Wellsburg, the Brooke County seat, has a 246-acre National Register Historic District with 693 contributing buildings, many of them in Greek Revival, Late Victorian and Federal styles. Up and down the river, in Follansbee, Beech Bottom and Windsor Heights, and on the higher ground around Hooverson Heights and Bethany, you find a mix of older single-family homes, duplexes, split-levels and small apartment buildings. Nearly all of them have stairs someone has climbed for decades.
This page walks through how those homes and the county's hills affect which stair lift makes sense, and where Brooke County families can look for help paying for one. If you are weighing a lift for yourself or a parent, start with the staircase you already have and work from there.
The historic downtown and the residential blocks around it in Wellsburg hold a lot of older housing, and older homes often have staircases with turns, landings or narrow treads. A straight flight with no turns usually takes a standard straight-rail lift. A stair that turns at a landing or curves along the wall needs a custom curved rail built to fit that exact staircase.
Before quoting anything, we measure the run, the width and where the stair meets the floor at the top and bottom. In homes this age, the details at the top landing often decide whether the chair can swivel off safely.
Split-level homes usually have two or more short flights instead of one long one. Sometimes one lift covers the flight that matters most, such as the one to the bedrooms, and sometimes each flight needs its own rail.
In duplexes and small apartment buildings, the stair may be shared or owned by someone else, so the owner needs to agree before anything is bolted to the steps. About 73.6% of Brooke County households own their homes, which makes these decisions simpler for most families.
Brooke County sits in the Northern Panhandle along the Ohio River, and away from the river valley the land turns hilly, rising to roughly 1,372 feet near Franklin. Homes built into those slopes often have exterior steps from the driveway or street up to the front door.
For those steps, an outdoor-rated stair lift built to handle weather is the usual answer. Where a wheelchair user needs to stay in the chair, a platform lift may fit better than a seat, depending on the space available.
About 25.6% of Brooke County's 9,475 residents are 65 or older, so many families here are thinking about how a parent will keep using the second floor. A stair lift lets someone stay in a familiar house instead of moving or converting a downstairs room.
If that includes someone in your family, the VA programs below are worth reading closely, because one of them excludes stair lifts and another does not name them.
None of the programs below lists stair lifts as a named benefit, and the VA HISA grant specifically excludes them. That does not rule out help. Medicaid's Aged and Disabled Waiver funds home adaptations through a member's plan of care, and USDA Section 504 offers low-interest repair loans and grants for eligible rural homeowners.
Statewide, families can also ask about the West Virginia Technology-Related Assistance Revolving Loan Fund. For veterans, the Wheeling Veterans Assistance Office at 1082 East Bethlehem Boulevard in Wheeling can be reached at (304) 238-1085. Call each program and ask directly whether a stair lift can be part of what they fund.
A Medicaid waiver for adults 18 and older who need nursing-facility level of care and choose to stay home; it includes Environmental Accessibility Adaptations-Home set by the member's plan of care, though stair lifts are not specifically listed. Call (866) 767-1575 or apply through the WV Bureau of Senior Services or the local Area Agency on Aging.
The local aging services provider at 948 Main Street in Follansbee offers in-home, nutrition and transportation programs for older Brooke County residents; no home-modification or stair lift fund is listed. Call (304) 527-3410.
This regional agency distributes state and federal aging-services funds to county providers across a 16-county area that includes Brooke County. It does not list a stair lift benefit.
Very-low-income homeowners in eligible rural areas can borrow up to $40,000 at 1% for up to 20 years, and homeowners 62 and older who cannot repay a loan may get grants up to $10,000, with up to $50,000 combined; stair lifts are not specifically mentioned. Call (304) 284-4868.
A community action agency serving low-income residents of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and Marshall counties with housing counseling, weatherization, a Repair and Replace program and USDA 504 referral; stair lifts are not listed. Call (304) 797-7733.
A VA grant of up to $6,800 for service-connected needs or $2,000 for other disabilities, used for medically necessary home changes, but it explicitly excludes stair glides and porch lifts. It can still help with other changes such as accessibility work elsewhere in the home.
Grants for veterans with severe service-connected disabilities, up to $126,526 for SAH and $25,350 for SHA in FY2026, usable up to 6 times; examples given are ramps and widening doorways, and stair lifts are not named.
Older adults
2100 Market St., Wheeling, 26003
Veterans
1082 East Bethlehem Boulevard, Wheeling, 26003
Usually, yes. A straight flight takes a standard rail, while a stair with a landing or curve needs a custom curved rail. We measure the width, run and top and bottom landings first to confirm the fit.
The HISA grant explicitly excludes stair glides. The SAH and SHA grants do not name stair lifts either way, so a veteran who qualifies should ask. The Wheeling Veterans Assistance Office is at (304) 238-1085.
The Aged and Disabled Waiver includes Environmental Accessibility Adaptations-Home, funded through each member's plan of care. Stair lifts are not specifically listed, so ask when you call (866) 767-1575.
USDA Section 504 offers grants up to $10,000 to very-low-income homeowners 62 and older in eligible rural areas who cannot repay a loan. Call (304) 284-4868 to check eligibility.
An outdoor-rated stair lift is built for exterior steps and weather. If the person uses a wheelchair, a platform lift may be the better choice, depending on the space.
The Brooke County Committee on Aging at 948 Main Street in Follansbee runs in-home, nutrition and transportation programs. Call (304) 527-3410.
Tell us about the stairs in your home and we will explain which lift fits, what it costs and how installation works.
