Tuesday 12 February 2013

The Ramp - part 2

Before we get going, here's the Welsh Water update (we had a visit from a great WW engineer): we don't have enough pressure to bring mains water all the way up to the house, so the pumphouse improvements must go on.  For the time being (fingers crossed) all is well.

Back to the ramp.  This is where we started on my last Devon visit:


The front step was a significant hazard for father-in-law, and a block to brother-in-law's wheelchair.  I took some fairly rudimentary measurements and a plan formed.


After I came home large amounts of timber (for everything except the actual decking surface) were collected from the builders' merchant's in Mold, and construction started (see last post).  Much measuring, cutting (measure twice, cut once) and a particularly large amount of hand mortice and tenon cutting (20 newel posts, almost every one jointed on two sides) took place, followed last Friday by half a day of packing the car and trailer with tools and worked materials:


So, on Friday evening, I drove down the M6, M5 and A30, with the car struggling a bit on the hills.  We made it.  I knew I was going to be pressed for construction time if I was to be home on Monday night, so on Saturday morning I unloaded in the dark and arrived before opening time at the local woodyard to collect the decking boards.  So far, so good.

Construction on Saturday progressed, as a forecast of wet weather for Sunday became firmer hour by hour. By dusk I had the main structure in place.


Sunday dawned pretty wet, and got wetter, so much so that by 3 o'clock I was like a drowned rat and using power tools had become dangerous, as moisture caused the volts to track across the switches.  I was quite a lot further on, with the decking boards in place.

So Monday would just be side rails (base and middle), a step, and a mini ramp for inside the front door.
And again things went well, though I was tiring and got the odd cut wrong.  Fortunately I had a little spare timber.  By lunchtime we were here:


So, a solid job, stainless steel fixings, and it doesn't even touch the house.  It can at some future point be dismantled and recycled, and with a quick rake of the gravel, will leave no trace. In the meantime my in-laws have amused us by deciding it is substantial enough to merit its own name ('The Approach') if not its own address and postcode.  I have had a great time planning and building it, and have learned a lot, including that I can do (relatively simple) things in 3D.  

6 comments:

  1. After your descriptions of the planning and building of the ramp I was delighted to see these photographs - and it looks terrific; a very fine piece of work. And it was always worth contacting Welsh Water for an update on the situation, even though the outcome has turned out to be "no change".

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    1. Thanks for your kind comments - the ramp has been a really enjoyable project.

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  2. It can't really be described as "relatively simple" love! It looks great. I think it needs an opening, possibly involving a brass band and the cutting of a ribbon!

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    1. Over to you on your next visit. Not sure they have brass bands in Devon, but sure you can source a ribbon, maybe for P to cut. I'll be adding the deckoil and anti-slip on my next visit, by which time the timber will hopefully have dried out.

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  3. Nothing short of magnificent! William Morris would have approved - both beautiful and useful.

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    1. Thank you; you're very kind. An important step was the decision to have a two-part ramp coming back on itself as the alternative of a one-part ramp at an acceptable gradient would have looked like something outside a municipal office (and the start of it would have been a long way from the front door!)

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