Entry Ramp Question

I redid my deck with trek and it is great. I would not want to use it on my entry ramp though. The material is a combination of wood dust and plastic. It seems to dent pretty easily. It will get chewed up pretty easily with tire chains.

My entry is about 16" high and I need a super long ramp or slippage happens. I'm in the process of deciding what to do for a permanent ramp and am going with real wood for starters. I was thinking of pt 5/4 decking and have the boards go from left to right leaving a 1" gap between the boards.

You are right the snow and frost makes them very slippery. I was wondering if one were to put a heavy duty diamond mesh right on top of the ramp say two feet wide for each tire track if that would work for slippage and then put cleats on top if necessary. I will engineer the slippage out of my ramp one way or another.... Keep us posted on what you come up with.

just a thought why not just poor little concrete pad? you're only talking about 25 sq ft. for a 4" slab you would need 15 bags of QUIKRETE 80 Lb. Concrete Mix. to do a 6" slab it would take 21 bags. Concrete mix runs about $3.50 a bag so that would be about $53 for the 4" slab and about 75 for the 6" slab. then there would be no more slipping and sliding or spinning the tires. It would last as long if not longer the PT or Trex type composite decking. it's small enough you can do it yourself all you needs a wheelbarrow and some water.

I would not use trex. Its too flexable. Here is a idea... Why not lay in a few stringers, and then put PT boards crosswise on it. that will give you a little more teeth to grab onto. Also if slipping is still a issue, they sell the stick on stair step grip pads anywere. its kinda like sand paper and works great.

I had a similar height difference to address, though I was going from lawn to shed. And I chose 8' PT 5/4 boards across 8' long PT 2"x8". Because of the extra support provided by the landscape ties, I have no flex at all. I did a write up on my construction of the pad and ramp in this forum several months ago at: http://www.mytractorforum.com/showthread.php?t=198695

I can't say I've had a slipping problem, but I know that backing a LT/GT up a ramp shifts most of the weight off the rear drive tires and onto the front. Makes for potential slipping. Any reason you couldn't pull into your shed? I think you would find significantly less tendancy to slip with the bulk of your weight over the drive wheels.

I think the comments you already received on the advisability of using Trex should be considered. I know you indicated a Trex-like material, and some are obviously better suited than others. But, if you are going to back a GT with chains up a ramp, you are almost certainly eventually going to slip/spin.

Good luck

On a side note, we're having 'slipping' problems on wooden bridges over small streams in the local state park. They're experimenting on what to use to keep people and bicycles on the bridges. So far, they've worked with paint with sand texture mix, chicken wire, cut grooves in the wood, and cleats.
Chicken wire wears out, leaving dangeous sharp ends that tend to flatten tires. It has to be renewed. Needs to be screwed down. Dogs don't like to wealk over it.
Cut grooves tend to collect dirt and become useless unless kept clean. Also have to renew when the boards wear down.
Paint with texture, when appliled, means the 'bridge' is not useable to cross. It wers out quickly.
Cleats, well bumpy.
My 2 sheds have concrete ramps. One is level, other has an incline. So much of an incline that the tractor with the cutting deck won't go over the top into the shed. If you do concrete, make a good sub-base so the concrete block won't rise with the frost, or sink in the mud. Don't have to replace concrete every other couple yers, either. Won't dent or splinter. Won't cause flats. Won't flex.

Kamccarthy
You could install two cheek (side) walls of 6x6 p.t. and fill in between with small process stone, (install a barrier between the shed and stone).
Install the bottom (longest tie) on solid ground with rebar pins. Join the rows above (staggered with the ramp pitch) with galv spikes.
Clean in between the walls and fill in the walls with graded compacted lifts.
I have one of these ramps I built 30" high and 8' wide still going strong that was build in the early 80's. :fing32:
DMAC

We have some metal grating from the scrap yard for a ramp into a shipping container like in the 1st pic. Another option is the metal planking. Good grip and allows mud and snow to fall through.

A friend had slippage problems on his shed's ramp when he'd drive his tractor up it,especially if it was wet or icy...(it was made of plywood)...someone suggested he tack a peice of 90 lb. mineral surface roll roofing over the wood,---he did,and it worked quite well...he remembered after he put that down,that he had a leftover sheet of some rubber roofing from when he built the shed's roof,he would have used that,had he remembered it sooner!..

We had a ramp going up to a truck body we used for storage at the junkyard,and we often slipped and took a dump when we'd walk up it while pushing a hand truck with an engine or other heavy item--we took some old bias ply tires and cut the sidewalls off with a sawsall and nailed the tread portion to the ramp,that put an end to the slipping troubles..