Make your deck more accessible by installing a ramp or flat stairs.
Here’s how to do it.
The construction techniques for either one are similar.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Place the ramp in a location that allows for the most convenient and unrestricted access.
Expect to spend 10 to 12 hours building a 10- to 12-foot deck ramp.
You’ll need toremove sodand installlandscape fabricand gravel before you begin.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Learn how to build a ramp for a deck with our step-by-step instructions below.
(The minimum width is 36 inches.)
Have the building inspector review your plans before building a ramp.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Construct a single-tiered rampone whose entire rise is on a single stringer.
Mark the angle of descent on the posts, and cut and install stringers with angled ends.
Install handrails on ramps and landings.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Drive stakes at the location of the landing pad.
Lay out the landing pad with a sheet of plywood or batterboards.
Remove the sod; excavate, form, and pour the landing pad.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Position Stringers
Spread landscapefabric and gravelon the site, then lay out the stringers.
Mark the angle of descent on the bottom of the stringer and a 3/4x4-inch notch at the bottom end.
This notch will fit over a cleat fastened to the landing pad.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Cut one stringer and use it as a template for the others.
Cut Wood
Cut a pressure-treated 1x6 to the outside width of the ramp.
Then set yourcircular sawto cut a 5-degree bevel on one edge of the 1x6.
Credit:Better Homes and Gardens
Drill 3/8-inch holes in the cleat at the locations for threaded studs and slide the cleat under the stringers.
Square the whole assembly to the deck and drill locator holes into the pad with a masonry bit.
Space the boards with a spacing jig.
Tack scrap from the stringers to the outside edges of the ramp to form the concrete.
