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Wheelchair Access Ramp Construction Plans Tour
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Jan 25, 2024
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View Video Transcript
0:00
In this video, I want to give you a tour of the detailed plans for an access ramp or wheelchair ramp that I designed for this course
0:10
There's no shortage of general drawings about ramps on the internet and other places
0:17
but there are very few that provide the kind of details you need to actually build one, and that's what this plan is all about
0:25
Everything's been thought through, all the parts fit together in a logical way, and everything you need to know to build a proper access ramp is right here
0:35
These plans are printable, so you can get a hard copy and take it to your building site
0:42
This video is all about a tour of the details that you'll want to know about
0:49
Starting with the foundation, I'm showing two different approaches here. Right here we have the concrete pier approach, which is what I recommend for decks in general
1:00
and that's the kind of thing you'd want to use if your access ramp was going to be completely permanent
1:06
Not all ramps are. Sometimes you know that the person living in the house might be there another four, five, six years
1:16
and you don't necessarily want to have the ramp there all the time
1:20
So getting rid of concrete piers after the fact is kind of difficult
1:24
but that's why I've included this option here, where the wooden post extends all the way into the ground
1:32
and it's resting on some concrete that's been blooped down into the hole after it was dug
1:39
just as a solid footing, maybe five or six inches deep. The beauty of this is that if you do want to take the ramp apart, you can just pull those posts out
1:50
A machine could, any kind of a machine with a loader, could grip onto the top and pull it out
1:55
and you fill in the hole, and it's basically disappeared. So two different foundation options to consider
2:03
One of the main features of any ramp is the slope, of course, and you need to get that right
2:10
Down here you'll see the maximum slope, so the steepest that an access ramp can be is this ratio of one to twelve
2:18
So twelve units of horizontal run for every one unit of vertical rise
2:26
That's as steep as a ramp can be by law in most places
2:31
If you've got the room, then it's better to spread that out a little bit and have it even shallower
2:37
One and twenty is a very nice slope, very safe, and these are the numbers that inform everything else that you do as you're building your ramp
2:50
Another major part of the ramp is the landing. Most ramps need a landing because there's just not enough room to extend a landing-less ramp out in any straight direction
3:06
So this allows you to turn corners. It also makes it safer, too, because the slope is broken up by at least one landing, which can make things safer
3:17
The landing's very important because it's got to be quite solid. In this particular illustration, you can see there's the downward ramp is resting against the landing
3:29
This upward side that goes down to the ground level is also resting on the side
3:34
so you need to invest some effort to making it solid. So we've got some six-by-six posts here
3:40
That's what I recommend for everywhere on the design. You could get by with something smaller, like a four-by-four, maybe, but it's quite a jump down
3:51
The six-by-six is necessary, though, so that you can cut these notches
3:56
Here, there's a notch here on this face of this post, and there's also a notch on the other side
4:01
And that allows you to install some what I call perimeter joists here in this design
4:08
Because the joists aren't just bolted to the side of the post, but they're actually inset
4:14
they're resting on a ledge of wood down here, and that makes it very strong
4:18
So you can see the same sort of thing here from the top
4:24
So we have the posts. There's one here and one here. And you can see the perimeter joists. This is one here, and this is another one here
4:32
And they're let in, as the carpenters say, they're let in to a notch in the side of the posts
4:39
And that makes a very solid platform from which to build the rest of the ramp
4:44
Now turn your attention to the bottom of the ramp, so the place where it would rest on the ground
4:49
There's a couple of things going on here you need to know about. You don't just want the edges of these ramp joists to rest directly on the soil
4:59
I mean, it's going to look fine at first, but it is also going to sink slowly into the ground
5:04
Things usually do, unless they have some kind of a proper base. And in this case, that is these patio slabs here
5:11
You're going to need at least two, probably three, to get the width you need
5:18
If I was building one of these, I'd use what's called foundation slabs
5:22
which are thicker than patio slabs, maybe twice as thick. And they're reinforced, so they're quite strong
5:28
And they're meant for resting heavy things onto the soil. So, the reason these patio slabs don't extend all the way to the tapered end of the ramp
5:39
is because if they did, you wouldn't be able to drive deck screws down
5:44
through the deck boards into the joists, because the screws would go through this thin part of the ramp joists
5:52
and wouldn't have any place to go, because it would be hitting the masonry
5:56
So, the patio slabs don't go all the way to the end
6:00
I do recommend a piece of pressure-treated wood along the bottom here
6:05
to kind of tie everything together, to tie all the ramp joists together
6:10
But leave the very tapered end unsupported by anything but the ground
6:15
so that those deck screws can extend down through. You'll probably also have to use some construction adhesive on here
6:22
because there's not a lot of wood for those screws to bite into once they've gone through the deck boards
6:27
And you'll need to secure that properly at the bottom end. Another thing I'd like to turn your attention to are the fascia boards
6:37
So, that's these boards here that define the side of the ramp
6:41
If you look at the top view, you can see that the fascia boards extend in a continuous line
6:50
In this case, that's the side of the ramp. And it meshes nicely with the fascia board on the landing
6:57
And it just kind of wraps around, and it creates a nice final edge
7:03
And the way the framing is structured, it is a continuous run
7:10
from the side of the ramp here to the side of the landing
7:15
Now, one other thing to notice here, the reason I designed it this way
7:20
was so that we would have room for the joist hangers to support the ramp joists
7:27
So, this is the top view here, and this little angled piece here
7:32
is the top view of the edge of a joist hanger, which is a metal bracket that supports joists in applications like this
7:41
If this joist was all the way out to the edge, we wouldn't be able to secure this side of the joist hangers
7:49
But by insetting it, we've got a nailing surface here and a nailing surface here for the joist hangers
7:56
And we still get the nice continuous run along the sides. So, it all works out nicely, and there's no wasted wood
8:05
It just works out perfectly, and you get a nice smooth-looking edge
8:09
Another thing to pay attention to now as you're understanding the design
8:14
is the railings. The support posts for the railings extend right down to the foundation
8:22
either the top of the concrete pier or all the way down into the ground
8:26
And that continuous post is very important for a solid railing. The design here has two horizontal or sort of horizontal members
8:37
There's the top handrail, and many ramps just call it a day there
8:43
without anything extra. But having the midrail makes things safer. It's not like there's a whole lot of danger of anyone going through
8:54
underneath that handrail, but why take the chance for an extra, you know, a few lengths of 2x4 applied to the outside of the posts
9:04
You've got a nice, safer arrangement like that, too. While you're looking at the railing, take a look here, too
9:13
This board here, this is the top edge of the fascia board, the 2x12 fascia board
9:18
And notice how it extends up higher than the deck boards. This is a requirement in a lot of places
9:25
so that nothing can ever roll off the edge of the ramp
9:29
The rim is there to contain any wheels or crutches or walker legs
9:36
that might get too close to the edge. It's just not going to fall off
9:40
That's why the fascia needs to be as wide as it is
9:44
Now, there are lots of other details in the plans here. If you're going to go ahead and build a ramp at your place
9:51
it will, by definition, be a kind of custom job because every house, every lot is a little bit different
9:58
The plans here give you the building blocks of what you need to know
10:02
in order to do that customizing for your situation. But if you run into any issues, just contact me
10:09
We'll figure things out together following these plans, but maybe we'll have to come up with a few modified details
10:16
and that's what I'm here for, so feel free to contact me
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