Disabled access to Holiday Home abroad

[King Billy]

Hello, I hope you clever people can help me.
We have a holiday home abroad.
My parents want to come out to visit this year. My Father is in a wheelchair, but the access is absolutely not disabled friendly.
There are 3 steps to the entrance. Their is no other entrance. The space at the front is limited. A disabled ramp is not possible. It would be too steep and any attempt at zig-zagging it would need a lot of re-working the front, which would probably affect the footpath.

I am looking for some clever ideas to get my father, in his wheel chair into the house.

The steps are 720mm high in total. The lowest step is 300mm high, and the top two are 210mm high each.

The space available at the front, including the footpath, to the house floor level, is 2.5 meters to the road.
Even using the footpath as part of the ramp, the angle would still be too steep for even an assisted wheelchair, not to mention blocking the footpath.

Any ideas?

 

[noseall]

Hello, I hope you clever people can help me.
We have a holiday home abroad.
My parents want to come out to visit this year. My Father is in a wheelchair, but the access is absolutely not disabled friendly.
There are 3 steps to the entrance. Their is no other entrance. The space at the front is limited. A disabled ramp is not possible. It would be too steep and any attempt at zig-zagging it would need a lot of re-working the front, which would probably affect the footpath.

I am looking for some clever ideas to get my father, in his wheel chair into the house.

The steps are 720mm high in total. The lowest step is 300mm high, and the top two are 210mm high each.

The space available at the front, including the footpath, to the house floor level, is 2.5 meters to the road.
Even using the footpath as part of the ramp, the angle would still be too steep for even an assisted wheelchair, not to mention blocking the footpath.

Any ideas?

Along these lines but modified?

 

[King Billy]

That's kind of an idea.
I have given it some serious thought. But there are some problems.
It would need the 'bed' to be widened and plated to fill any gap between the forks. The 545mm across the forks is just a little under the width of the wheel chair, but that wouldn't cause much of a problem.
It would be important to be able to wheel the chair on and off the platform. I guess someone would have to be lifted in situ, behind the chair to push the wheel chair off the platform otherwise they would have to climb over or around Pop. I wouldn't want to risk lifting Pop, in the wheel chair on the forks and manouvering the truck so that the wheel chair can be lowered on to the house floor. It would also need a little ramp to push the chair onto the forks before lifting, but that's no great problem, it's less than some kerbs.
The big and more difficult problem is the reach of the forks when in full height. I can't see any information on that and the steps are 600mm in a horizontal direction, from the face of the lower step to the top face of the upper step. If the lower base prevented the raised forks reaching the top of the steps, a bridge across any gap would be needed. Any 'built-in' or added extension to the forks might cause it to overbalance with the weight on, or on the standard forks, with the bridge weight, etc.
The fork lift would have to be pushed up to the face of the lower step. I hope it wouldn't be a problem to actually move the fork lift over the ground with the weight of Pop, the chair and the pusher on it. The ground is paved, but with patterned pavers that have little grooves.

Then there's the delivery. It's to UK only, and our holiday home is abroad. We'd have to arrange a private delivery.

But I will look to see if there is any sort of similar apparatus available locally.

Thanks for the idea.

This is the situation at the moment.

 

[stevie888]

Is this a one off visit for your folks or can you use wheelchair access as a plus if you rent the place out (now or in the future) or if you want to encourage them to come again.

Ideally you need something like a big Stannah type stair lift with a platform that sit flat on the path and be walked over when not in use. (This would actually even out the rises a bit)

For a one off how about a bit of scaffolding to form a ramp

 

[Mottie]

Something like this?

 

[bernardgreen]

A tri-wheel chair may be the answer

This is one supplier https://www.evacusafe.co.uk/shop/tri-wheel-transit-chair/

 

[King Billy]

Is this a one off visit for your folks or can you use wheelchair access as a plus if you rent the place out (now or in the future) or if you want to encourage them to come again.

Ideally you need something like a big Stannah type stair lift with a platform that sit flat on the path and be walked over when not in use. (This would actually even out the rises a bit)

For a one off how about a bit of scaffolding to form a ramp

Thanks for the ideas, stevie. There's very little chance of us considering renting it out in the future. But we would like to encourage our parents to accompany us on our holidays there, or even stay there alone, or with other members of the family.

I don't think a stairlift would be possible because there isn't an adjacent wall. And they're so expensive.
There is also the requirement to move from the chair to the stairlift, unless a proper wheel chair lift is installed, and that requires some extensive work and expense.

Theoretically a ramp would work, but practically the angle is far too great. I think it's something like 15 degrees from the horizontal, and the recommended slope is more like 7 degrees. At 15 degrees there's a possibility of the wheel chair overbalancing.

 

[King Billy]

Something like this?

