Transforming Homes for Aging Parents.
Are you concerned about the safety and mobility of your aging parents at home? Putting in a stairlift, even on stairs with a landing might be easier than you think.
In this interview sponsored by Harmar, Mike Barnes from Parenting Aging Parents talks with Marine Fitsch-Mouras of 101 Mobility, in Houston to explore how a modular stairlift is revolutionizing home accessibility.
They discuss how this innovative stairlift provides a quick, affordable solution for homes that need a curved stairlift because of landings on the staircases. They’re often installed within a week of ordering and usually only take a day to install. Learn about the importance of early installation to prevent falls and unexpected trips to the emergency room, and how investing in a stairlift can save money in the long run by avoiding costly home renovations or medical expenses.
Marine shares expert advice on:
- The ease of installing a stairlift without major home modifications.
- The importance and benefits of choosing a certified dealer for installation and maintenance.
- How the two-year warranty and power options enhance safety and convenience.
There are also stairlifts if you have straight stairs that can be installed quickly. Click here to see how they work.
Harmar has dealers across the US. You can click here to find a dealer near you. If there’s not one near you, call the customer service number on the website and they’ll find someone who can help you.
Read the full transcript
Transcript of Interview: “Stairlift Solution if You Don’t Have Straight Stairs”
Mike Barnes:
“We’ve talked a lot about how my mom and dad moved from their house into independent living years ago. But before they moved, I kidded my dad all the time that, because he had a study on the second floor: ‘Dad, you need a stairlift to be able to get up there.’ He laughed about it, but we thought it would cost lots and lots of money and take lots and lots of time just to get it done.
We found out otherwise—it’s not the case. Marine from 101 Mobility right here in Houston is here to talk about what they have. They have a Harmar stairlift that can go up and go around. Tell me about this and how easy it is to put in.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Sure. So this is the Harmar Up. This is a stairlift that can do curved stairs. For example, if you have a flight of stairs and then a landing, and then maybe it goes left, maybe it goes right, maybe it turns around and goes. A lot of townhouses now have staircases that require multiple turns. So this is a stairlift that can do that.
Now, what’s special about this is that it is a modular stairlift. What that means is it’s built with some straight pieces and some curved pieces that make it very quick to install. Usually, curved stairlifts are made to order, so they’re custom fit to the stairs, and it takes a longer time to get them—sometimes up to three months. This one we can put in within a week, the next day if we have everything that’s in stock. So it’s a lot easier of a process if it does fit your stairs.”
Mike Barnes:
“And what I always envisioned was it would go into the wall, be like putting in a brand new wall, and here comes the stairlift that goes around. But it’s not like that. It just goes into the stairs.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Nope, not at all. Yeah, it goes into the stairs. Every couple of feet you’re going to have a foot, and that has a couple of screws that go directly into the stairs. So if you have carpet, it’s very easy to take out—you can’t see it at all. If you had wood, a little bit of wood putty and some stain, and you can’t see it at all.
When my grandma came to town, we put one in and we took it right out after.”
Mike Barnes:
“Didn’t take very long.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Nope, not at all.”
Mike Barnes:
“And it was very temporary, but it could be permanent as well if they’re living there forever.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Yes.”
Mike Barnes:
“And the biggest thing to remember is that Harmar is such a great dealer, and they have so many great products, but they have people all around the country, not just here in Houston, that can put it in, and they are certified dealers.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Yes, it’s important to go with a certified dealer so that you know that the people who are installing it are doing so correctly and that they’ll be able to troubleshoot and service your stairlift as it goes. So maintenance is important. You want to buy something from someone that you can trust to be there when you’re going to need it and that will know how to fix the investment that you’re putting into it.”
Mike Barnes:
“Well, it’s like taking care of your air conditioner or your car or anything like that. You have to service it every once in a while. Yeah, but there’s a warranty involved.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“There is a warranty involved. So this has a two-year warranty. And any dealer would most likely offer a labor warranty as well.”
