When it is time to move a lot of material in or out of your house you will want to use all the free help available. Short of getting someone else to do it, you should consider using one of my cardinal rules. That is, to never lift and tote anything that you can place on a pallet, then slip a two-wheeled hand truck under the pallet and simply roll it all to it’s desired new location.

If everything is on the same floor level, this solution presents no problem or challenge. When there is as little as a single step or two between one level and another you will have to find a way to overcome the height difference, or resort to lifting and toting your load between the two levels.

Let’s use my home as an example of such a situation. We live in what we call a rambler style home. That is, one that has all livable rooms built on the same floor. Since we also have a basement and our Building Code requires a minimum clearance between the first floor and the top of the basement walls, for both daylight capable windows and for an emergency exit, we have to climb two steps to get to the “ground” floor of our home. Our house floor is 16 inches above grade at our front steps and 16.75 inches at the entrance door through the garage. The difference between these two levels assures that any water getting into the garage will flow out its front door.

So, I need some way of rolling both the hand truck and some home made furniture dollies, up a short lumpy stairway. Someone years ago invented such a device and called it a “ramp.” I’m not sure why it is called a ramp, but perhaps he/she was a dyslexic Australian who meant, “Always Roll Pounds, Mate.” Regardless of whoever he/she was, the concept is sound. A ramp, even a short one, smoothes out the lumps and allows one to roll something up or down it.

I also have a small trailer that I use when collecting wood discarded by others or for numerous other things that the average homeowner must do. As I have always tried to conserve energy, particularly my own, I built a short ramp that allows me to roll heavy items in and out of the trailer. It consists of a pair of 2x4’s, wide side horizontal, that align with the stake pockets at the rear of the trailer deck, and has a covering of edge-butted 1x4’s nailed to them. “L” shaped brackets, fastened to the top end of the ramp, engage the stake pockets. The ramp is about 30 inches wide and 43 inches long.

I wanted to use this same ramp to move material in and out of the home via the single stair tread and two risers present via the garage entrance. I quickly learned that the ramp would not remain fixed in position for use when its upper end was just rested atop blocking placed on the cement step present. It needed an anchor of some sort. What I came up with was a support consisting of cross bracing sitting on top of two runners 13 inches long. Each runner sits on a sheet of that slip-proof open-weave rubberized material used to anchor a piece of wood while milling it's edges with a router. This material has kept the support assembly in place quite well. The cross braces are two fabricated sections, each 30 inches long, one with a 2x4 on top of another and the second one with the 2x4 nailed to the edge of another. The top edge of each vertical 2x4 has been beveled to the 21º angle matching the ramp. The braces were then fastened to the runners after test positioning them and marking their proper locations.

Perhaps the sketch shown at the following location will help you understand this arrangement a bit better. http://www.msnusers.com/TrashWoodTreasures/files/Jerry's%20trashy%20stuff%20!/A%20Short%20ramp.gif

So far this setup has worked well for me with the only preparation needed being a sweep and wash of the cement step and garage floor before placing the supports in position. This, to make sure that dust will not interfere with the high friction properties of the pads used.

I am sure that an equally good design can be devised that would make use of a 2x4, or wider, bracket. It would simply be nailed to the wall beneath the doorsill and the ramp would bridge the distance to the floor. I do not consider the ramp I now have to be strong enough for this simplification. If I were to start over, perhaps I would rotate the 2x4’s to add enough strength to the ramp to be able to use the big cleat under the doorsill.

Regardless, the ramp in almost any form can be used for several other things. We have used ours as a display table extended from the back end of the trailer bed during one garage sale, and as a stand-alone one at another. We used an empty 5-gallon plastic pail to support the free end of the ramp when attached to the trailer, and four of them to support it as a stand-alone item.

Our most recent use was as a raised repair stand when we had to partially rebuild our faithful old Lawn Boy lawnmower. It saved a lot of bending to both see and work on the parts we needed to replace and adjust. (Yes Virginia, you DO sometimes have to bend a part to make it work right.)

So, folks, you now have the concept and a running start on how you too can build a ramp that will allow you to roll away much of the hard work involved in moving some of the heavy things in and around you home. I expect to see you next week and introduce a long “ramp” you can use to transport stuff from the basement.

© 2001, Jerry Buerge