Life Has Its Ups and Downs.

• Author: ROTHENBERG, ROBERT S.
• Position: Installing an elevator in the home

An in-house elevator can be the solution to inability to climb stairs.

HOME OWNERSHIP has long been considered a major component of the American Dream, with a house providing visible evidence that one has "made it" in the world. Those living in split-level, colonial, raised-ranch, or other multilevel houses, though, may suddenly find themselves in circumstances where old age, ill health, or physical handicaps make their homes a challenge their bodies find it hard or even impossible to cope with. Ascending the flight(s) of stairs that once were bounded up effortlessly becomes too painful to deal with or totally out of the question.

In the past, the alternatives were limited. Families could move out into a single-level ranch-style house or an apartment; make alterations to their lifestyle so that the affected individual would be limited to the ground floor, with kitchen, bedroom, full bathroom, etc. all accessible on that level; or, in extreme cases where other family members could not cope with the physically challenged person's problem, place him or her in a facility where he or she could be looked after by trained professionals.

There is, however, a solution that is growing in feasibility and popularity to meet such special needs. The trick is to accept the challenge and overcome it. If stairs become insurmountable, find a way to circumvent the steps. One way is with a stairlift--a seat that rides along a rail on one wall of the flight of stairs--allowing the rider to ascend or descend in a seated position. This is difficult in a number of conditions--it is clumsy, say, to transfer a wheelchair-bound person to the stairlift, get the wheelchair up- or downstairs, and make the transfer again --and is not much help in allowing the individual to do things like bringing groceries, packages, and/or laundry from floor to floor. The logical alternative is to adapt what apartment house dwellers have utilized for years to move people and things up and down--an elevator.

If you haven't had to confront a situation such as those outlined above, an elevator is perhaps the last thing you would have thought of in the realm of home improvement. When a severely arthritic knee--which ultimately led to total joint replacement--made it impossible for my wife to climb steps without excruciating pain, our raised ranch became almost an opponent, draining us of the pleasure it had afforded us as we raised our family in it for more than three decades. The idea of...