Mike Barnes:
“And it comes with the chair and all the parts are included, but the chair—there’s different types of chairs. Like this one has an automatic…”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Yes. So this one—all of the Up chairs actually come with these two power options standard. So power options are usually an upcharge for stairlifts, or it’s an upgrade that people add because they want to feel safer. It comes standard on these ones. The two power options are: when you put up the arms, the footrest is going to come up automatically; when you put down the arms, the footrest is going to come down automatically, and that prevents you from having to bend down to store it up and down if you want to store it.”
Mike Barnes:
“Because a lot of people worry about their mobility issues, whether they’re in a wheelchair, they use a walker—getting into the chair can be hard for some people.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Absolutely. But when you’re at the second floor, the chair will swivel towards any landing. This one has what we call a power swivel. If you continue, it will swivel on its own.”
Mike Barnes:
“So that your parent can get off safely.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“So they’re facing the landing space.”
Mike Barnes:
“Exactly. As opposed to facing the stairs.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Right. And then they ride it down and they get off at the bottom.”
Mike Barnes:
“How easy is it to figure out what’s best for you, for your parent? Because you have lots of options.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“You have a lot of different options. The easiest would be to contact a dealer. Contact your local dealer; they will be able to explain to you what is best suited for your stairs and what all of the options are.”
Mike Barnes:
“And when you finally figure out what you’re going to do, how long does the process take? Because I joked earlier about taking months and months to put something in, but since you’re just basically screwing into the stairs, it’s not that long.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Exactly. So something like this, if your stairs is one that they could fit, will take about a couple of days depending on the schedules of your dealer, but it can take less than a week. With the custom ones that I was mentioning earlier, that can take months. But for a modular stairlift like this—which is the big advantage—is that you can get it a lot quicker, a lot faster. It only takes a couple of days.”
Mike Barnes:
“And the actual installation where they’re actually in your house is less than a day.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Less than a day.”
Mike Barnes:
“Yeah.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“It would be a full day for this.”
Mike Barnes:
“I would picture it would take weeks.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“A lot of people do.”
Mike Barnes:
“But it’s so much easier than we thought. Can you show us how it’s going to come down?”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Yes.”
Mike Barnes:
“Use this?”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“You can use that.”
Mike Barnes:
“That easy?”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“That easy.”
Mike Barnes:
“And it goes fairly slow, but that’s okay.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“It goes slow over the curves. Now I’m activating it with the remote. So you do have remotes. Now this will level as it changes the angle of the rail and go all the way down.”
Mike Barnes:
“So nice. And it’s a great investment for everyone. Of course, it’s not free, but you’re going to invest to save money on adding onto your house, adding a bathroom downstairs, going to the emergency room because they’ve fallen downstairs. Whatever it may be, it’s a good investment.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Absolutely. And it’s very important to install these things a little too early versus a little too late. Going to prevent those unexpected trips to the emergency room and just keep everybody safe.”
Mike Barnes:
“That’s what we always talk about on Parenting Aging Parents is to start early, whether it’s a conversation or investing in something like this, because it’s going to save in the long run. And that’s the big thing here is, again, you know, if I told my dad years and years ago about how to get one of these and it doesn’t cost as much as you think, and it’s also easy to put in, he’s going to be saying, ‘Son, let’s get this. Let’s get this immediately.’ And I think a lot of people who buy these from you at 101 Mobility, they give you great reviews because they love it so much.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Yes. Just last week we took a stairlift out of a client who had used it for five years. And she said that it had a name, it was part of the family. She cried almost when we took it out. So it was sweet.”
Mike Barnes:
“Well, it means so much to the family. And it helps so, so much. Marine, thanks so much for joining us and giving us all the info about this.”
Marine Fitsch-Mouras:
“Great. Thank you so much for coming.”
Mike Barnes:
“Yeah, very good. And if you have any other topics you’d like us to discuss, please let us know.
Parenting Aging Parents.”
*This transcript is auto-generated. Please excuse any typos or mistakes.
