Wheelchair Ramp traction grit??
Axel Grease
of the house with a wheelchair. My first plan is to build a ramp out of
sealed and painted 3/4" Marine grade plywood supported by treated yellow
pine (fir) framing. It doesn't require much rise in the grade, but with
the Winter and Spring slipperiness, I want to give the surface very good
traction. Various products exist, but I figured a glued on grit would work
as well as most anything else. Problem: I need to use a glue that will
safely and firmly hold sand for a traction grit. It must hold up against
freeze-thaw and sun-rain-ice exposure for the next few months until he gets
going with a prosthetic leg.
Any ideas?
Axel
camer...@my-deja.com
I manage a facility for people with amputations, gait difficulties and
many other walking difficulties. I've built a ramp which rises 12
inches over 14 feet (2 ramps with a landing halfway up to turn
direction). The construction is very similar to your proposed design.
The only suggestion I'd make is to go below the frost as you don't want
the thing shifting during the winter/cold season. On to your question
though <g> I found that simply using painters grit (clean sand
basically) in the paint or solid stain works the best for traction. It
forces you to reapply every year and therefore you are assured a
consistent ramp. If you plan on only doing it once the heavily
travelled area will without a doubt wear out. My clinic has many people
walking on the ramp each day, good and bad weather, shovelling snow
sometimes 2 or 3 times per day in the winter and the grit does really
well. I'd suggest this and if you've thought about talking to the local
building inspector forget it. They only go by the "code" which is very
behind the times. If you'd like any further info don't hesitate to
email me.
Cameron
ques...@orthotics.on.ca
www.orthotics.on.ca
In article <38b0d8fd$0$13...@news.voyager.net>,
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Carl Stigers
It comes with the grit in it and some of them are rubber based so they are very
flexable. We used this in the Navy on Subs for many years for the topside
areas. They also make non-skid in a roll of tape that you can buy and apply to
stairs and the like. HTH
Carl Stigers
Rick and Lisa Marinelli
wrote:
You can also buy the grit to add to any porch and deck paint. (Don't
ask me why you can't just add sand to the paint.)
Rick Marinelli
rickandlisadel...@erols.com
http://www.erols.com/rickandlisa
John Milton
builders sand, dried it in a coffee can in the kitchen stove at 400 for
and hour or so first), painted the steps, got big blisters in the paint
: You can also buy the grit to add to any porch and deck paint. (Don't
Dave Mundt
Well, actually, there are marine deck paints that have (basically)
sand in them that should do the job perfectly. Talk to your local
"real" paint store...although the borg (Home Depot) or Lowes MIGHT
have folks that you could ask...
Regards
Dave Mundt
"Axel Grease" <Axe...@SPAM.com> wrote:
>My Father just had a leg amputated. I am building ramps to get him in/out
>of the house with a wheelchair. My first plan is to build a ramp out of
>sealed and painted 3/4" Marine grade plywood supported by treated yellow
>pine (fir) framing. It doesn't require much rise in the grade, but with
>the Winter and Spring slipperiness, I want to give the surface very good
>traction. Various products exist, but I figured a glued on grit would work
>as well as most anything else. Problem: I need to use a glue that will
>safely and firmly hold sand for a traction grit. It must hold up against
>freeze-thaw and sun-rain-ice exposure for the next few months until he gets
>going with a prosthetic leg.
>
>Any ideas?
>
>Axel
Remove the "REMOVE_THIS_" from my email address to get to me...
I hate Cullers who gather from newsgroups
Visit my home page at http://www.esper.com/xvart/index.html
D.L.
> "Axel Grease" <Axe...@SPAM.com> wrote:
>
> >My Father just had a leg amputated. I am building ramps to get him
in/out
> >of the house with a wheelchair. My first plan is to build a ramp out
of
> >sealed and painted 3/4" Marine grade plywood supported by treated yellow
> >pine (fir) framing. It doesn't require much rise in the grade, but
with
> >the Winter and Spring slipperiness, I want to give the surface very good
> >traction. Various products exist, but I figured a glued on grit would
work
> >as well as most anything else. Problem: I need to use a glue that will
> >safely and firmly hold sand for a traction grit. It must hold up
against
> >freeze-thaw and sun-rain-ice exposure for the next few months until he
gets
> >going with a prosthetic leg.
> >
> >Any ideas?
Go to a skateboard store and buy several rolls of "deck tape". This stuff
is put on the surfaces (or "deck") of skateboards so your feet won't slip.
It wears well and this stuff REALLY sticks to whatever you apply it to. It
will handle water and the elements pretty well too.
