If this is for out doors hopefully you have the room. check with different sources to get the proper incline needs.

Thanks, Kevin!

My neighbor has the same situation and they installed an electric "escalator" for the wheelchair. Seems to work well. Good luck!

Now that's an idea I haven't heard of -- Thanks, K!

It goes over the regular stairs to the side (so there's room to walk up and down too). They put the wheelchair on it and it goes up and down.

I'm in the exact same situation. My options were: take out half of my garage downstairs and one whole bedroom to install an interior elevator; install a wheelchair ramp outside in the front or back of my home; rent a portable exterior wheelchair lift; install a Stair-Glide over the existing stairs. My main floor was about 10 feet above ground level in the front. The wheelchair ramp would have had to be 120 feet long and the front picture window would have had to be replaced with a doorway. Not doable. The wheelchair lift would have still required regarding of the front, the window to door change; or I could have had a wheelchair lift go to the back of the house which would have required extensive regarding of the lawn. Not doable. I ended up having a Stair-Glide installed over my interior steps. It had to be custom-made, $13,000, but that was the least expensive solution. The elevator and remodel to accommodate it would have been around $70,000.

Another idea for you would be to have a Certified "Aging In Place" specialist come to your home and discuss your interior and exterior options. You can find one through the National Association of Home Builders. I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere and there was one here. He was also able to plug me in to dealers of all kinds of ability access equipment that you never knew existed. The CAP specialist charged me by the hour to assess my home; the dealer came to my home for free to discuss options. Both were extremely helpful. Both the CAP specialist and the dealer told me that the best solution would be to move to a ranch home, but due to time constraints, I couldn't. I needed a quick fix.

Incidentally, the dealer had other things I could use, like special door hinges that widened the entrance to doorways about 2 inches without having to remodel the door so that I could get my husband's wheelchair through bedroom doors. The hinge cost about $6.00. Call your local medical equipment store and ask them to tour your home and suggest fixes and the costs associated with those fixes.

The CAPS specialist designed an ADA bathroom remodel for me and put me in touch with a reputable contractor. I am very pleased with the remodel so far. Good luck and I hope this was helpful.

One more thing....my husband is required to come into the home through the ground level garage and ride the Stair-Glide up the interior stairs to the main level. It requires that I open the big garage door that is supposed to let a car in and out of the garage, but it was the solution that worked for us. I don't have to worry that the exterior stairs to the main entrance are a problem for him because of the alternate entrance through the garage door.

THANKS!

Hi we hope you have solved the issue for your husband. If not their are a couple options such as a stair lift, a vertical platform lift, home elevators, or even Pneumatic Vacuum Elevator. If you are in the New York area come check us out our Website

OLD DISCUSSION

I also have a split level home that is undergoing renovation so I'm trying to solve this problem for my father who comes to stay with us for a several weeks a year with my mom. It's 5 steps from the guest bedroom suite up to main floor and the stairs are only 3.5 feet wide. How long does a ramp have to be to make the wheelchair pushable with our help? What did the author of this question end up doing? I'm curious.