Important Factors to Consider When Building a Shed Ramp
Important Factors to Consider When Building a Shed Ramp
A shed ramp is very critical to any shed that is used to store any small heavy machinery such as a lawn mower or a small tractor. A ramp will make it easier for you to bring in or take out your equipment. This is an essential part of any garden or barn shed and to ensure that it will work to your advantage you must build it correctly.
There are many different factors that one should consider when building a shed ramp. These factors are very essential and should be considered greatly in the planning stage of the shed itself. Here are those factors.
Slope of the ramp - when choosing the location of your shed, you should put into consideration the space where your ramp will be placed. The length of your ramp is dependent on the slope that you have chosen. Choosing the slope of your ramp is very critical as this will be the determinant on the ease of use and its safety. It is imperative that you plan the slope well and consider what type of equipment will be used on the ramp.
Safety - a very steep slope would obviously make it hard for you to defy gravity when bringing the machinery inside the shed. If you are pushing heavy equipment up a steep ramp, there is a greater chance that you might slip and get crushed. Safety should be one of your priorities when making a building plan. Besides, building codes commonly require that at maximum there should be for every 8 inches of ramp horizontally there should only be a 1 inch slope.
Ease of use - while most ramps are not as large as a barn, you can build a ramp that would make it easy for you to bring out or in a garden tractor or a lawn mower. You may think that having a fairly good slope and enough driving space would be enough, that isn't the case. Many of these machines have an undercarriage and can just as easily ground over the threshold of the door. Six inches of space under both sides of your door opening will allow you to have an easier time to take your machinery in and out.
The surface of the ramp - whether it may be the surface of the wood, steel or concrete, rain and other factors may cause your ramp to become slippery thus increasing the risk of accidents. To prevent this, using rubberized flooring or anti slip paint can help decrease this risk. Galvanized wire or fabricated metal sheets with smooth spikes can also help increase the slip resistance of your ramp.
These are the essential factors that you should always bear in mind. Include this in your plans so that you will not forget about this. Like when using goggles is a definite must when using power tools a safe and effective ramp is also a must for storage sheds used in housing small heavy machineries.