Episode 1

Hi there, I’m Coral. Hello. And I’m Lindsey. And we’re here today to answer  the internet’s most asked questions about home lifts. So completely unscripted. We have absolutely no clue what the questions  are in advance, so are you ready for it? Oh, I think so Coral, let’s go. Let’s  go. Go. Let’s go. Okay. Question one.

What is the difference between  a home lift and a home elevator? Ooh. Um, there’s your answer. Oh. Um, so to me, um, from a sort of lift and elevator sort of kind of  background, um, a home an elevator to me is something that has like a purpose built shaft. Yeah. That is sort of recessed into the floor that has a separate control room, um,  where you control the lift and everything. Um, kind of like I think of an  elevator as like a passenger lift. Yeah. That you get in supermarkets or  like shopping mall, mall and things. Yeah, yeah. Um, and home lift to me  is basically a smaller scale elevator. Yes. But without all of the just like shaft  huge, like workings, like separate space. So basically a home elevator takes up,  sorry, home lift takes up less space than like a, a, a larger sort of style lift. Um, all of the sort of drive mechanisms on a home lift are contained on the lift. Uhhuh. So you don’t need something like a separate control room and what have you. And it’s just like guides, isn’t it? That it uses guides on the wall. Yeah. Or guides at the side that just takes you through an aperture,  which is like a hole in the ceiling. Yeah. So it’s not like a shaft. Yeah. Yeah. Like an elevator has kind of free standing, but they support it within the  sort of hole in the structure within the floor. Um, so I hope that’s answered that question. That’s quite hopefully. Yeah, it is. It’s crikey. Okay, next question. Oh, this is a bit subjective.

Which is the best home lift in the UK? Are we allowed to answer this? Oh, we’re allowed. Well this is according to us. So there aren’t that many, um, lift manufacturers sort of thing in the, in the country. No. Um, I’d say probably the one that people might be more familiar with is the Stiltz lift. Yeah. Um, which is a lift that we do sell. Um, that is quite aesthetically pleasing. It’s quite, quite a nice look to it. It looks nice. Um, yeah, you can get those um,  and I guess the Wessex range of lifts as well. Yeah. For the home lifts  they’re quite good as well. Um, again, sort of, I mean Wessex  has been around for a very long time. Oh, we’ve worked them for Oh yeah. Yeah. Um, so yeah, those are probably the best two home lifts on the market. Um, I would personally would say, um, for reliability, um, those manufacturers would be our go-to. Yes. Um, we have used the Wessex lift,  as you said, for many a long time. We’ve used Stiltz for quite a while as well. Yeah. Um, pretty reliable models. Quite versatile. Mm-Hmm. Um, you can get different platform sizes. Yeah. Different sizes of lift. Yeah. So yeah, that would be our go-to anyway. Well done Coral. Thanks very much. Obviously was  slightly biased. But anyway,

What have we got here then? Um, which  type of lift is best for a home? Ooh. Um, it depends. It depends on the needs. If a carer is going in with you, how much space you have in  your home, ’cause you have to think about it. It’s not something so you, ’cause  there’s no shaft and we’re not adding a little bit extra on. Mm-Hmm. You are using your house. You need to think about room where, you know, you  might think, ah, I want it to be a utility room where well, where’s it coming through? Are there any joists in the way? Um, you know, will these sorts of  things, um, that would help then recognise what lift would be most suitable. Yeah. Um, because if you’re a wheelchair user, absolutely you need a lift that’s big enough for  you, for your wheelchair to take a wheelchair. So if you are looking further into it, make  sure that people ask you that question. You know, is this the wheelchair  you’re gonna be using in your home? It might be the fact that’s just the  wheelchair you’ve got currently and you’ve got one on order. Yeah. So the size of your wheelchair is really important. Mm-Hmm. And if you’re having a carer in there with you, I think certain lifts now do take two people. Yeah. So they are, you can get bigger sort of car sizes that will take a, a carer and somebody  in a wheelchair as well, um, to a combined. So every lift has a weight capacity. Yeah. So they’re all, obviously it would be the combined weight of including the wheelchair. Two people in the wheelchair would be on a, um, we can also have put seats in so you don’t have to be in the wheelchair. Yeah. Um, those are the, you know, they don’t need to be there as a seat and  you can just do two people in the lift. So a couple wanting to sort of  go up to bed on the night-time. You can both go in the lift together. Um, so yeah, there’s, there’s a lot of different types of lifts. Mm-Hmm. And it depends on what your, your sort of circumstances are space. Yeah. That’s available as to what you’d, um, need.

So if, if you’re not likely to become  a wheelchair user, for example, it might be that you just go to, like, for  argument’s sake, the Duo Stiltz Duo lift. Um, ’cause you can fit two people in there and  just go up and down, up, up and down stairs. Well it might be the fact that you want a through car.  So you go in, you go in one way and you come up, then you go out the other. Yeah. Yeah. So basically we advise a survey to be carried out really. So we can then establish what lift is most suitable for you and your home. Yeah, Absolutely. Great answer. There you go. Great. Give us a ring. Great answer. Okay, next question.

Ooh, what is the advantage of a lift? Oh gosh. Loads of advantages. Keeps you in your home. Yes. Don’t have to move house. Don’t have to move house. Um, again, if you’ve got the space, you’re not having to pay for an extension. Not having to sleep downstairs. You’re still being able to get upstairs. So, so some people may have thought in the past, um, oh, ’cause we can’t use the  stairs. Let’s build a wet room downstairs, will need a bedroom downstairs. And this person then just lives downstairs. Yeah. And you not have the, um, you  know they’re not using house. Yeah. Which is not, you’re  Effectively turning your house into a bungalow by doing that, obviously. Yeah. Um, so yeah. That’s, That’s advantage. Um, yeah. Getting upstairs  to your own bed. Mm-Hmm. Um, again, the reasons why we would put a  home lift in as opposed to say a stair lift. It could be like say like weight  limit, wheelchair transfer. Yeah. Um, Or or even a future proof. Future. A future. I was just about to say that, think  about your mobility, how either you are gonna deteriorate or it could be the  fact it’s for a child they wanna grow, um, with the lift it’s about recognise. Yeah. Future proofing future. Definitely. And, um, I mean, we’ve had sort of friend  friends ask us about lifts for the future, thinking about how they’re gonna remodel their  house and what have you build a house or even, um, and they’re asking us about, you know,  what sort of space would it take up? How, what would I need to do? How easy is it to get a lift installed? Those sorts of questions. Um, so people are sort of looking at that. And it may be, um, you know, they were  sort of talk when they were talking to us. They’re saying, um, we don’t really  want a stair lift on our stairs. Some people don’t like the look  of a stair lift on the stairs. They’re just point blankly will not have one. Um, so that’s a good sort of alternative. You can tuck it away. You can have it in  the stairwell to place if you’ve got a nice, lovely, sort of open stairwell in the middle, or you can have it in a, in a room somewhere else. Hide Upstairs. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Other advantages? Oh, you can use it to carry  stuff up and downstairs. Yeah. And suitcases. Yeah. Um, that kind of thing. Uh, vacuum cleaners, um, washing. So yeah. A lot of different  advantages you can have with that. Um, so yeah. Good questions  today. Yeah. Good questions. Well, I think that’s enough for this video. Yes. Thank you.

Um, so do join us on the next one where  we’ll answer more of your questions. We’ll see you then. Um, don’t forget to like  our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel and we’ll see you on the next video. Bye. Bye!