Expert Stairlift Installation in Bedford, PA

A straight stairlift installs in 3 to 4 hours. A curved lift takes a full day — the rail is pre-fabricated from a laser measurement taken during your assessment, so the install itself is assembly and calibration. Outdoor lifts on stoops or porch stairs typically finish in a morning. We schedule within a week of your assessment in most cases, and the crew cleans up every scrap before they leave.

No. The rail bolts directly into the stair treads — not the wall, not the banister, not the plaster. If your treads are original 1820s oak or pine, we use lag bolts sized to the tread thickness and fill any visible hardware with wood-toned caps. The drywall and trim stay intact. When the lift is eventually removed, the treads can be patched or refinished.

Yes, with the right seat model. Our standard stairlift fits staircases as narrow as 28 inches between the wall and the opposite railing. For tighter turns or unusually steep pitches common in Bedford's pre-Civil War housing stock, the assessment measures every dimension — rise, run, width, and head clearance — and we spec the rail accordingly. Most Federal-era Juliana Street homes clear the minimum without issue.

Our outdoor lifts carry an IP55 weather rating — sealed against dust, snow, and driving rain — and operate in temperatures down to -20°F. The rail is aluminum with a corrosion-resistant coating. The seat comes with a waterproof cover, and the battery stays warm enough to run through a multi-day outage. After installing outdoor units in Koontzville, Schellsburg, and the ridges around Shawnee State Park, we have not had a single weather-related callback.

Yes, through the HISA grant — Home Improvements and Structural Alterations. Service-connected veterans receive up to $6,800. Non-service-connected veterans receive up to $2,000. The grant is one-time, tax-free, and never repaid. The closest VA facility is the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center at 2907 Pleasant Valley Boulevard, Altoona, PA 16602 (phone 814-943-8164). Bedford County Veterans Affairs, located at the courthouse on South Juliana Street, helps with the application paperwork.

Yes, through the Community HealthChoices (CHC) Waiver. CHC is Pennsylvania's managed-care HCBS program — it covers home modifications including stairlifts, ramps, grab bars, and bathroom accessibility upgrades for individuals who need long-term services and are Medicaid-eligible. You must have a medical-necessity assessment, and the modification must enable you to remain in your home rather than enter a nursing facility. The three CHC managed-care plans serving Bedford County are AmeriHealth Caritas, PA Health & Wellness, and UPMC Community HealthChoices.

Pennsylvania's OPTIONS program provides assistance to residents age 60 and older who want to stay in their home. It is administered locally by the Huntingdon-Bedford-Fulton Area Agency on Aging, located at 240 South Wood Street in Bedford (phone 814-623-8148). OPTIONS can fund home modifications, including stairlifts, based on a needs assessment. Eligibility is income-dependent, and services vary by county allocation. We help coordinate the assessment during your stairlift evaluation.

No. Original Medicare (Parts A and B) does not cover stairlifts — they classify stairlifts as home modifications, not durable medical equipment. Some Medicare Advantage plans offer supplemental home-modification benefits, but coverage varies by plan and is usually capped. The main funding paths for Bedford residents are the VA HISA grant, Community HealthChoices Medicaid, and the OPTIONS program. We walk through every option at the assessment.