I don’t know the official answer but I’d say you want there to be as few joins as possible at the bottom at the bottom of the ramp. Can you imagine a join like 2 inches from the bottom? Your eyes would probably tell you it was where the ramp joined the floor and throw you off. That’s the only reason I can think of.
I think maybe @Chopper has an angle on this
Ideally you need to cut and finish the ply edge at an angle to make it as flush to the coping as possible because if they are doing to have an already made edge at the coping, it will leave a bigger gap than you think and will feel shit. An angle on the ply edge also helps keep the coping in if you don’t want to drill the steel and fix it in.
Flat bottom first, fix ply to bottom flush and the press into the shape of the transition and fix as you go and then trim off the excess at the coping, and finish it with an angle 45 degrees or whatever.
For them it would make sense but , bottom/flat ply dead centre then ply up to coping from there . They should have a tape measure that will bend with the transition to get the size , I go 5/10mm over , test the fit then cut back till it’s snug under the coping .
Then one person standing on the ply to flex it into place , other person screwing in .
But that all depends how they’ve laid and spaced the timber underneath. Ideally all end edges of the ply should screw into a timber, and all sheets underneath should be off set to the top sheets . ( start with half sheet then full sheet etc) But I’m sure they’re doing that .
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Bump.
Building an outdoor ramp for a friend which has lead me to the original subject of this thread. After some reading through I think I’ve learned these things -
Marine ply instead of birch surface
Treat it with something like this
Leave space above tarp when covering it
What I’m wondering -
What to do for the side panels? I can’t afford to use marine for that as well really
Do I need to treat the CLS timbers as well?
What metal for the coping? I’ve got some coping to donate but it’s from indoors, not sure if it will just rust
Is it really that beneficial to ply it diagonally? I’d really rather avoid that as I don’t have a clue how to do that.
I think the sides don’t matter, it’s just to contain sound better
Diagonal is way better to skate
Other than that I think @Chopper has best intel
Scaffolding is excellent for coping. If you can acquire some.
The marine vs birch options , marine will last longer but boy it gets very splintery when the top laminate weathers . If anyone remembers the old pioneer mini you know what I mean .
Birch doesn’t have the problem but won’t last as long . They’re not far off a similar price so choose what’s appropriate for your mates conditions - does it get sun lots , shade etc
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Get treated CLS , you’ll find this stacked outside in the builders merchants . Save you spending time and money on treating it yourself. Plus off the shelf treated has been pressure treated so will be much deeper in the wood and last way longer .
Side panels can be standard ply with the fence paint . But don’t clad all of it , it will need to breath and not get damp and soggy .
Scaff poles are fine as long as they’re not the galvanised poles . Zinc will grip your trucks .
Depends on the thickness of the coping’s metal wall (thicknesses) you have , if it’s 3mm and above it will take ages to rust through but will need regular skating/wire brush to keep the surface rust from bedding in .
Diagonal / straight, personal choice tbh and more cuts angles to sort etc .
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Now THAT is a quality reply. Thanks @Chopper I’m not even building a ramp and that was super interesting
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Nice one Chopper that’s very helpful. Looking at prices marine ply is running like £20 per sheet less, but yes from my experience accidentally buying a marine sheet instead of birch to build a box I remember it getting more splintery. How do I choose? I don’t know how the sun etc is supposed to affect things. Also any advice on the bottom layer? If there isn’t the budget to use the same material then any advice on how to stop a repeat of the one you posted a while back
Yeah it’s quite a difference when you’re buying lots of sheets . Go with the budget, it would be many years before it would need a resurfacing. And then you could upgrade to the other version of skatelite that’s £30-40 a sheet cheaper and is the same stuff. Can’t remember off the top of my head but it’s on this thread somewhere .
What I mean by the sun is if it’s going to be damp more than dry . This was an issue for the pioneer ramp in the picture.
To start , it had no ventilation in the bottom , the ramp wasn’t raised off the floor so when it got wet , it stayed wet and bugs, rot and fungus set in .
Also it was an experiment with 12mm OSB by the previous builder who painted it with polyurethane paint is what you’re seeing that’s rotted . Unfortunately as soon as you put screws through it - and that a fuck load , it’s all pointless and becomes a rubber coated sponge that never dries fully until there’s a heatwave . Which then you have wheatabix as a result.
We replaced it with cheap Far Eastern ply as it was a charity fund , but that only lasted a year longer than the OSB because of the damp and lack of ventilation through the timbers .
Rodney clarke had to refurbish it last year as I was too busy . So it will probably be rotten again next year. The skatelite is the only thing that doesn’t rot and has survived non stop .
So it’s essential to have the ramp raised off the floor , @jimo s vert ramp at spit and sawdust is testament to taking a beating from the Welsh weather . May be worth checking images of that for its footings and also what ply they’ve got for the base layers .
Appreciate all this help @Chopper sorry just been planning this sporadically between other things. We had a think about materials and I’ve left it to her to decide whether the budget will stretch for some of that tricoya stuff for the top layer.
Which leads me to the major part of the build that I failed to take into account properly, in that the ground that I’m building it on isn’t level, like, at all. Over the space that it’ll cover it probably slopes up to a foot in one direction and 6 inches or so in the other.
Anyone built a ramp on uneven ground and have any suggestions what to do to level it?
Also this is completely unrelated but is it possible / feasible to build a square bowl out of wood where one side is steeper than the side around the next corner? I’d imagine it would be an engineering nightmare to match it all up
Well depends how much work you want to do but this is a good way to get a good level and air circulating between the floor and ramp. No concrete slab needed. Put them in like fence posts with postcrete and fill them with concrete too.
Friends of mine have used ribbed waste drainage pipe , you can get from selco .
300mm would be fine
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