My wife is presently in hospital, has been for nine weeks, she's had MS for decades and a couple of months ago had a fracture in her back, a form of osteoporosis. She's slowly recovering and will shortly be going to a rehabilitation centre for more physio before she comes home. By good luck, I'm the same age 84 and I can still run up the stairs, (but don't do it often). She was always able to manage our stairs with one crutch and things she will be able to do so again. But that's wishful thinking, which I admire, but I'm not taking any chances, I'm having a stairlift fitted, so not much change out of five grand. It will be fitted today. The surveyor took lots of photos of the location several weeks ago. I'm sick of elf n' safety, it must be the biggest business in the world. Whilst I was on the phone to the supplier yesterday, confirming I will be in all day, the girl said she had to give some information and ask me a lot of questions before the installation, as it was an "'elf n' safety" requirement. A lot of them were totally irrelevant to the particular job. It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't sounded so officious, whilst reading all this stuff out. Why do they assume because you are having a stairlift, you also must be thick? Here's a couple. "The engineer will be wearing special shoes while he does the installation and he's not allowed to take them off." "Ah! elf n' safety, he's working on a staircase, do they have spikes?" No answer. Then I got, "Is there anything on the staircase that might impede the installation?" "If you mean my herd of pigmy goats, I'll keep them off it by locking them in the front room until he's gone." No response. I don't think she was impressed, but that was the last question. So I said, "The answer to the unasked question is yes." "What do you mean?" "I've installed a 13amp power-point for it at the foot of the stairs, as without one, it will never work." "Oh!"
The stairlift is in and working. Only two irritations, caused by the numpty surveyor. He said that this shoe cupboard wouldn't be in the way. Wrong! Not enough clearance for when the chair is at the bottom. He said it needed a power-point and started looking at the fuse cupboard on the other side of the hall. I said, "never mind that, just point on the wall where you want the socket and I'll put one there." Wrong! I put it where he said, but I had to move it this morning, as the bottom support post would block it off. Those minor hurdles over and it was all go. Still plenty of room for me to walk up the stairs. It can lock in this position, forming a barrier at the top of the stairs. Or folded up, so the stairs aren't blocked. It comes with two remotes, so you can call it if it's at the opposite end to someone who wants to use it. But in our case they aren't necessary. If my wife is downstairs, so will be the lift and if she's upstairs it will be there too. So I've taken the batteries out and put them in a cupboard. I need to find a thinner but decent looking shoe cupboard that's not more than 50mm wide or 40mm deep instead of that table. Not having any luck at the moment.
Mate…….it took me…us several minutes to recover from this posting of yours. My Bride said that the veins on my head and neck were standing out and that I ought to move on to the next thread. It was such a hilarious posting. Not hilarious for you, but when you post on here, you run the risk that the reaction may be laughter and not frowns. We found this anecdote so funny because we have had similar experiences. I contemplated writing one of my own anecdotes to illustrate that this sort of business- customer exchanges exist on this side of the channel as well. The Bride just piped— “Don’t do it”, from the other side of the room. Our things just go on and on until there is a resolution of some sort. When one of those incidents occur, we spot it and say, “ That mouse is going to have a tail”. Perhaps you can guess what this means. At one point we just decided not to let things pass. We do not react rudely, but just continue going after the “thing” in a civilised manner. Well, I see that I have turned this into a proper waffle…As it turns out, I could just as well have related a story. Anyway, thank you for this. Cor, what a talent you have for relating “incidents”. By the way— excellent and understandable choice to get one of those stair lifts. When we may one day require one here. We said that we would not buy an apt. with stairs, yet here we sit. The thing was that when we were looking for places the apt. across the hall had a lift in it, as the owners were quite elderly. It showed us that it was possible. Compromises must be made, as we see on “Escape To The Country”.
Riley— the piccies came in as I was writing the bit above. That is a smart it of kit you have there. It looks almost identical to the one we saw at the neighbours’. Your wife ought to be over the moon with THAT. Over the moon is right— your stairs just keep going up and up and up.
