Our ramp of death

I'm assuming you have a rail to hold on to. Long term I'd put a paint or coating with sand. Meantime, you can buy rolls of anti-slip.

Two strips, 4 to 6 inches and holding the rail would be a big help.

I wonder if the roof and gutter heaters would help?

I agree with the idea of painting it with paint with the anti-slip sand stuff mixed in. That solves the wet problem.

For icing, how about using the electric heat product that's made to be used under bathroom floors to warm them? It's used between the plywood subfloor and tile for example. He could put it on top of the existing ramp, put another layer of plywood or trex, etc on top of it. Only issue, he'd have to look into the fire potential issue. I think they use it with wood floors in bathrooms too, but it is inside. Outside it's more exposed and IDK what failure modes that can lead to or what happens. I guess it's no worse than heat tape or similar products that people put all over pipes and such.

Without heat or ice melt/salt stuff, I don't see any solution to the ice and snow problem.

replying to bob haller, Iggy wrote: Actually, steel grates of either a loose sidewalk type or a rather tight spacing for wheelchair use is made for ramps and does great in keeping traction under all conditions. Easy to shovel snow or sweep clean with your foot or just walking on it and a lot of snow and ice of course just falls through.

That's the best long-term solution and reusable if or when the wood structure rots out. I went to it for a fire escape with the same issues and never had the issues again. For immediate relief either salt it up or drill a line of holes down the center of each board and cut the board gaps wider, so there are more edges available and that stay open a lot longer.

May be time to start thinking about selling the Old Manse and moving into an assisted living facility. Mr. Thinking Box seems to have stripped a gear....building a porch ramp like that in snow country ;-)

The first thing I thought of was a grain bin drying floor. It's basically a metal grate. I did a short search for no skid ramps. This <

This looks pretty good. I live in snow country and there are plenty of ramps here. A lot have the original dtairs next to them.

thanks I like the heated matt,,

tomorrow i will measure the length/ ideally i would get one to run its entire length.......

Looks like they can be linked together.

On 12/03/2017 07:20 PM, bob haller wrote: thanks I like the heated matt,,

tomorrow i will measure the length/ ideally i would get one to run its entire length....... Got the same snow/ice/ramp problem.  Detached garage is 20' from house. One of these days I'm going to build an enclosure over the whole thing and be done with it.

bob haller posted for all of us...

Bob, I have the same problem. I tried 3M anti-slip strips-peeled off. Nailed more strips and peeled off & the nails were more effective than the strips. I have tried salt, sand, kitty litter but all get tracked inside. I have the guy who plows the driveway shovel the ramp but it doesn't help during the ice as you know. Let me know how the heated mats are. I haven't investigated them. Make sure they are on a GFCI outlet.

I have handrails on mine but if you have limited abilities it is still life threatening. I still have to walk 10 ft to the vehicle.

My rule is if it's ice my wife and I don't go out until it either gets melted by salt or temperature.