Steps for Zimmer Frame Access
By Andy the stuff doer
My dad was confined to home whilst his leg is on the mend. The only reason being, he needs to use a zimmer frame to get around.
There was no reason why he can’t use the zimmer frame outside, it just the steps out of the house he can’t manage safely. They aren’t deep enough to fit the legs of the zimmer frame and one step was too high.
After some thought we came up with a quick and easy solution.
Simple home made steps for zimmer frame mobility
This simple step adaptor took an evening to build and 15 minutes to fit. A cheap, temporary access solution to overcome the only obstacle to getting out and about.
More details are here – Zimmer Steps.
Your comments and suggestions are most welcome.
Nice job Andy! Hade to make a wheelchair access ramp for my neighbour recently, makes a world of difference to the user that they can get over the obsticles un-aided.
Still waiting for the stained glass window and door fitting?
Thats the trouble when you publish something, …we will all pester you till its finnished :-{)
Made my door thanks to your article, just working out my wedges before glue-up. Cant thank you enough.
Gordon
I’m thinking your next project might be a tree house in that woodland of yours.
Gordon, Thanks for the comments.
For such a quick job, helping someone out with an access problem is very rewarding.
The stained glass is out of my hands, thats my excuse any way. That way it gives me more time to half finish loads of other jobs. I’m sure your door will be finished before mine.
Great minds etc. I’ve just been looking through a book all about tree houses. I’ve got to get some logs out for burning this winter first though, so current quicky is a 2 wheel tractor, scrapheap challange style.
Cheers
Andy
Such a simple solution!
Was there a particular reason you didn’t opt for a ramp, e.g. stability reasons?
Impressive (and speedy) work,
Tim.
Hi Tim, A ramp needs a very shallow angle to be safe. This means it has to fairly long and would take up a lot of space. So in the situation the double step was the simplest solution.
Cheers, Andy
MyLocal authority have installed a metal platform with two metre square platforms to the drive on one side with a gate and two steps for the able on the other. The entire set up looks like a cattle court and cost £3000.00 of which I have to pay £1727.00. how I wish I had seen your system first. But I intend to bring your adapted steps to their notice. We signed up for this system on the recommendation of the occupational therapist whilst we were in an extremely vulnerable position, as my husband had just had a stroke. Having come home from hospital he was able to use our existing steps. I hope this may be a warning to those in a similar situation. When I asked what happens if either of us eventually requires a wheelchair the answer was ” we will take the platforms away and put in a ramp but I have since discovered that this will be at more cost to myself. The saddest part of all this is that my husband was a chief engineer and an adaptation would have been peanuts to him before his stroke.
Hi Fiona, That sounds like an extreme cost for to solve a similar problem, a builder could have constructed a permenant set of wide tread steps for much less. The local authority might have to work to all sorts of regulations with guarding and gates, hand rails etc. to avoid all potential risks but it all sounds like nice work if you can get it for the contractor.
From you and your husbands point of view, in retrospect, it must be realy irksome. But you can’t regret the decision you made at the time if that was the only option they gave that meant he wasn’t a prisoner in his own home.
It would be interesting to hear what the LA and Occupational Therapist’s opinion on the step adapter. If something like this would be acceptable it might be worth developing in to a product and to make sure the right people knew about it. I’d be happy to hear from them.
For now I hope your husband is reccuperating well and enjoying the freedom to get about a bit and that the wheel chair access problem is far in the future.
All the best
Andy