Riley sounds like you compromised a lot to get your wife a safe way to use the stairs. Just from my experience in rehab a few things on my list to consider . I’m with you because we are mature they think we are.. 1. Hard of hearing, and they yell at the top of their lungs when speaking to us. 2. Think we can’t understand more than one sentence at a time. 3. We walk differently means we are totally incapacitated. 5. Believe they are doing a good job by ignoring our questions. 6. Rushing thru procedures to ensure we are safe. …..
A search of the internet found as replacement cupboard that would just fit. It needed a bit of A4 paper and an upright spirit level to confirm this as the little bit of skirting board isn't square. It's Oak with Oak veneer. I'll need to put in three extra shelves, but I'll get them cut at the wood yard in laminated chipboard. The old cupboard is here for now in the front room. I don't want it there as the door won't fully open and it wouldn't look right even if it fitted. I'll get my son to give me a hand to put it in the box bedroom. It'll have to be lifted over the stairlift and its rail.
Had an e-mail from stairlift company with a questionnaire about the installation. Said the install was fine, not so the admin. Lost order, told cupboard could stay, but there wasn't room. Asked to put the power socket in the "wrong place." Got a phone call half an hour later asking the same questions. "How much did it cost to move the socket?" "Could you get an electrician at a moment's notice? Neither could I. I moved it myself." She must have been quite young, as this would be beyond many people of a similar age. As compensation, she increased the warranty from two years to three, documents will be in the post.
I've had about ten contractors for various home improvements over the years. Only two were not problematic in one way or another. The roof and new windows. But I cant do those things myself, so it is what it is.
I've put it on my YouTube channel. I've taken down that full length mirror. It'll look odd as quite a bit of it will be appearing to the side of the new shoe cupboard that is coming on Monday. I'm looking for a rectangular mirror to take its place. Picture frame size to go above the cupboard. Most of the six old screw holes will not be visible, the two behind the mirror and two below the top of the cupboard. The two others I'll fill and I've some of the paint. Fortunately, I had the sense to take it off the wall before the last time the hall was decorated. So the paint behind the mirror is intact. The old mirror had no frame, so I made one out of hard wood mouldings. I'm looking for something with a plain wooden frame. Not having a lot of success.
Hey DHR - I looked for a post from you to see how things were going there. It's been on my mind. It is lucky that you are so resourceful and talented - what a disaster this would have been for a family without your skills. I appreciate you sharing this. We have some VERY steep stairs to our loft ( master bedroom) as well a wood stove up there that requires packing wood. We've been making future contemplations which include a stair lift or a an electric motor to power a wee elevator/dumb waiter with a railing. I appreciated seeing how the stair lift worked. 9 weeks is a long time. She will be eager to be in her own space, and I'm sure you will be relieved to have her home from hospital.
The cupboard was scheduled for "first drop" today. That apparently is 6.55am. Fortunately, I was up already. Calculations correct. Clear of the handle of the stairlift. First job. Fit a double socket for the lamp and my phone charger with a cable that passes through the back of the cupboard to the wall socket above the skirting board, (with enough cable, so the cupboard can be pulled out for cleaning or if anything drops behind it). There isn't room for a double adapter behind the cupboard as the front door wouldn't pass the corner of the cupboard. I won't have two things on the same plug. Then a trip to the wood yard (in rush hour traffic) to have three shelves cut from "oak faced" laminated chipboard. They cost an arm and a leg, but I like things to look right. The bit of offcut on the floor was a bit of laminate I cut to size, as my guide to ensure the brackets screwed in to the carcass were all the same height. You just sit the bracket on top and mark where you need to put the screws. Job finished and done by 10.15am. Top shelf is for shoe cleaning stuff, clothes brush and keys.
The mirror I'd ordered from John Lewis to go above the stairlift chair and new cupboard has just arrived. Most of it is down in the bottom corner. I had to send this photo to them to get a replacement.
