Preakness carries a name that's said to come from a Native American phrase meaning something like Quail Woods, and the historically wooded, gently rolling terrain across its 5.70 square miles inside Wayne Township still explains why. With 22.9 percent of the roughly 18,487 residents here 65 or older and a median age of 45.6, a lot of the split-levels and colonials in this part of Passaic County were built for families who are now aging in place with stairs they didn't plan around. That's usually when a stairlift stops being a hypothetical and becomes the thing that keeps someone in the house.
Why a stairlift installed in Preakness, NJ is planned around the way this specific community lives, not stamped out from a one-size-fits-all template.
Preakness sits at about 213 feet of elevation across 5.70 square miles within Wayne Township in Passaic County. Its name is said to derive from a Native American term translated as Quail Woods, reflecting the area's historically wooded terrain.
Source ↗Preakness has an older population profile with a median age of 45.6 years, and 22.9 percent of its roughly 18,487 residents are 65 or older, indicating a significant aging-in-place senior presence.
Source ↗Every home is different. Here are six recent installs from Passaic County. Tap any project to see the full gallery, tech specs, and the story behind it.
The Preakness Valley section — 1960s split-levels and colonials near the golf course — accounts for most of our work here, where oak-tread stairs with a half-flight turn are the common setup. Around Packanack Lake, homes mix original 1940s cottages with newer builds, both with steep interior staircases. Pines Lake and Lionshead Lake bring raised ranches and two-story colonials — the raised ranches often need an outdoor lift at the side entry. In Old Wayne and Hoffman Grove, older colonials have stairwells under 36 inches, where a slim-rail model makes the difference. Fayette Avenue mid-century homes take straight-rail installs.
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Compare Our Preakness Stairlifts
Select a stairlift on the leftabove to see full specs, pricing, and how it compares to the alternatives.
Stairlift Types
Most common · From $2,800
Fits the oak-tread colonials and carpeted split-levels that make up most of the Preakness Valley section. A 13- to 16-foot rail bolts to the treads — no wall work, no drywall repair.
vs Curved: 3x less expensive and installed in one visit. vs Home elevator: 10-15x less cost and no construction. vs Moving bedroom downstairs: Keeps your home exactly as it is.
Custom-built · From $9,000
Made for the half-flight turns in the 1960s Preakness Valley split-levels and the 90-degree bends at Packanack Lake upper landings. Laser-measured on site, rail bent to your exact stair.
vs Straight with landing break: One smooth ride instead of transferring seats. vs Home elevator: Half the cost, no construction permits, no shaft needed. vs Moving: A fraction of what selling and relocating costs.
Weatherproof · From $4,000
IP55-rated with a sealed motor and weatherproof rail cover. Built for Passaic County winters — freeze-thaw cycles, January lows in the teens, around 28 inches of annual snow on the raised-ranch side entries near Lionshead Lake.
vs Standard stairlift outdoors: Won't rust, seize, or void its warranty. vs Exterior ramp: No permits, no concrete work, no lost yard. vs Home entry renovation: Installed in a single day.
600 lb Rated · From $5,050
Wider seat, reinforced rail, and a higher-torque DC motor with battery backup, rated to 600 lb — double the standard capacity for homeowners who need extra support.
vs Standard stairlift: Extra capacity and wider seat for maximum comfort. vs Custom furniture lift: A fraction of the price with faster install. vs Home elevator: Much lower cost with the same weight confidence.
When you call All American Stairlifts, you'll speak directly with a licensed installer who lives and works in Passaic, NJ.
Preakness Stairlift Specialist · 15+ years of experience
(800) 965-0350 [email protected]Proven local experience. Licensed. Insured. No surprises.
How jobs tend to go for Preakness homeowners, where about 19% of residents are 65 or older. Drag to scroll, or use the arrows and dots below.
Luis installed a straight lift for my 81-year-old mother in our Preakness Valley colonial. The stairs are oak — original from 1964 — and I worried the rail would damage them. He bolted it directly to the treads and it's rock solid. You'd never know it touched the wood.
Our Packanack Lake home has a curved staircase with a 90-degree turn at the top landing. Luis was the only one who measured with a laser on site instead of just taking photos. The rail follows the bend exactly and the seat parks out of the upstairs hallway.
We needed an outdoor lift for the side entry of our Lionshead Lake raised ranch — 12 stone steps that get icy every winter. It came through last winter's freeze-thaw without a single issue. The weather cover sheds the snow right off.
Our Pines Lake cottage has the tightest staircase you've ever seen — stone treads, barely 34 inches wide. Luis came out, measured everything, and said the slim-rail model would fit. He was right, and my mother walks past it without a problem.
Luis walked us through the MLTSS funding step by step — I had no idea NJ FamilyCare covered stairlifts. He knew exactly which forms we needed and who to call at the managed-care office. Saved us thousands on the install at our Fayette Avenue home.
My husband uses a wheelchair after a stroke, and we needed a platform lift, not a seat, for our Hoffman Grove split-level. The install took about five hours. It's been eight months and zero problems — the yellow-edged deck is easy for him to board.
