Handicap Ramp for Ray

by pip lache in Workshop > Woodworking

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Handicap Ramp for Ray

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Still under construction will finish instructable soon!
Ya so this is the handicap ramp I made for my neighbor Ray. This ramp is made with 2 angles, one the obvious 10* angle, the other angle moves away from the wall to miss the bay window that pops out of the wall. This Ramp also features cove cuts & no use of brackets, & screws. At the end I'll include my ordeal with the city ordinance.
I start by clearing anything in the way & digging the holes, an hole digger (post hole or gas powered auger work best) or be like me & use the garden hose & a shovel.
(Pictures to come to show how to figure the ramp angle)

I building everything by making a square box. this project had an angle making it a trapezoid, but you can see the triangles against the wall keeping a 90* degree angle. & then everything was screwed in counter sunk, counter bored.

Using Jacks I got the angle I wanted & drew it on my posts (Picture to come) & cove cut the pieces out with a circular saw. I connected the post to the square I made earlier, Added a 2x4 on the outside for added strength & to make sure the board was locked in place & then cemented them in. A lock screw is included in every part of the process.
From here I cut & drilled in the floor boards
Locked them down with the guide rail over them

Made the hand rail & there it is!

City Ordinance & the proper way to build it
Normally I just go out & build stuff & skip all of the red tape city uses to stop a project, especially on the weekend when the government offices aren't open. But my neighbors are old & wanted it done the proper way, so I spent all night figuring out what the ADA requirements are & how to meet them. Turned in the plans the following morning to wait a week & a half to get a disapproval & go in make some revisions to make it legal, to which when I get finished am to call them for them to come out to check with a laser level to make sure the angle of the ramp is 4.5% or less. I studied angles in grade school, not percents, to us, that's 6.4* degrees.
Now when you see the ramps go from the porch to across driveway, have a rest pad if not many & then back. That is the correct way at ~6.4* or less. Business' & public places requiring 2.8% or 4.7*. This is the reason the ramps cost so much./
Now ADA says in section 405.1 that there are certain criteria that allows for a 2:12 (2 inch drop for every 12 inches) which would have made the ramp cost more than triple needing the ramp to go to the other end of the driveway, requiring a resting slab + railing for it all.
Not to meantion that when he got to the bottom of that ramp, the angle of the driveway is at 12* - so where is he to go from there? According to the city this man is trapped in his own home!
Naturally Ray said that is ridiculous, we'll just build it on the weekend & we did it for $305 in material over 2 days. & you can too.
Aside from the difficulties with the city, I pointed out that there are alot of Ramps that don't meet the cities requirement being green (just built) & that have an angle that doesn't meet the city code, one guy said he bought the house with it half a year ago, what's with that?

He said, they could have been built before 2010 & the regulation, & if he's not there to catch them building it then he can't write them a ticket...

Well, that's how it is from the horses mouth. & all the strong arm tactics of making you take it down if it came time to sell the house could be bull too, from the man 2 blocks down that just bought his house, has a fresh green ramp & said it came with it. So go on a night walk & ask around from people that have ramps how they did it.