Stationary Ramps

Sometimes, wheelchair access calls for stationary ramps to make areas accessible. For a convenient solution requiring minimal assembly, you can use stationary ramps. Some will even comply with ADA codes, eliminating the need for building construction.

Modular Ramps – Modular ramps offer a quick solution to providing accessibility while meeting ADA codes. Both installation and removal take little time and these ramps work for residential and commercial construction. You can also configure these ramps based on the layout you need.

Pathway Ramps – As a long-term or short-term solution to create wheelchair access at landings and other level changes in the home, pathway ramps work well.

Budgeting For Wheelchair Ramps

The cost of equipment to help keep you moving where you want to go can be overwhelming. In general, expect to pay more for longer ramp lengths or higher threshold heights. If you’re deciding between various wheelchair ramps to purchase, take a look at our guide to pricing.

Telescope Channel Ramps – These dual track wheelchair ramps typically will cost you from $200 to $500.

Threshold Ramps – You’ll find these ramps tend to be more affordable among its wheelchair ramp counterparts. Expect to pay in the range of $50 to $200 for threshold ramps.

Folding Ramps – Folding ramps can be as little as $75 for a short two foot run or as much as $900 for a 12-foot run.

Roll-up Ramp – A roll-up ramp typically costs from $175 to $275.

Options For Portable Wheelchair Ramps

Portable wheelchair ramps can help make mobility even easier. Whether you need portable wheelchair ramps for home or while you’re out and about, you have several options to choose from.

Telescope Channel Ramps – These ramps offer flexibility in that they collapse to half their size for storage and easy transportability. They make a useful option for gaining stair access or curb access in your home where you wouldn’t otherwise have it.

Threshold Ramps – The threshold ramps are short ramps used to navigate your wheelchair or scooter up a door threshold, a landing, or a curb.

Folding Ramps and Suitcase Ramps – Available in a variety of lengths, the suitcase ramps fold and come with a handle to make taking them with you on the road more convenient. You can use them to get over low steps, curbs, landings, and with most minivans.

Roll-Up Ramps – You can use these ramps as a bridge to get over stairs, landings and curbs.

Benefits of Suitcase Wheelchair Ramps

Suitcase wheelchair ramps give an advantage to the wheelchair user for a number of reasons. If you’re considering adding suitcase wheelchair ramps to help you get around, take a look at our list of benefits this mobility device will give you:

• Suitcase wheelchair ramps come in a variety of lengths to meet your needs.

• Suitcase wheelchair ramps can be used to access curbs, landings, stairs, and mini-vans which would otherwise be difficult or impossible.

• You’ll find most products will be more than sufficient to support heavy weights of several hundreds of pounds.

• This mobility device is portable, foldable, and carryable.

• Suitcase wheelchair ramps can be used indoors or outdoors.

Wheelchair Ramps For the Home

What place is accessibility more important than in your own home? Getting around homes with stairs or level changes often calls for wheelchair ramps. For doorways or a few steps, you can purchase a threshold ramp. However for greater heights, you’ll need to think about getting a wheelchair ramp created from your local builder. To figure out the length you’ll need to create wheelchair ramps in your home, remember the slope will need to be a minimum of 1:12. That means for every foot of height, you’ll need 12 feet of length to accommodate the wheelchair ramp. Also check with your local building codes to see if there are any restrictions for building in the outside areas of your home.

How To Figure Out What Ramp Size You Need

If you’re looking for a portable wheelchair ramp, you’ll need to figure out what ramp size to get. A portable wheelchair ramp can vary from 2 feet to 10 feet in length.

The ADA codes require a minimum slope of 1:12, which means you’ll be going up an incline of five degrees. However, depending on the type of wheelchair you have and your physical needs, you may want an incline which is less steep. As a general rule, power wheelchair users can travel steeper inclines and maneuver around tighter spaces. With a manual wheelchair, you’ll need a wider ramp and a shallower incline.

Safety Concerns For Portable Ramps

Portable ramps make a convenient way to create accessibility whether you’re away from home or creating wheelchair access where you live. However, you also need to consider some safety concerns when you use them. Keep in mind these safety concerns whenever you use portable ramps:

• Some portable ramps are heavy and unwieldy to transport.
• During wet, inclement weather, take care to exercise more caution when using portable ramps.
• Channel ramps require a caregiver who can walk behind and push the wheelchair at shoulder height.
• Portable ramps have weight limits. Check to see if the ramp is designed for wheelchair only use.
  

Wheelchair Ramp Innovation

A recent wheelchair ramp innovation involves the use of fiberglass, which improves the transportability of the equipment. Why? Very simply – weight. Fiberglass wheelchair ramps are made of non-corrosive glass fibers and lightweight enough to carry on the back of your wheelchair in a carrying bag.