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Straight Stairlift, Standard Use
Estimated: $3,200 – $6,250
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Compare your options honestly. A stairlift is the only choice that keeps you in the home you love, at a fraction of every alternative.
| Your option | Upfront cost | 10-year total |
|---|---|---|
| Stairlift Installation Best value Professional install by All American Stairlifts, Preakness NJ | $3,200 – $17,100 One-time | $3,200 – $17,100 Lifetime use |
| Moving to a single-story home Selling, buying, closing, moving costs in the Passaic market | $50,000+ Plus relocation stress | $50,000+ Loss of community ties |
| Assisted living facility Passaic County average, private room | $4,500/mo Recurring | $540,000 And rising annually |
| In-home caregiver (8 hrs/day) Licensed home health aide, Florida market rates | $6,000/mo Recurring | $730,000+ Before wage increases |
| Home elevator installation Requires shaft construction, permits, months of work | $25,000 to $50,000 Plus renovation | $28,000 to $55,000 Includes maintenance |
Sources: AARP Cost of Care Survey 2025, Genworth Cost of Care Study, and New Jersey Department of Elder Affairs. Figures reflect Preakness metro averages.
Most Preakness homeowners qualify for at least one of these programs. We help you apply at no cost.
Up to $6,800 for service-connected veterans and their surviving spouses. One-time, tax-free, no repayment.
Eligibility: Veterans & surviving spousesHome & Community-Based Services Waiver may cover up to 100% of installation for income-qualified residents.
Eligibility: Medicaid + medical needWith a doctor's letter of medical necessity, the full cost is deductible on Schedule A as a qualified medical expense.
Eligibility: Taxpayers who itemize0% and low-APR plans through our lending partners. Soft credit pull, instant approval, no prepayment penalty.
Eligibility: All homeownersNot sure which applies? Our local specialist will walk you through every program you might qualify for during your free home assessment. Get started here →
Straight answers about cost, installation, and funding, no sales fluff. Browse by topic or call us if you have a question that isn't here.
Most of what I install in Preakness is either a straight lift for a single flight or a split-level unit for the staggered stairs common in this part of Wayne Township — those run in different price ranges because the split-level version needs two shorter rails and sometimes a landing transition instead of one continuous run. With homeownership around 70 percent here, most of these are owner-financed jobs rather than landlord-installed, so I walk people through straight-vs-curved pricing on the first visit rather than quoting blind over the phone.
Less common than you'd think. Preakness skews toward split-level and colonial construction, so a lot of the 'curved' quotes I get turn out to be split-level jobs once I actually measure the staircase — two straight runs with a landing, not one curved rail. True curved stairs show up more in the older colonials near the county line. Either way, the quote depends on the actual rail length and number of turns, not just the house style.
A straight-rail install in one of Preakness's typical single-family homes is usually a half-day job. The split-level staircases that are common in this part of Wayne Township take a bit longer because we're fitting two rail sections and sometimes a swivel seat at the landing, so I plan a full day for those rather than promise a half-day and run over.
Sometimes, and it's worth mentioning up front. Preakness sits at roughly 213 feet of elevation and a fair number of homes here still have the uneven, tree-lined approach the town's Quail Woods namesake suggests. That doesn't change the stairlift install itself, but if there's an outdoor step or landing involved in the path to the stairs, I note it during the walkthrough so there aren't surprises on install day.
The Passaic County Housing Rehabilitation Program, funded through CDBG, offers a forgivable loan up to $7,500 per home and its eligible-work list explicitly includes ramps and handicap improvements like safety bars — stairlifts aren't itemized by name, so I'd call the county at 973-569-4032 and ask directly whether your specific project qualifies before assuming it's covered. It's administered out of the Passaic County Dept. of Planning & Economic Development.
For New Jersey seniors who aren't on Medicaid, Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving (JACC) is a state-funded program that can help with home modifications up to $929.88 a month, capped at $11,158.56 a year — that's a separate track from the Passaic County program and worth asking about if income limits knock you out of the county loan. If you are on Medicaid, NJ Medicaid MLTSS can cover a stairlift through a home and community-based services plan of care with no fixed dollar cap, it's just tied to what your approved plan allows.
Yes, through two different tracks. The Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) benefit covers up to $6,800 for a service-connected condition or $2,000 if it's non-service-connected, and that's meant for structural changes tied to the home. Separately, VA Prosthetics can prescribe and fund the stairlift itself with no fixed cap, based on medical necessity — the two benefits work together for a lot of veterans rather than one covering everything.
Preakness Stairlift Specialist · 15+ yrs
I've worked on more split-level staircases in this stretch of Wayne Township than I can count, and Preakness has plenty of them — the half-flight layout trips people up when they're pricing a lift for the first time, because it's often two shorter rail runs instead of one straight shot, and that changes the number. The lots out here still carry some of that old wooded character the town's name refers to, so driveways and entry steps aren't always flat either. I look at the whole path into the house, not just the staircase.
Preakness homes were built for families who planned to stay — colonials from the 1940s, split-levels from the 1960s, raised ranches from the 1970s. The stairs in these houses worked fine at 45. At 75, not so much.
A stairlift lets you keep the home you raised your kids in — the backyard where the grandkids play, the lake view from the Packanack dock, the morning walk through Preakness Valley Park — without the stairs being a daily obstacle. Call Luis at (800) 965-0350 for a free in-home assessment, and you'll get an exact quote and a straight answer on what fits your stairs.
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