I founded a wheelchair ramp manufacturing company 10 years ago.
Over the course of building and selling 250,000 aluminum portable wheelchair ramps, I've seen some common mistakes made by my customers.
Due to the size and weight of this kind of product, returns could be very expensive.
So I'd like to share some of my observations.
Mistake # 1 - Buying a ramp that is too long In general, you should use the 6:1 ratio to choose ramp length: every 1" vertical rise needs 6" of ramp length.
This ratio would work for over 95% of customers - power chairs, manual chairs, scooters, and walkers.
I often hear this: I'll go with a little bit of longer ramp to have a better incline.
This is true only on shorter length ramps.
For example, from a 3' ramp to a 4' ramp, the increase is over 30%, which would make a noticeable difference.
However, for longer length ramps, the incline does decrease that much unless you increase ramp length significantly.
For example, most people can tell the difference between an 8' ramp and a 10' ramp, but not between an 8' and 9'.
This is the why most ramp manufacturers don't even offer a 9' ramp.
Longer ramps could lead a few unexpected problems:
Customer measures the rise of the porch and the threshold, and uses the combined rise to choose a ramp, only to realize that the ramp hits the porch and won't touch down on the threshold.
There are many online calculators to help solve the clearance problem.
However, if a house has a long porch, or a low threshold, the ramp would have to be very long - so long that it is not practical.
The right approach is to use two ramps: one ramp to go from the ground level up to the porch, and another ramp from the porch to the threshold.
Mistake # 3 - Door width on mini vans If a mini van has doors on both the driver and passenger side, always use the door on the passenger side because it is wider.
The vast majority of U.
S.
-made vans can accommodate 30" wide wheelchair ramps with no problem.
For foreign vans (Toyota's, Honda's, Nissan's, Madza's, and Kia's, etc.
), the doors are wide on the top and narrower on the bottom.
For example, Honda Odessy has 30" wide door opening at the top but only 26" wide at the floor level.
For vans without sufficient door openings, going from the back door is a good option.
Using the back door requires a longer ramp due to higher rises.
Mistake # 4 - Buying a ramp you don't need Small rises do not have a lot of room for error.
Buying a prefabricated ramp will not guarantee a good fit.
For small rises under 4", the best way to bridge it is to use plywood.
For example, splitting a 2x4 diagonally makes two ramps.
You can also use 2x4's, 2x6's, etc.
- all available at the hardware store for maybe a few dollars.
Over the course of building and selling 250,000 aluminum portable wheelchair ramps, I've seen some common mistakes made by my customers.
Due to the size and weight of this kind of product, returns could be very expensive.
So I'd like to share some of my observations.
Mistake # 1 - Buying a ramp that is too long In general, you should use the 6:1 ratio to choose ramp length: every 1" vertical rise needs 6" of ramp length.
This ratio would work for over 95% of customers - power chairs, manual chairs, scooters, and walkers.
I often hear this: I'll go with a little bit of longer ramp to have a better incline.
This is true only on shorter length ramps.
For example, from a 3' ramp to a 4' ramp, the increase is over 30%, which would make a noticeable difference.
However, for longer length ramps, the incline does decrease that much unless you increase ramp length significantly.
For example, most people can tell the difference between an 8' ramp and a 10' ramp, but not between an 8' and 9'.
This is the why most ramp manufacturers don't even offer a 9' ramp.
Longer ramps could lead a few unexpected problems:
- you spend more money for little gain
- transportation difficulty - especially if you store the ramp in a van or SUV
- you may not find enough space in a parking lot to unfold a ramp longer than 9'
Customer measures the rise of the porch and the threshold, and uses the combined rise to choose a ramp, only to realize that the ramp hits the porch and won't touch down on the threshold.
There are many online calculators to help solve the clearance problem.
However, if a house has a long porch, or a low threshold, the ramp would have to be very long - so long that it is not practical.
The right approach is to use two ramps: one ramp to go from the ground level up to the porch, and another ramp from the porch to the threshold.
Mistake # 3 - Door width on mini vans If a mini van has doors on both the driver and passenger side, always use the door on the passenger side because it is wider.
The vast majority of U.
S.
-made vans can accommodate 30" wide wheelchair ramps with no problem.
For foreign vans (Toyota's, Honda's, Nissan's, Madza's, and Kia's, etc.
), the doors are wide on the top and narrower on the bottom.
For example, Honda Odessy has 30" wide door opening at the top but only 26" wide at the floor level.
For vans without sufficient door openings, going from the back door is a good option.
Using the back door requires a longer ramp due to higher rises.
Mistake # 4 - Buying a ramp you don't need Small rises do not have a lot of room for error.
Buying a prefabricated ramp will not guarantee a good fit.
For small rises under 4", the best way to bridge it is to use plywood.
For example, splitting a 2x4 diagonally makes two ramps.
You can also use 2x4's, 2x6's, etc.
- all available at the hardware store for maybe a few dollars.
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