The Modular Ramp For Housing Accessibility

You can have housing accessibility through the use of a built-in ramp. There are a few ways to accomplish this. You can hire an independent builder to create one from scratch or you can get some assistance with comprehensive plans for a modular ramp. You don’t have to have a tremendous budget to create housing accessibility for your living situation. The Minnesota Ramp Project has a package showing you how to build a modular ramp along with advice on finding financing and getting volunteer assistance to build. Print the modular ramp information free from the Home Wheelchair Ramp Project or purchase it through the Metropolitan Center for Independent Living.

With a Little Help From Your Ramp

Shockingly enough, your boss has spent the money to upgrade your office so that is is wheelchair-accessible. Of course, there goes the raise you were hoping for, but still, you've just received a "raise" of your own as you move through the doorways without difficulty. However, the front threshold is another matter. Your boss is always forgetting to scan for viruses or to pick up dry cleaning, but you're determined he won't forget accessibility for long. Managers and higher-ups like people who show initiative. Present your boss with this bold idea: EZ-Edge threshhold wheelchair ramps. Tell him they meet his litmus test:

• They're EZ to install.
• They look good, and so does he.
• They're low-cost.

You can even use EZ-Edge inside at the thresholds to:

• Loading bays
• Boss's office
• Workshops
• IT departments (those guys are so busy saving the world they forget minor details)

Did we say you weren't going to get a raise? Turns out the boss likes your ingenuity. Oh, and you just earned a promotion. Threshold wheel chair ramps can even give your career a boost. Just remember to take all the people who helped you with the wheelchair ramps with you when you get that corner office.

Building Bridges Yourself

You've built a cupola for the upstairs. You made a dollhouse for your daughter. You built a birdhouse. You set a boat afloat. Surely you can construct a custom wheel chair ramp so you or your loved one can ride up to the front or back entrance or both?

Building and using wheelchair ramps can't always be a piece of cake. Here are some tips before you head to Home Depot for this new weekend plan, Project Wheelchair Ramp:

• Use the same wood as the wood in your house. If it's sturdy enough for your walls, it will support a wheelchair or scooter.

• Aluminum or steel wheelchair ramps are durable. Buy sheets of metal that you can weld together if necessary.

• Remember, steeper ramps are more dangerous. If the distance is 24 inches, incline the ramp 2 inches (one unit of height to twelve units of distance).

• Check the board length and the overall ramp width (36 to 48 inches is recommended) to make sure they're up to code.

• Have your child pop a wheelie up the ramp. If it holds, it's probably solid enough for a wheelchair.

Rent-a-Portable-Ramp

You broke your leg in a skiing accident, or you took a nosedive off the pier. Either way, you're in a wheelchair for six months, or longer. You rented the chair, and now you're having difficulty with normal activities. The curb outside work seems too steep, or those college library steps are difficult to navigate. Or your mother-in-law is coming to stay and she doesn't complain about accessibility—so you feel guilty and want to work harder to make her comfortable. Perhaps you're temping and your workplace wasn't designed for people with wheelchairs. You hate to be late because you can't get through the door.

Whatever your reason for needing a ramp, here's good news: You can rent portable wheel chair ramps. Companies such as American Access offer temporary portable wheelchair ramps.

A few tips before you rent:

• Make sure the company can rent to you indefinitely or for the length of time you need.
• Determine whether you need a telescoping van ramp for your mother-in-law or just a wedge that can help you get through the door.
• If you can, test the temporary portable wheelchair ramp with your wheelchair or take your mother-in-law--make it a shopping and lunch outing!

So now you're on the mend, or your mother-in-law is happy. The drawback: Your mother-in-law announces she's staying another month, and she's already complaining about the way you overcook vegetables. Not to worry—rental companies, like portable wheel chair ramps, are flexible.

Airports and Suitcase Wheelchair Ramps

Flying's getting worse these days. Homeland Security screenings (though we all know they're necessary), taking your shoes off, buying box lunches with tasteless chicken sandwiches, missed connections...the last thing you need to worry about is accessibility.

A single-fold safety suitcase wheel chair ramp can't get through the metal detector, and sadly, there goes your one carry-on, but portable wheelchair ramps may help when you're confronted with steps and curbs at the airport. You won't even have a problem storing portable wheel chair ramps in the increasingly crowded overhead bins. Except for a first-class upgrade, a suitcase wheelchair ramp is your best friend when flying.

If you want to check your suitcase wheelchair ramp, store it in a regular suitcase or duffel--there are multiple sizes that can fit small duffels or oversize trunks. You might want to carry an extra one in case the airline loses your luggage!

Bus and Train Wheelchair Ramps

You're fed up with air travel and you want to take the bus or train to see the sights—or you're a runaway bride on a Greyhound bus. Your only worry: Can you get on the bus? Will you miss the train trying to board it? Not if you're carrying portable wheelchair ramps.

Portable wheel chair ramps work as well as they do in the airport—better, since you don't have to go through the metal detector. Since they fit on your wheelchair, you can keep them with you as opposed to the baggage compartment. Perfect when you're worrying about being recognized in a worldwide media campaign. You don't want to have to think about your portable wheelchair ramp too.

If you're powering your own chair without assistance, you don't have to rely on anyone else. Portable wheel chair ramps let you get on the bus easily.