If so, you might think a stairlift simply won’t fit? You may have even had an engineer out to your house, who’s told you it’s undoable! However, there are stairlifts which are designed to cope with even the most tricky stairs. So don’t lose hope if you’re looking for greater mobility in your home! 

We have become specialists in installing some of the most difficult stairlift fittings. The stairlift we go to when we have a difficult installation? The Flow X from Access BDD (formerly Thyssen Krupp).

Pictured is a Flow X (left) and a Flow 2a (the Flow X’s predecessor).

The FlowX is the “Rolls Royce” of stairlifts and is more capable than most others on difficult stairs. It has a patented ASL system which stands for Advanced Swivel and Levelling. This means it can travel while pivoting and turning, something which most stairlifts simply can’t do. What this means for you is that even with a difficult staircase, it’s highly possible you can fit a stairlift and have the means to stay mobile in your home!

How Narrow Can A Stairlift Fit?

So, how narrow a staircase can the Flow X be fitted to? The stairlift can be fitted to staircases as narrow as 61cm in width which is considerably narrower than many alternatives. Take the Stannah 260, for example, a worthy competitor. The Stannah 260 for curved staircases can fit stairs as narrow as 67.9cm. It’s build quality is superb with a ride position placed well back from the rail. This gives you more leg room than many other stairlifts.

Still nothing beats the sheer ingenuity of the Flow X’s ability to face you down the stairs. This overcomes many barriers that outward facing chairs simply can’t cope with. Pictured below are the Stannh 600 (left) and the Flow X (right). As you can see from the image on the left, most stairlifts with outward facing chair positions have one major limitation – the length of the legs.

The knee to back measurement is often the most crucial when measuring up for a stairlift. With the Flow X, it gets around this problem by facing the user down the stairs. With this and the ASL and narrowness of stairs it is capable of makes it the best stairlift for narrow or difficult stairs.

Rail System

Some stairlifts are limited by their rail system which in some cases must protrude into a hallway/corridor/landing in order for the installation to work. This allows the stairlift to rotate away from the stairs for easy exit and entry.

But on certain stairs this is not viable. Here’s an example of one of our fittings where a Stannah wouldn’t fit for this very reason:

As you can see, the corridor at the bottom is very narrow and there’s also a door at the base of the stairs. This made a Stannah 260 unviable for this particular staircase. But the Flow 2a worked its magic!

Here’s a picture of the drop rail which allows convenient placement without obstructing doors and passageways.

Summary

So, if you’re wondering whether your stairs are too narrow for a stairlift, think again! We specialise in fitting stairlifts on the most awkward staircases you can imagine! We have even fitted a stairlift on a spiral staircase! 

If you have a difficult or awkward staircase let us know – we love a challenge! Call us on 0800 046 3438 or visit our contact page here.