Picking the Best Ramp for You
Ramps.co.uk provides many different types of ramps, and each type comes in many different sizes. We understand it is not always easy to know which one you need.
Our ramps are designed mainly to serve wheelchair, scooter, and rollator users. The sorts of obstacles such people need a ramp to overcome, however, will vary from person to person.
What follows is a quick guide to help you decide what type of ramp you need. We hope to help you find what you are looking for.
As always, if you are still unsure don’t hesitate to contact us. Our team of accessibility experts will discuss your situation with you and use this information to guide you towards finding the perfect ramp.
Finding the Perfect Ramp Type
We offer two types of ramps at Ramps.co.uk: portable and semi-permanent. Whichever type of ramp you need will depend on whether your access issues are at home, the workplace, or during your travels.
If you do a lot of travelling as a wheelchair, scooter, or rollator user, a portable ramp will be helpful. While many restaurants, cafés, hotels, and other areas of the hospitality, tourism, and retail sectors are required by law to be reasonably accessible, you may still encounter inaccessible spaces in the form of train platform gaps, gaps between busses and pavements, as well as obstructing steps, thresholds, damaged ground, and temporary works.
A portable ramp is a useful piece of equipment as it enables the user to overcome all small obstacles they may encounter. Whether you are travelling locally or abroad, a portable ramp ensures your mobility issues do not impede your access anywhere.
Many people use portable ramps on a semi-permanent bases in their homes. They use them to overcome steps, thresholds, and other vertical features. This is not an ideal solution, as portable ramps must be regularly readjusted to prevent slipping. But it can certainly be cost effective when you have multiple thresholds about the house.
Our selection of semi-permanent Excellent Systems products is the preferable alternative to portable ramps in houses, gardens, and workplaces. They offer more convenience than portable ramps, plus (depending on what you need) they can be much more cost effective.
Excellent Systems ramp products come in two forms at Ramps.co.uk: QuickRamps and ramp kits. Both are lightweight, fully recyclable, cheaper than portable ramps, fully customisable, and more space efficient.
QuickRamps are ideal for small indoor thresholds between 4mm and 60mm, whereas ramp kits can be used both in and outdoors to create larger, more complex ramps between 18mm and 199mm. As Excellent System products do not require screw fixings, they can be easily picked up and cleaned so that your home, garden, or business remains tidy and presentable long after installation.
If neither of these options are large enough to overcome the thresholds or steps you are dealing with, contact Easiaccess for a bespoke modular ramp installation.
Finding the Perfect Ramp Size
Once you have decided which type of ramp you need, you need to decide how long it needs to be. Based on your choice of ramp type, you should already have an idea of what height or heights your ramp is supposed to overcome. This is obviously more difficult to predict with portable ramps, as you can never know for sure what obstacles you might encounter in your travels, but you may nevertheless have a general idea of what your ramp will need to deal with.
When figuring how long your portable ramp must be, consider how much storage space you have and how much weight you are willing to carry. We sell two types of portable ramp: the non-folding Aerolight Classic and the foldable Aerolight Xtra.
The Xtra’s folding feature reduces its width, but its length remains the same. At their longest lengths, portable ramps can become rather heavy, so you must take into consideration how much of your travel will be done inside a vehicle. Without a vehicle, you may find that carrying a large portable ramp is tiring after long distances, and thus a shorter portable ramp may be preferable. If, however, you usually travel by vehicle, and expect the need to overcome wide or tall obstacles, select a long portable ramp, preferably the Aerolight Xtra folding suitcase ramp.
When deciding which semi-permanent Excellent Systems ramp to buy, use a Ramp O Meter to measure the threshold you intend your ramp to overcome. If you need an Excellent Systems ramp to overcome something taller than a threshold – like a step or short wall – you may have to use a longer measuring tool such as a tape measure.
Once you have your measurements, you can either start browsing our selection of QuickRamps and ramp kits, or you can enter your measurements into www.RampCalc.com and receive personalised recommendations for your Excellent Systems solution.
Still Not Sure?
Finding the right ramp ensures your safety and comfort when moving around your home, workplace, or travelling locally and abroad. At Ramps.co.uk, we have the ramps for all small to mid-sized wheelchair, scooter, and rollator obstacles.
If you are unsure what ramp you need, or you like to a second opinion before you commit to purchasing anything, feel free to call us or send us an email.