View attachment 403146

A tri-wheel chair may be the answer

This is one supplier https://www.evacusafe.co.uk/shop/tri-wheel-transit-chair/

Thanks Mottie and Bernard, but we were already aware of those, and we have so far dismissed them. Partly because it depends on having a couple of strong guys available, and because our Pop is an awkward cuss. He insists on being as independent as possible, and creates a scene whenever there is no alternative but to, as he puts it, "manhandle him".
I understand his feelings, and I suspect I would be the same in that situation.

 

[jj4091]

You say you could use a ramp with difficulty. Would it be possible to use a longer ramp to reduce the angle and to fit a small winch ( as fitted to cars ) to pull your father up the ramp to the house or to the wheel chair itself

Google Search

He could probably do that with a remote control. Would need some thought around the instalation but it appears to be a difficult problem to resolve easily.
Perhaps fit one of these to his wheel chair https://www.careco.co.uk/i-go-power...qqHqAqUy7KhQnRByak5ze_4r94QbvOmxoC548QAvD_BwE

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Theoretically a ramp would work, but practically the angle is far too great. I think it's something like 15 degrees from the horizontal, and the recommended slope is more like 7 degrees. At 15 degrees there's a possibility of the wheel chair overbalancing.

If you can arrange a slope, I would consider either a manual winch, or even better an electric version. The winch, could be mounted on a length of timber, wide enough to span more than the door width. Manual winches, can be had for £20, electric ones for £100.

The slope over the steps, could be as simple as a timber infill, or a pair of steel U channels, spaced to fit the wheels on the chair.

Alternatively...

If your father uses a mobility scooter, most can self climb some sort of slope - it might be worth checking how steep a slope one could manage.

 

[Mottie]

Where we regularly walk, I’ve seen people use fold up ramps to allow large, old dogs to get into the back of high 4x4's and I remember a friend of mine buying a fold up ramp to allow his son to get his motorcross bike into the back of a pickup truck. Could something like that be used?

Folding Motorcycle Loading Ramps - Lightweight Aluminium - The Ramp Factory

Lightweight and safe, The Ramp Factory's folding motorbike ramps offer optimum grip for easy loading. Providing a capacity of up to 680kg, The Ramp factory bike ramps are ideal for loading bikes into vans. The ramps are also easy to store, making them perfect for transportation. They come in a...

www.therampfactory.co.uk

 

[Tigercubrider]

I was going to suggest modifying a hydraulic motorcycle workbench .
The ramp would be easier to install when there isn’t time to modify the building.

With a bike lift (or similar);you could incorporate it into the house frontage to prevent theft plus add stability etc
We had a massive dock lift at work that took tons, but the rules said “no passengers” I’d expect any cheap solution would say the same
Ours had a key clamp type handrail and surround, umpteen interlocks and a bellows type enclosure to prevent crap/animals. It sits in a recess in the ground so appears to Be flat to the ground.

If you could source a lift table abroad, or take one in a van you could make something?
But aren’t there options there that you could investigate?

Lift Table Gallery - Powerlift

Lift Pictures - Power-Lifts are experts in scissor lift tables and provide an extensive range of standard and bespoke manufactured scissor style, platform lifting tables.

www.powerlift.co.uk

I guess it depends on how many visits your dad might make v cost per visit?

 

[mattylad]

Forget buying anything hydraulic for such a short visit.
Can you not get a few people to lift his chair up the steps for the very few times it will need to be done?
Point out to him before he comes that there is an issue but if he is OK with it you will have to manage using manual lifting.

Find some local big lads and give them some cash to help you if you have not got enough people.

At one of my parents previous houses we had similar steps onto the road that then led onto a drive down the side of the house, so my dad made some ramps that fold in half, only ever used temporarily they were great at getting a car down, then the ramps were removed.

 

[King Billy]

Thanks JJ and Harry. As previously mentioned, the big problem with a ramp is the slope, Anything approaching 15 degrees creates a potential for overbalancing. Any further out and we'd be in the road. Going right to the edge of the pavement would mean mounting the kerb immediately followed by the ramp.
The road isn't that busy, so something in place for the few minutes of going up and down a ramp would be possible, if the ramp was light enough to be easily moved.

 

[King Billy]

Thanks Mottie and Tigercobrider, ideas worth more thought.
I initially really liked the motor bike workbench idea. It would be unobtrusive in the lowered position. But like Noseall's fork lift, a bridge of some sort would be needed, temporarily, which in itself could create an overbalancing potential when loaded.
I was hoping to find a solution that didn't involve building works, (avoid expense as well as any permission required) and was temporary, albit stowable elsewhere. And avoiding theft risk.
I'll certainly look at the aluminium ramps, if they're light enough, long enough, and strong enough, I might give them a whirl. I'll have to explore the angle, even if placed partially in the road, which is lower than the footpath,thereby increasing the potential ramp angle.
I'm hoping to get as close to the recommended maximum of 7 degrees as possible.

I'm thinking an ideal solution would be something like a motorbike workbench lifting one end of a hinged bridge (or aluminium ramp) connected to the top step, with the whole wide enough to accommodate a wheel chair.
But I'll keep on exploring and researching possible ideas.