If you’re struggling with getting your pushchair 🚼 or wheelchair ♿ up some steps, we’ve prepared an excellent tool for you — a ramp calculator. Not only can you check the appropriate ramp slope, but we’ll give you hints about ramp construction as a whole as well. No need to worry about things like ramp size, landing size, or handrails! If you’d like to know how to build a ramp that complies with ADA ramp requirements, we have included the tips.
How do you calculate the slope of a ramp?
Ramp Calculator :
Before we show you how to calculate the slope of a ramp, we first need to explain the slope unit convention. You can express slope in many ways, but let’s focus on the three most popular forms:
- Rise to run ratioThis is the ratio of one part rise to the appropriate part of the run. It can be expressed in a few different notations: 1:8, 1/8, 1 in 8, e.g., for example, with a 1:12 ratio, for each unit of vertical rise, you need to have 12 units of horizontal run, so 1 inch of rise means that 12 inches (1 foot) of horizontal space is needed. Common slopes are 1:12, 1:20, and 1:8.
slope [ratio]=rise:run
- AngleIt’s the angle between the ramp and the run (or, in other words, the angle of inclination to the horizontal). This angle is commonly expressed in degrees, though.