From Mullan down through Wallace, Osburn, Kellogg, Smelterville and Pinehurst, Shoshone County's eight towns sit along the South Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River in the Silver Valley. Many of the houses here were built for mining families a century or more ago, and a lot of them climb a hillside or stack their rooms on more than one floor.
That history shapes what a stair lift job looks like here. A narrow staircase in an old Wardner house, a set of outdoor steps up to a front porch in Silverton, or the climb to a walk-up apartment in Kellogg each calls for a different kind of lift. This page walks through those home types and the programs worth calling about to help with the cost.
Wallace, the county seat, has a downtown historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The town lost roughly a third of its buildings in the Great Fire of 1910, and what survived in Wallace, Kellogg, Mullan, Osburn and Wardner tends to be old, compact and multi-story.
In houses like these, the stairs are often steep and tight. If the staircase runs in one straight line from bottom to top, a straight stair lift is usually the simplest fit. If it turns at a landing or winds partway up, a curved lift built to that exact staircase is the usual answer.
We measure the stair width, the turns and the landings before recommending anything. In an older home, that measurement matters more than the age of the house itself.
The county covers 2,635 square miles of mountainous panhandle terrain, with large parts of it inside the Clearwater, Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe National Forests. Homes built into hillsides often have stair entries both inside and outside.
For steps from the driveway or yard up to the door, an outdoor stair lift built for weather exposure may be the right choice. Where someone uses a wheelchair, a platform lift can carry the chair itself instead of asking the rider to transfer to a seat.
Ranch-style homes may keep daily living on one floor, so the stairs that matter most can be the ones outside. Walk-up apartments and low-rise buildings raise a different question: shared stairways usually need the building owner's approval before anything is installed.
About 19.9% of residents are 65 or older, and 69.9% are homeowners. Owning the home makes a stair lift much easier to arrange, since there is no landlord to ask.
Adult children helping a parent from out of the area can start those calls on the parent's behalf.
With about 5 people per square mile, the Silver Valley towns are far apart from the larger service hubs. Contractors traveling from Coeur d'Alene or Spokane can face longer service and installation wait times to reach them.
If a hospital discharge or a recent fall is driving the decision, call early. Getting the stairs measured sooner gives more room to line up funding and a install date.
Veterans with a qualifying service-connected disability can look at three VA home-modification grants. The VA's public pages do not name stair lifts among covered work, so ask directly whether one would qualify in your case.
For residents 65 or older, or with a disability, the Idaho Medicaid Aged and Disabled (A&D) Waiver lists environmental accessibility adaptations among its services. Stair lifts are not named specifically, but services are set through an individualized care plan.
The Area Agency on Aging of North Idaho serves Shoshone County and can point older adults and caregivers toward local help. The Shoshone County Veterans Service office at 700 Bank Street, Suite 120, in Wallace can help veterans with VA paperwork at (208) 752-1264. Other statewide options worth asking about include the Idaho Property Tax Reduction (Circuit Breaker) and VA Benefits for Veterans (HISA + Prosthetics).
A federal grant of up to $126,526 (FY2026) for veterans with certain severe service-connected disabilities who own or will own the home; the VA names ramps and widened doorways as examples but does not list stair lifts. Call (800) 827-1000 to ask whether a lift would qualify.
A federal grant of up to $25,350 (FY2026) for veterans with qualifying service-connected disabilities such as loss of use of both hands or severe burns; stair lifts are not listed among covered work. Call (800) 827-1000 for eligibility.
For SAH- or SHA-eligible veterans living temporarily in a family member's home, with up to $50,961 or $9,100 (FY2026) depending on eligibility; stair lifts are not listed. Call (800) 827-1000.
A Medicaid waiver for Idaho residents 65 or older or with a recognized disability who meet income and care-level rules; its services include environmental accessibility adaptations, though stair lifts are not named. Call (877) 456-1233.
An information and referral agency for older adults, typically 60 and up, and caregivers in ten northern Idaho counties, including Shoshone; it does not list a specific stair lift program. Call (208) 667-3179.
Older adults
2120 Lakewood Drive, Suite B, Coeur d'Alene, 83814
Veterans
700 Bank Street, Suite 120, Wallace, 83873
Often, yes. Many homes in the Silver Valley mining towns are old, compact and multi-story, so we measure stair width, turns and landings first. Straight staircases usually take a straight lift, and stairs with turns need a curved lift built to fit.
Homes built into hillsides here often have exterior stair entries. An outdoor stair lift made for weather exposure can handle those steps, and a platform lift is an option for someone who uses a wheelchair.
The VA's SAH, SHA and TRA grant pages do not name stair lifts among covered work. Call (800) 827-1000, or the Shoshone County Veterans Service in Wallace at (208) 752-1264, and ask whether one would qualify for you.
The Idaho Medicaid Aged and Disabled (A&D) Waiver covers people 65 or older, or with a disability, who meet income and care-level rules. Its service list includes environmental accessibility adaptations. Call (877) 456-1233 to ask how a stair lift might fit a care plan.
The Area Agency on Aging of North Idaho serves Shoshone County and works with adults typically 60 and up and their caregivers. Their office is at 2120 Lakewood Drive, Suite B, in Coeur d'Alene, and the phone is (208) 667-3179.
Silver Valley towns are spread across mountainous terrain, and contractors traveling from Coeur d'Alene or Spokane can face longer wait times to reach them. Calling early helps if you need the lift by a certain date.
Tell us about the stairs in your home and we will explain which lift fits, what it costs and how installation works.
