Access Chair Wheel Article

Building a Makeshift Wheelchair Ramp

You do not need to be a professional or have a professional in order to produce and install a wheelchair ramp for your house. It is very easy to do, but all it takes is a little time and effort. It will be well worth your while, and in the end, you'll feel proud of your accomplishment, and may even end up saving some valuable money.

The first thing that needs to be done in organizing the wheelchair ramp is to gather materials. The materials that will be needed is either a flat piece of plywood, approximately 6 feet in length, or a heavier type of wood could be used to ensure durability. Whatever strength is desired, that is the type that should be purchased. You will also need screws and heavy cinder blocks in order to start building the ramp.

Before actually putting the wheelchair ramp into place, one first needs to consider how many steps they will be taking the wheelchair up. Six feet of wood was suggested previously because an average number of steps on an outside porch is about 3 steps, so six feet would suffice. If there are more than 3 or 4 steps, than perhaps more length should be substituted. But once the number of steps has been figured out, the wheelchair ramp is ready to be built.

Next, bring all the materials that you have out to the steps that you're making the ramp for. Place the 6 foot piece of wood over the steps and size up the amount of wood that is needed to completely cover the entire area of the steps. The wood should fit diagonally up the steps so that they are all covered, but the wood will need to be cut off at the point right before the landing of the top step. So the edge of the wood will come to the edge of the top step, and at that point, it should be sawed off.

After the wood is completely sawed off at the top edge of the top step, the cinder blocks can now be put into place. First, lay the wood piece on the steps so that they're covered. The cinder blocks need to be placed directly behind the wooden piece on each and every step. For example, if there are 3 steps (the top landing included), a block needs to be placed on the ground behind the wood, on the first step in the same manner, and also on the second step. The third step is considered the top landing so no cinder block is needed. The purpose of the cinder blocks is to re-inforce the wood piece and prevent it from cracking or breaking when rolling the wheelchair up the ramp. If it's desired, the screws can be drilled into the cinder blocks by going through the wooden plank. That will only create more re-inforcement, which will make the wheelchair ramp even stronger.

After those steps have been completed, the wheelchair ramp is ready to be tested out. A suggestion would be that a person not be in the chair at first testing, but place something very heavy in the wheelchairs' seat instead. The wheelchair should roll up the wheelchair ramp with ease, and you will have been successful at this building of the wheelchair ramp! Victory!