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Post by Tucson Grower on Dec 31, 2021 13:28:26 GMT -6
Around 20 years ago, when Diane first became paraplegic, my brother and I built a wheelchair ramp for her. I made it 4 feet wide, had to cut a new gate into the side of our covered back patio, where I built a 6 foot x 12 foot landing (jutting out North), then the ramp, at a 90 degree, (going West), another landing - for another direction change, (going North again) with another small segment of ramp - going down to a homemade concrete landing pad, about 10 feet wide, North-South and about 20 feet long, East-West. I didn't want any problems with the landing pad, so I went into overkill, excavating the pad site, about 16 inches deep, built up a matrix of 1/2 inch rebar and chicken wire for reinforcement, then a buddy with a large truck helped me to haul in the concrete, which I had pretinted a nice golden-tan color.
I used 3/4 inch thick sheets of normal plywood, but they eventually degraded, and a few years ago I replaced them with the pressure treated version.
The first sheet of this plywood, at the very top of the ramp, would flex about 1/4 inch at its bottom edge. So recently EMTs, providing us service, expressed concern about this. It was pointless to try to explain to them about the construction that went into the superstructure of the ramp, and that there was no need for concern, so instead, yesterday I lifted that segment of ramp. Underneath, where the superstructure was pressure treated 2x8 joists, with 2x8 cross braces every 18 inches - I added additional cross braces between every pair already there, then replaced the plywood ramp panel and deck-screwed it into place. I'm sure the EMTs won't have our ramp to complain about any more.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2021 16:34:02 GMT -6
You did a good job. Never mind the complains from others. Most folks have no clue.
We are literally ripping up the kitchen floors right now. I'd be in there with them, but there's not enough room. They found the joists at 24", 27", 14", 14" and another 24". We're scratching our heads. We have 2 refrigerators sitting in there. The first two joists listed above run parallel and off center from the edge of the kitchen sink. It's a wonder I didn't fall through.
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Post by macmex on Dec 31, 2021 16:34:29 GMT -6
Glad you had the skills to construct it. My wife is the one in our family who would tackle the job. I generally help her. Just about finished replacing a frost proof water hydrant on the side of our house. Been at it most of the day. Finally, I could turn the water back on and ... no leaks.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Dec 31, 2021 16:35:47 GMT -6
Sounds definitely well built and a valuable addition to your home (in the sense of true value, rather than real estate value, if that makes sense).
My father walked on crutches for most of his life due to childhood polio. We had two fairly steep steps that went up to our kitchen door that he always used in my younger years, but in his later years he became unable to use them. He could still walk on crutches but couldn’t lift himself high enough to navigate that entrance. My mother built him a ramp under the carport to help him have more gentle access into the house. Not very long after she built that ramp she was trimming a chestnut tree by the driveway. She was using a chainsaw while standing on a ladder (yes, she knows better), and the branch came down unexpectedly and knocked her to the ground. Thankfully the chainsaw landed blade into the ground beside her rather than on top of her. She crawled up the driveway and used that ramp to get into the house and asked my dad to bring her the cordless phone to call the paramedics. She had a broken pelvis. It was a difficult time, but she eventually recovered well.
Years later when my father was no longer able to walk on crutches at all and had to use a wheelchair, the kitchen door was no longer an entrance option. Some friends of my sister came up to my parents’ house and built a wheel chair ramp from the front door to the driveway. It was just what he needed and beautifully done.
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Post by Tucson Grower on Dec 31, 2021 17:12:49 GMT -6
I am so glad I mentioned this project. I managed to discover many even more fascinating things about many of you.
This wheelchair ramp actually became necessary, sometime after the first year of my wife's most intense MS exacerbation, so far. *May there be no more.* At the time, she was still managing to walk, with the help of a cane and sometimes a walker. But our back door - which we used most often for access, had 4 steps up to the patio deck, and the door was on that level. She slipped on the top step and broke her right ankle. I helped her to the car and got her to the ER. They put an immobilizing boot on it, and she was still able to hobble around, with assistance. However, a week later her MS caused her to spasm out of her recliner, and she broke her left ankle. This time, she had no way to safely leave the house. Though we already had a manual wheel chair, we could not use it to safely get her in or out of the house - even for treatment of the newly broken left ankle. So I quickly researched how to build a wooden wheelchair ramp, drew up some plans, using the new sketchup program. Made a materials list, then used the pickup truck I had at the time, rounded up the materials, got my brothers help. We assembled it the day after her left ankle injury and got her out of the house and to the hospital, the next morning - using the ramp and manual wheel chair.
Her ankles have healed, but she has not been able to stand or walk since.
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Post by macmex on Dec 31, 2021 19:18:39 GMT -6
Wow!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2021 19:37:22 GMT -6
impressive, tucs!
Chrys, I'm so glad your mother was okay. I winced at that one!
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Post by Tucson Grower on Dec 31, 2021 22:08:10 GMT -6
Yep chrysanthemum, that accident of your mothers, with the chainsaw was too scary. I'm sure glad that story had a happy ending.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 2, 2022 10:10:43 GMT -6
I feel for you guys ... My Mom died when I was just 16 years old, 44 years ago today. She was confined to a wheelchair her last year still living. Dad never had a wheelchair ramp built. (I'm not sure he even thought of that as an option?) The steps leading up to his house were about 3' feet high. Any time we had to take Mom to a doctor or anything, we'd just carry her up and down the steps.
When Dad got older, my brothers and I built a wheelchair ramp out the back door of his house, so we could get him into the truck. By then, they had home health care nurses, so it was rarely used, but back in the '70s when his house was built, things like that did not exist ... at least not as far as we knew?
My Dad built that house while in his early 30s. When people are young, I don't think they realize they will ever get old or someday become infirm. As a kid growing up, I do not remember anyone having a wheelchair ramp. I kind of think they just made do back then. I know there were older folks back then who could have used a wheelchair ramp, or a wheelchair for that matter, but there were few of those back then too.
I lived in the country all of my life, so I might be mistaken out of sheer ignorance, but I don't think wheelchair ramps became common until sometime in the early 1980s? At least I don't remember seeing one anywhere. Since that time, I've helped build and re-build quite a few of them though. It sure would be nice if people were educated to think ahead a few decades when designing structures. it sure would make life better in the long run. I'm glad to see that we take the needs of others into consideration better than we did only a few decades ago.
Kudos to you, Tucson Grower, for making that provision for Diane, for sharing your story, and for reminding the rest of us to make better plans for the future too.
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