How to Design a Wheelchair Ramp to Build at Home

When you find out somebody's coming home from the hospital in a wheel chair, it's time to get into action. They might be in recovery for a while, but when they're ready to venture out and about--they'll need a way to get safely out and back into their home.
You should send somebody to check local building codes and while they're doing that--you start laying out what you're going to build.
The ramp has to be sturdy, safe, usable and be able to fit where it needs to be. Building Codes don't take money, space, and resources into account. I suggest you build what I call a "temporary" ramp.
My first temporary ramp is as good as new-5 years later.

You'll need measuring tape, pencil, graph paper and chalk.

Instructions

- 1
  On the graph paper, sketch a drawing of the house the ramp is going to enter. Measure from the walkway level to the floor level of the house--don't forget that the porch level will have to be raised to be even with the house floor.
  Take the distance from the walkway to the house floor in inches and multiply by feet. If it is 18 inches, your ramp will have to be 18 feet long, if it is 24 inches, the ramp will need to be 24 feet long. Don't worry--it seems long, but you can do it.
  1 inch rise in 12 in run is the minimum for a ramp to be used by a person in a wheel chair, any steeper and they'll need assistance to make it up. At hospitals and stores, they go 1" rise in 20" run--if you have the space, go a little longer.
  Now you have a sketch of your house and you know how long your ramp has to be--you gotta figure out where you're gonna put the ramp.
- 2
  Depending on your yard and walkways, you can make a straight shot (which, of course is the easiest), wrap around the house, or switch back (which is what I did in the one in the photo). Also, if your ramp is going up to a porch, you can make a second mini ramp from the porch to the house.
- 3
  ADA code recommends a 36" wide ramp with 60" x 60" landing. If you're building a ramp for a powered chair or one of those electric carts, you'll need that bigger landing for turning. My folks have been happy with the 32" wide ramp and 36" x 60" landing in the regular wheel chairs. ADA also requires handrails for any ramp higher than 6". My people have found that handrails on the ramp just get in the way of the chair and arms and that a lip along the edge of the ramp floor is sufficient.
- 4
  Once you have a design you think will work. Take your drawing, tape measure and chalk outside. Draw the layout on the ground and the profile on the house. Make sure you're not running into a window awning or blocking any walkways or doorways. Is there still room for steps?
  Visualize-adjust-visualize.
  Once you're happy, redraw your creation to scale on the graph paper. Do a neat enough job that you can figure out your lumber needs from the drawing.

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