Courtesy of Karen Braitmayer

By Karen Braitmayer, FAIA

Are you worried that adding a ramp to your entry will create an eyesore? Ramps can be added to many homes in attractive ways that look intentional and discreet while enhancing value. An entry path without steps can make it easier for everyone to enter your home.

When choosing the right location for your future ramp, select the entry with the least amount of vertical change. Consider front entries, garage entries, and side or rear entries if they have a pathway to the street or driveway. Incorporating a ramp or sloped front walkway into your front yard landscaping makes new ramps disappear visually. Incorporating a ramp into a new front porch or side deck can also make a ramp look incorporated into the design of the home. Some ramps onto porches can benefit from being under the porch roof so users are protected from the weather.

The slope of a ramp is key to the safety of a ramp. A ramp that is too steep will make it more difficult—sometimes impossible—for a person who uses a wheelchair to push up the slope independently. It may be unsafe or excessively slippery in exterior locations, where the surface is exposed to weather and wet. It is a common error to try to create ramps with steeper slopes to fit them into small spaces or to reduce the apparent size of the ramp. This is strongly discouraged.

The maximum slope of a ramp for people to roll/walk on is 1 inch vertical to 12 inches horizontal (1:12). This slope is determined to be the maximum slope for strong wheelchair users. Some folks will find even this slope difficult or impossible.

Ramps of 1:12 or less are required to have handrails and edge protection on both sides. These handrails should follow the slope of the ramp and extend, level with the ground, 12 inches beyond the slope at both ends. Edge protection can be as simple as a curb or bumper 4 inches high on the each side of the ramp to prevent a runaway wheelchair from sliding over the edge and under the handrail. A safe ramp also has level landings at top and bottom that are large enough for a wheelchair user to turn around. You will appreciate this if you get to the top of the ramp and discover you’d forgotten your door key. You want to be able to turn around and go back down! A landing of at least 60" x 60" is required and will accommodate most larger wheelchairs and scooters.

For an easier, shallow ramp, a 1:20 slope (vertical to horizontal) is preferable. This slope works well when integrated into the landscape of a front yard or back yard—with the ground sloping up alongside and a lovely planting bed on one or both sides. Ramps of 1:20 or less don’t require handrails (another plus for landscape area ramps) and edge protection, although they do require landings at tops, bottoms, and turns.

Ramps benefit everyone and every home. They can make it easier to bring in strollers, grocery carts, luggage, new appliances, and other wheeled items. They are welcoming and usable for everyone. A beautiful ramp can add value to your home.

Visit WheelchairRamp.org for more information on the safe design of ramps.