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The house is being loaned to us and my 85 year old mother won’t be able to climb up and down. Buying one for a week’s use would be cost prohibitive.

Are you renting the vacation home? You'll need to get permission to do anything first and foremost.

Are you talking about outside entry stairs? Please consider portable ramps but they are made for wheelchairs.
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Reply to Geaton777
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Sandra2424 May 10, 2026
We rented a portable ramp for a visitor and it worked well. They delivered it and set it up at our house. My husband was able to push her in and out using a wheelchair. When she left, they took it away.
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I Googled it and came up with this:

Stairlift rentals for vacation homes offer a cost-effective, temporary mobility solution, typically costing $175–$450 per month for straight staircases. Rentals usually require a 3-month minimum, including installation/removal, with fast setup by technicians, allowing for safe access without purchasing equipment permanently.

A track needs to be installed, that is, bolted to the existing stairs, assuming there is a vertical support strong enough to attach to.

I would consider a different alternative for a week's stay. Consider that this is not a suitable vacation home for your 85 year old mother, if she can't make it up or down the stairs.
Does she walk with help? Someone can help her up the stairs. Or consider renting a ramp, bearing in mind that a wheelchair ramp requires a lot of space and a long ramp to create a gradual incline of several feet.
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Reply to CaringWifeAZ
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If it's outside you can usually find porch/platform lifts for rent pretty easily, interior stair lifts require installation and likely not worth the expense.
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Reply to cwillie
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You may consider finding a b and b or short term stay hotel that you could rent for a month or so to accommodate some of your accessibility needs. There are options of just renting rollaway beds that might be able to be placed on a single level if that is an option for you.
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Reply to Senior8
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Probably not.
You can purchase a portable ramp that might make it easier.
If the stairs are to the front of the house a ramp might work.
If the stairs are in the house so she can get to a bed room maybe move a bed to the main floor so she will not have to climb stairs.
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Reply to Grandma1954
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How many stairs? A mobile ramp may be sufficient for a few steps. If a full flight, then you may want to reconsider staying there if there are mobility restrictions.
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Reply to AMZebbC
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I would run this by the person who is loaning out the house to you. Theymay not appreciate a track being installed if that is what needs to happen.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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Is this an elevated home? Like it’s in an area of the coastal US, where new builds have to be raised to a certain height i? An area where it’s 1st floor has to raised 8’ - 32’ above the land Base Flood Elevation?

If it’s this type of home there will be a rental place that rents “lifts”, e.g. small scissor lift with a caged platform. Either it plugs into an outlet on the property or has its own small generator. United Rental does these and they are in several states. The actual property owner will need to do the rental; it probably will have separate insurance policy costs.

You need to make sure that there is an open area for where the cage door opening of the lift meets an open part of a porch, landing or deck. If your mom has cognition issues, someone will have to ride the lift with her as you have to stay standing and press the buttons to make it work. fwiw we had a scissor lift when rebuilding after Katrina, immensely helpful till stairs with railings were finally done.
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Reply to igloo572
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