Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Outdoor Wood Storage Shed - Ramp Tips to Avoid a Fatal Injury

Congratulations, you have either purchased a prebuilt shed or built your own shed but now you are asking yourself, "How am I going to get my lawn mower and other backyard garden equipment into the shed without pulling and straining my back?"

The answer is simple - consider building a shed ramp.

Warning: if you don not build your ramp correctly it can easily break apart under your weight or the equipment's weight as you go over the ramp. Also, if the slope is slippery when wet it can cause serious injury to yourself or family.

Ramp Tips to Avoid Fatal Injuries

The following tips are based on my research online and from the numerous wood storage shed plans I have purchased over the years for my previous homes.

1. Rate of Incline

When constructing your ramp consider building it with an incline rate of 3 inches per vertical foot. Any steeper than that and you can cause some serious damage to the ramp.

For example, if you have a riding lawn mower like myself with a belly blade on it your can hit the blade against a steep ramp.

Also I have noticed that during days with high moisture a thin layer of algae can grow on the surface of the ramp. If your ramp has a steep incline the surface can get as slippery as ice and you can easily injure yourself.

Worse if the entrance is open and you slip into the shed with all the gardening equipment on the floor!

2. Dealing with Slipping

At a minimum, for the ramp framing you should use 4" x 4" pressure treated lumber and set them part no more than 12" apart with pressure treated plywood for the surface. For even more protection I would recommend using non-skid or a real rubber surface on the ramp surface to avoid slipping.

Metal shed ramps are just as slippery when wet and can be quite expensive. A DIY wooden ramp can be safer and effective if built properly.

As you have already realized that any shed that you construct will need some type of ramp. If your shed is off the ground by a foot or so you will definitely need a ramp to drive any kind of machine into your wooden storage shed.

Not to forget that a ramp with a gentle incline can also be easy on the knees since you will not have to lift anything into the storage shed.



Autor: A. N. DSilva

Look, now before you go and start building a shed ramp, I'm sure you already know that there are ramp designs available to ensure safety.

Before you do something rash you need to review outdoor wood storage shed ramp options available so that you build it right the first time.

You can also get a free outdoor wood storage shed plan here: http://www.diybackyardplans.info


Added: January 6, 2010
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...

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