How to winterize a ramp


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Old 10-19-09, 01:23 PM
R
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How to winterize a ramp

My dog is getting old and has arthritis. He can't walk up stairs anymore so this summer I built him a ramp out back. There is a picture of it here: http://rick-silva.com/ramp.jpg

Last night it snowed for the first time. I hadn't thought of that. :-) The ramp has some cheap indoor/outdoor carpet on it that I put down with a staple gun. It was very slippery with snow on it.

Any ideas about how to winterize this ramp? Is there some kind of cheap rubberized material I can put down or something?
 
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Old 10-19-09, 05:30 PM
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Whatever you put down will get snow packed, so the initial design should be modified to help him. Tack down some 1x1 strips across the grain of the ramp at 4 to 6" intervals, depending on how big rover is and how big his step is. Once you have that done, you will have to keep it defrosted, either by using a heat tape under it or with deicing compound scattered on it.
 
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Old 10-19-09, 06:48 PM
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RickSil,

Welcome to the forums.

Everything that Larry (Chandler) told you, plus, is there any way you can make the ramp less steep? I deal with several old people -- some that speak a people language, some that speak rufflish, and some that speak meoweze. When they get so old that arthritis enters into the picture, STEEP becomes a major issue for them.
 
 

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