How to Build a Wheelchair Ramp

If you want to know how to build a wheelchair ramp, this is the actual process — layout, footings, framing, decking, rails — with the real numbers rather than a parts list. It's a legitimate weekend project for someone comfortable with a circular saw and a level. It's also bigger than most people expect, so the last section is an honest look at when building is the wrong call.

We rent and install ramps for a living, so take the final comparison with that in mind. The build instructions are straight.

Before you cut anything: measure the rise

Everything downstream depends on one number. Rise is the total height from the ground to the top of the door threshold.

Rest a straight board on the threshold, level it out over the ground where the ramp will end, and measure straight down to the ground. At the 1:12 standard, your rise in inches is your ramp length in feet. Three steps is usually about 21 inches, so about 21 feet of ramp.

Before you accept that length, check the constraints:

• A run can climb no more than 30 inches before it needs a level landing.
• Landings are 60 inches minimum, and 60 by 60 where the ramp turns.
• You need 36 inches of clear width between the handrails, not between the frames.
• Which way does the door swing? An outward-swinging door needs landing room to clear.

Full dimensions are in our breakdown of ADA ramp requirements, and the length math with a calculator is in wheelchair ramp slope and sizing.

Pick the layout before the parts list

Draw the footprint on paper against your actual yard. A straight 21-foot run leaving the porch may put the bottom of the ramp in a flower bed, a driveway, or the neighbor's line.

Most residential ramps end up as an L or a switchback. A switchback folds 21 feet into roughly an 11-by-5-foot footprint, at the cost of a 60-by-60 turn landing and more framing. Decide this first — it changes your material list substantially.

Materials and tools

Use ground-contact rated pressure-treated lumber for posts and anything near soil. Use hot-dipped galvanized or stainless fasteners throughout; standard screws corrode quickly in modern treated lumber and will fail at the joints first.

• 4x4 pressure-treated posts, concrete mix, and gravel for footings
• 2x8 or 2x10 stringers depending on span, plus 2x6 for landings
• 2x6 decking, or 5/4 deck board
• Joist hangers, structural screws, galvanized carriage bolts
• 2x4 and 2x2 for handrails and pickets, or a graspable rail product
• Slip-resistant surface treatment — grip tape, grit paint, or mesh
• Post-hole digger, circular saw, drill, 4-foot level, string line, framing square

Step 1: Footings and posts

Set string lines for the ramp edges and mark post positions every 4 to 6 feet along both sides, plus each corner of every landing. Dig below your local frost line — in Kentucky that's typically 24 to 30 inches, but confirm with the building department.

Add gravel for drainage, set the posts, pour concrete, and check plumb in both directions before it sets. Let footings cure before you load them. This is the step that splits the job across two weekends, and it's also the step that determines whether the ramp develops a cross-slope problem in two years.

Step 2: Framing

Mark the finished height on each post using a level and a string line, working down from the threshold at a consistent 1-inch-per-foot drop. Take your time here — the slope is set by these marks, and it's very difficult to correct later.

Cut posts to height, then attach the outer stringers with carriage bolts, not screws. Install interior joists on 16-inch centers with joist hangers. Frame the landings level, not sloped, and check cross slope with a level laid across the width at several points. It needs to be under 1:48 — about a quarter inch of fall per foot of width.

Step 3: Decking and traction

Run decking perpendicular to the direction of travel with a small gap between boards for drainage. Boards running the same direction as travel can catch a caster in a gap.

Bare treated wood is slick when wet, and worse when it's frosty. Apply a slip-resistant surface — adhesive grip strips, grit-additive paint, or fastened mesh. Budget for re-applying it, because it wears where the wheels track.

Step 4: Handrails

Handrails are required once the rise exceeds 6 inches, which means nearly always. Mount the graspable rail 34 to 38 inches above the ramp surface, running continuously along the run and returning at the ends so nothing snags a sleeve.

Add edge protection along the open sides — a curb rail, a bottom rail, or an extended deck edge. Without it, a front caster can roll off the side, and at 20 inches up that's a real fall.

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

Plan on two full weekends for a 20-foot ramp with a landing, assuming you're competent with the tools and have a second person. The footing cure time alone forces a split.

Materials commonly run $20 to $40 per linear foot for pressure-treated construction before tools, concrete and fasteners. Lumber prices move, so price your actual list at a local yard rather than trusting any number on the internet, including this one. A 21-foot switchback with two landings uses considerably more material than 21 feet of straight run.

Do you need a permit?

Often, yes, for permanent construction attached to a house. Requirements vary by city and county, and temporary ramps are frequently treated differently than permanent structures.

Call your local building department before you dig. It's a short conversation, and finding out afterward that the ramp needed an inspection is an expensive way to learn.

When building is the wrong call

Building makes sense when the need is permanent, the budget is materials-only because the labor is free, and there's time to do it properly.

It's the wrong call more often than people realize, and the reason is almost always timing. Someone comes home from the hospital on Friday. A hip replacement means six weeks of limited mobility. A parent moves in while the family works out what's next. In those situations the ramp is needed now, and it won't be needed in a year — and then you're paying to tear out a structure you spent two weekends building.

There's no minimum rental period, so a six-week recovery costs six weeks of rental rather than a permanent structure. Our ramps are commercial-grade aluminum rated to 800 pounds, with non-slip surfaces, handrails both sides, and platform landings at doorway level. We cover Owensboro, Henderson, Hartford, Hawesville and the surrounding Western Kentucky counties, with $100 installation that covers delivery within 50 miles of Owensboro.

If you're still weighing materials for a permanent build, our comparison of wood versus aluminum covers what each is like after a few Kentucky winters. And if you'd rather skip the measuring altogether, send us a photo of the front steps — that tells us most of what we need, and the on-site assessment is free either way.