lift in lieu of ramp

Wondering if anyone has any recommendations for our situation.

Our house is one level, but there are two short steps (10" total) into the living room. There's really not enough room to build a proper ramp, so I have envisioned some sort of platform lift to raise & lower my husband's wheelchair. But, of course, I can find nothing like this on the internet.

Any suggestions?

10 inches is nothing. Why would a ramp not work? You don't need much room for that height.

In the US to have it "legal" they want a lot of space. Before we got our 15 ft ramp, we made our own with a wooden pallet. Our steps sound like OrGirl's. The VA had to install a 15 ft ramp for these 2 small steps.

So what are the rules or guidelines? I was told one foot of horizontal for each inch of height but that seems excessive and is maybe for someone in a manual wheelchair who has to push themselves up. I know my chair goes up some pretty steep slopes with no problems except to make my heart beat a little faster.

Those guidelines are for commercial buildings. You can do what you want in your own home. A 4 foot ramp is more than enough for me. I have done steeper without any problems. My wife is behind me to make sure I am comfortable that I will not tip over backwards.

In the US, the ADA requirement is 12 inches of horizontal distance for each 1 inch of vertical rise. Remember, this is to accommodate the general population, including manual wheelchairs and walkers. But I believe any contractor has to follow these requirements as well. But as a independent homeowner, you can do pretty much whatever you need.

As far as lifts go, you can do an Internet search for:
"Wheelchair vertical platform lift" (which go just straight up and down) and
"Wheelchair inclined platform lift" (which travel the incline of the stairs)

Note that the inclined version are very expensive (well... considering what they are).
For just 2 stairs, that may be overkill. However if a ramp really is not an option, you might want to think about if you can get by with building up your stairs to be a flat platform, and then using the vertical style lift to traverse it... it is probably is a cheaper option. A little inconvenient for non-wheelchair travelers though.

Hope this helps... Brian

OK, we just did this last year, ORGirl, but in reverse. We have 2 steps going down to our family room. Each step has a 6" rise for a total of 12". (we did a ramp coming from the garage into the house as well- the ramp is 10ft. long for a total rise of 16")

We tested the incline first with a 6ft. ramp, which was doable but a little steep for my husband at that time. (he had just gone into his PWC, so was still a rookie at handling ramps. He would be fine doing it now I think) Since we had the room, we decided on an 8ft. ramp. Your rise is 10ft. so I definitely think 6ft. would be fine & easy to handle, as far as using with a power w/c.

As far as "the rules", they are what is required for commercial buildings for public access,
the guidelines from the ADA. So they have to consider not just people in PWC, but as Barry said, manual w/c and people using walkers.
As long as you are doing this in your own home, you can do whatever you want.

Al gave me the tip to test first with a portable ramp, so if you have access to one, it is a good idea. You might be able to borrow one from the ALS association; check with them.

I've included pictures of our ramp (if I do it right!)
One shows after the ramp was first built (note: run close to a wall to save floor space, but be sure there is room for the w/c to navigate); since it was going down, a platform was needed to extend over the first step which we matched to the floor; last, we recarpeted the whole room along with the ramp- see how it just blends right in! If you do this, be sure to get a little extra carpet to put in storage. Obviously, the carpet on the ramp will wear faster the the rest of the room. Also, the carpet on the ramp does not have padding under it; it is glued & stapled to the ramp.

Nicely done! Looks great.

Great pictures Marianne and a very nice looking ramp.

I had a ramp built into our family room that is about 15 degrees, way abouve code, but I have no problem getting my power chair up an down it. I just need to be careful and recline the back going down so as to move some of the center of gravity towards the back of the chair.

thanks for the info everyone! we are doing the renovations with a VA Grant, I am pretty sure they regulate things such as the ramp slope. We haven't gotten that far in to it but will keep this in mind. and thanks for the pictures Mare!

if you are having it professionally done, then it will have to be to regulation standards, or however you want to word that. One foot for every inch. Good luck with it and let us know how it goes.

The VA has to go by regulations. However, since they will not do a ramp, they will have to do something for you. If you need any help navigating the VA maze, be sure to ask me for help. The main thing you need to do is get home health care started.