Width between tires on a wheelchair?

[Mark Rios]

Is there a standard width or an average width on an adult chair?

I need to make a small transition ramp from a porch to a threshold and I want to place a couple of support ribs approximately where the wheels will go.

I poured this ramp up to the porch.




Thanks.

[Jason Roehl]

Mark, I can't say for sure, but consider that wheelchair-accessible homes and other buildings have 36" doors/doorways. Figure about 2" on each side for the handgrips on the wheels, plus some clearance (1" each side?), and that puts the tires at about 30" apart.

[Lee Schierer]

Apparently there is not one set answer to your question. See this link:Wheel Chair measuring

Your ramp looks great, just one small suggestion. Unless you are putting railings on the ramp, you need to fill in the soil beside the ramp so that if a wheel goes off the concrete you don't have a tip over. Another option would be to attach metal "curbing" to the sides of the ramp to prevent wheels from going off the edge.

[Mark Rios]

Thanks. THe owners haven't yet decided whether to go with a railing or to put the brick curbing back.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Yah The ADA act
http://www.ada.gov/
and 28 CFR 36 has all you'll need
http://www.ada.gov/adastd94.pdf

[Matt Ocel]

Yes - There is a manufactures standard width on an adult fixed arm wheelchair, 26", +/-, 1/2". That measurement is from outside of handrim to outside of handrim. The handrim is approx. 1 1/2" from outside of handrim to center if tire.

Now - there is alot, and I mean alot, of different styles of wheelchairs(to many to list) that people might call "standard". So if exact measurements are required, measure the wheelchair that will be using the ramp.

P.S. The ADA will not specify what the width of a standard fixed arm adullt wheelchair. They will only specify required clearances.

[Mark Rios]

Thanks to all who posted, especially the chair users. Especially helpful.

Here is the finished transition that will help the husband navigate the threshold. The wood is oak that I salvaged form an old pallet.
11ramp3.jpg

11ramp2.jpg



Thanks again.

[Brian Effinger]

The concrete ramp and transition look good, Mark. The transition should be more than sufficient to support the wheel chair & occupant. If you want it to comply with the building codes, which usually reference ANSI A117.1, then the slope should be between 1:8 and 1:10 (meaning 1" rise for every 8 to 10" of run) if the ramp is no more than 3" high overall. Also, you will have to make sure that the surface is slip resistant, and the lip at the start of the ramp is no more than 1/4" high, if you want to comply with ANSI.

I hope this information helps, and if you need any more, let me know.

Brian

[Joe Petersen]

My company leases manual wheelchairs to comercial customers and we carrry anywhere from 15" to 34" chairs. (seat space). No standard size.

I don't thing you need to worry about these requirements for a private residence anyway.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Yah The ADA act
http://www.ada.gov/
and 28 CFR 36 has all you'll need
http://www.ada.gov/adastd94.pdf

Cliff,

It should be noted that the ADA act does not apply to residential homes.

And that's not a bad thing....

For instance, I've found some of the basic rules in the ADA act regarding ramp slope of 1:12 to be overly conservative for home use. I'm guessing that the maximum ramp slope is based on commercial and institutional properties which generally have more land than many private homes. Also, the ramp slope is likely based upon a person in a wheelchair going up the ramp without any assistance.

However, in a residential setting, an elderly person already requires assistance (be pushed) in a chair, a more inclined ramp slope would work and slopes that Brian mentioned above make sense.

Mark,

If you are not adding a railing, I recommend a 3" high bumper board be attached to the sides of the ramp for wheelchair safety. The bumper boards can be made from laminated wood and waterproof glue, and attached to the concrete with blue Tapcon anchor screws.

By the way, nice job on the curved ramp.

-Jeff

[Mark Rios]

Thanks again to all.

As mentioned and pictured above, the transition ramp is finished and is now in place. It is only slightly wider than the standard front door that it transition to which puts it at 38". The ribs, in the second pic above, are less than 8" apart and the piece is made of 3/4" oak so I'm sure that is plenty strong enough.

The concrete ramp is 19'-4" long, from the point where it starts to rise, and has a rise of only 11", making the ratio approximately 1:16, very gradual.

The owner just last night decided on a brick curbing, as opposed to a railing. As you can see from the pics there are other brick features to the house and they decided that brick curbing would tie in those features. The curbing will be two rows above the surface of the walk making it 6" high along both sides of the walk out to the driveway. On the inside of the curve, bordering the planter area, there was already a curb that was two bricks high, when the sidewalk was flat. This was on the outside of the walk, not sitting on it and I will be merely continuing/replacing that feature.

Thanks again to all who have posted.

[Don Bergren]

Thanks again to all.

As mentioned and pictured above, the transition ramp is finished and is now in place. It is only slightly wider than the standard front door that it transition to which puts it at 38". The ribs, in the second pic above, are less than 8" apart and the piece is made of 3/4" oak so I'm sure that is plenty strong enough.

Mark, that is plenty strong enough. I'm about 6' 3" tall and weighed 224 when I was weighed last fall. I use a power wheelchair, so the combination of me, the chair, and the batteries makes for a bit of weight. That transition ramp is more than enough to handle someone like me, and even more weight than that. I've been doing this wheelchair gig for thirty years, and what you've built is much better than anything I usually encounter. Great job!

[Mark Rios]

Just wanted to show the finished ramp to those who had wondered about the ramp edge. The owners decided to go back to the brick curbing and put up railing on the porch so that the wife could go out to the porch by herself.






Thanks again for the info and replies.

[Justin Leiwig]

You did a great job on that. It beats most any installation, public or private that i've seen.