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I think Vertiwalk might be a solution for people who want to exercise. But if the main issue is to travel between floors, I think installing your own mini eleva

I think Vertiwalk might be a solution for people who want to exercise. But if the main issue is to travel between floors, I think installing your own mini elevator might be a better solution. It doesn't take much more space, but it's fast and can carry the wheel chair with you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqMZfQODJZo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqMZfQODJZo

hetspookjee 5y ago
I can imagine this is vastly more affordable than a mini elevator?
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  Probably, but it'll be vastly too expensive for most folks. I imagine the construction costs are greater than devices that use the stairwell due to design and anyone that lives in a rental or otherwise cannot do the construction are out of luck.
  - coldcode 5y ago
    In the Netherlands I believe the government will pay to install assistive devices.
hadlock 5y ago
Elevators of any kind start at the price of a mid-price car and quickly spiral in to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on certifications and local ordinances. San Francisco has seismic sensor/seismic stop requirements on top of regular elevators, for example. There is a reason why almost no homes have elevators despite the technology being over a century old.
gertrunde 5y ago
Beyond the cost issue mentioned by others, the exercise element that you mention is maybe more important than you think - older folk often fare better if they can stay active, and this might be a subtle way to provide that. Also there's the physical size - 80cm x 80cm - retrofitting an elevator into a small property has some serious space demands.
- LocalH 5y ago
  >older folk often fare better if they can stay active I can directly vouch for that, in an anecdotal way. My mother, in her last months, fought through immense pain to do her daily activities. After a four day stay in the hospital for a heart-related issue, she was never able to walk unassisted again.
Borrible 5y ago
Or a stairlift. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairlift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairlift Should be around five to ten thousand Dollar. Or you lease one for the rest of your life for about 50-100$ per month. You do the math. The electric stair climber wheelchairs are unlikely to be a competitor because of their price. But still some believe in them. https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/scewo-wheelchair-can-climb-flight-stairs/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/scewo-wheelchair-can... https://www.scewo.com/en/ https://www.scewo.com/en/ But than again, people like do believe in many things.
- BadCookie 5y ago
  An average stairwell is not quite wide enough to accommodate a stairlift, so I don’t think it’s a great general solution. You also still have the issue of transferring in and out of the chair, which can be an issue for some people. I bought a house on the premise that I could install a chairlift if needed … and had to sell the house a few years later when it turned out that the stairwell really wasn’t wide enough for it. (The chair would’ve been majorly in the way of the able-bodied people who also needed the stairs.) Admittedly, I should have done better due diligence.
  - jaclaz 5y ago
    It depends on the stairlift model, there are very compact versions, the kind with two or three pipes as guide take some 15-20 cm of the width of the stairs, and usually (not always) the chair/seat (which is foldable) can be "diverted" laterally. About the 80 cm space required by this Vertiwalk thingy, it is roughly what a mini-elevator would need. There is a (specific) pneumatic mini-lift that is 75 cm diameter: https://www.vacuumelevators.com/home-elevators/ https://www.vacuumelevators.com/home-elevators/ Of course this is not suited for a wheel chair, the passenger must be standing, you need 1,30/1,40 m to be wheelchair accessible.

hetspookjee 5y ago

I can imagine this is vastly more affordable than a mini elevator?

Broken_Hippo 5y ago
Probably, but it'll be vastly too expensive for most folks. I imagine the construction costs are greater than devices that use the stairwell due to design and anyone that lives in a rental or otherwise cannot do the construction are out of luck.
- coldcode 5y ago
  In the Netherlands I believe the government will pay to install assistive devices.

hadlock 5y ago

Elevators of any kind start at the price of a mid-price car and quickly spiral in to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on certifications and local ordinances. San Francisco has seismic sensor/seismic stop requirements on top of regular elevators, for example. There is a reason why almost no homes have elevators despite the technology being over a century old.

gertrunde 5y ago

Beyond the cost issue mentioned by others, the exercise element that you mention is maybe more important than you think - older folk often fare better if they can stay active, and this might be a subtle way to provide that. Also there's the physical size - 80cm x 80cm - retrofitting an elevator into a small property has some serious space demands.

LocalH 5y ago
>older folk often fare better if they can stay active I can directly vouch for that, in an anecdotal way. My mother, in her last months, fought through immense pain to do her daily activities. After a four day stay in the hospital for a heart-related issue, she was never able to walk unassisted again.

Borrible 5y ago

Or a stairlift. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairlift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairlift Should be around five to ten thousand Dollar. Or you lease one for the rest of your life for about 50-100$ per month. You do the math. The electric stair climber wheelchairs are unlikely to be a competitor because of their price. But still some believe in them. https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/scewo-wheelchair-can-climb-flight-stairs/ https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/scewo-wheelchair-can... https://www.scewo.com/en/ https://www.scewo.com/en/ But than again, people like do believe in many things.

BadCookie 5y ago
An average stairwell is not quite wide enough to accommodate a stairlift, so I don’t think it’s a great general solution. You also still have the issue of transferring in and out of the chair, which can be an issue for some people. I bought a house on the premise that I could install a chairlift if needed … and had to sell the house a few years later when it turned out that the stairwell really wasn’t wide enough for it. (The chair would’ve been majorly in the way of the able-bodied people who also needed the stairs.) Admittedly, I should have done better due diligence.
- jaclaz 5y ago
  It depends on the stairlift model, there are very compact versions, the kind with two or three pipes as guide take some 15-20 cm of the width of the stairs, and usually (not always) the chair/seat (which is foldable) can be "diverted" laterally. About the 80 cm space required by this Vertiwalk thingy, it is roughly what a mini-elevator would need. There is a (specific) pneumatic mini-lift that is 75 cm diameter: https://www.vacuumelevators.com/home-elevators/ https://www.vacuumelevators.com/home-elevators/ Of course this is not suited for a wheel chair, the passenger must be standing, you need 1,30/1,40 m to be wheelchair accessible.