Axel Grease
<38b1783d...@news.esper.com>...
> Greetings and Salutations...
> Well, actually, there are marine deck paints that have (basically)
> sand in them that should do the job perfectly. Talk to your local
> "real" paint store...although the borg (Home Depot) or Lowes MIGHT
> have folks that you could ask...
Thanks Dave, and the other fine folks who responded as well.
I went to "Lowe's" today. They had nothing. The nearest Home Depot is 40+
miles, so I put off looking there. An older chain store where I
frequently shop, called "Furrow", had self adhesive stripping by 3M. It is
a heavy grit stripping in 2 inch X 60 foot rolls. I plan to lay the strips
down in chevron patterns to shed water off to the outside. I will also use
a grit filled marine type deck paint between the strips to fill the gaps,
help seal down the edges of the stripping, and to protect the wood. I've
used fine grit filled paint on garage floors before, but those are indoor
applications. Dad's walk and front door stoop are completely outdoors. I
will feel better if the materials are all super-heavy duty.
I figure I'll buy the rest of the materials at Furrow too. They are
normally a helpful lot to shop with and their prices are usually as good,
or better, than the bigger outfits. I may be over engineering this, but
it's for my Dad's safety, so only the best is good enough.
Axel
Axel Grease
Rick Cook
the finish, I got some tape at the local Borg with the grit already in it. Just
stick it on and replace as needed.
Cheap enough, too.
(I also painted mine bright yellow so people don't trip over it.)
--RC
Axel Grease wrote:
> My Father just had a leg amputated. I am building ramps to get him in/out
> of the house with a wheelchair. My first plan is to build a ramp out of
> sealed and painted 3/4" Marine grade plywood supported by treated yellow
> pine (fir) framing. It doesn't require much rise in the grade, but with
> the Winter and Spring slipperiness, I want to give the surface very good
> traction. Various products exist, but I figured a glued on grit would work
> as well as most anything else. Problem: I need to use a glue that will
> safely and firmly hold sand for a traction grit. It must hold up against
> freeze-thaw and sun-rain-ice exposure for the next few months until he gets
> going with a prosthetic leg.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Axel
Paul Zentmyer
Make sure you have a pretty good day to apply that paint. I was in the
Navy and we used it on all our exterior deck surfaces and flight
decks. We called it non-skid. It generally comes in 5 gallon buckets
with an additional 1/2 gallon or gallon fixer or resin that you pour
into the 5 gallon and mix. The problem is that once they are mixed you
have to use it. You can't store it for another day. You use it or lose
it type of deal. It will set in about 24 hours. We generally applied
it with a roller ( thin nap). You want it to adhere to the ramp and
deck and not get soaked up in the roller.
With that much non-skid I would say forget the adhesive strips and
just roll the whole area out. We also used those strips in the Navy
and they were generally for indoor applications. Not very waterproof.
You can buy those in 6" X 18" or 6" X 24" as I remember. They might be
good for the interim until you have weather good enough to lay the
non-skid. I don't know where you are so I don't know your weather
conditions. The nice thing about the non-skid is no real clean up.
Throw everything away when you're done. None of it will be useful
again. Before laying that stuff though check to see if there are any
EPA regs regarding it. If you have a marine supply store in your area
you should be able to buy it there or they should be able to order it
for you. There might even be smaller containers of the size. Before
you go, get the square footage of your area so you can better choose
the size of container you would need. No sense in buying more than you
need if you'll just have to throw it away.
I hope this helps.
Paul.
kieth landry
I worked on a tug boat and we used regular outdoor paint and sand. First paint
the
deck lightly sprinkle sand and paint over. Repeat as need until you get t he
desired
texture. Good luck and best to your dad.
Keith
Axel Grease
<38C34835...@sonetcom.com>...
> I worked on a tug boat and we used regular outdoor paint and sand. First
paint
> the
> deck lightly sprinkle sand and paint over. Repeat as need until you get
t he
> desired
> texture. Good luck and best to your dad.
>
up doing. I sealed the 3/4" plywood with 2 coats of oil based primer base
for latex finish paints (drying time allowed between all coats, of course).
Then a double dose of Texturing sand went into extreme condition exterior
latex paint. It was mixed with an electric drill and steel "fan-blade"
type mixing tool at 300+ rpm. I just poured the paint/sand mix onto the
surface and spread it out with 3/8" nap rollers, touched up as needed with
a brush (over a gravel driveway where drips didn't have to be cleaned up).
Once moved into place, it made an excellent non-slip surface on the ramp
and landing.
Axel