Railing for wheelchar ramp

[messmaker]

Put in a ramp for an elderly lady I do some work for. She needed a 4 foot ramp out the back door. She said she would prefer to not have a pipe railing. I am thinking of securing a 4x4 to the back of the house and setting a second 4x4 in a Strong tie post box and securing it to the pad. Not sure how to do the railing.Everyone seems to do it differently I am thinking i will just miter the tops of the 4x4 and put a 2 x 6 on top. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[MstrCarpenter]

Put in a ramp for an elderly lady I do some work for. She needed a 4 foot ramp out the back door. She said she would prefer to not have a pipe railing. I am thinking of securing a 4x4 to the back of the house and setting a second 4x4 in a Strong tie post box and securing it to the pad. Not sure how to do the railing.Everyone seems to do it differently I am thinking i will just miter the tops of the 4x4 and put a 2 x 6 on top. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I've made a lot of "kits" that were installed by volunteers of local charities. The longest ramp sections were 6', supported with 4x4 posts. the top of the posts were cut at 45*. the handrail (also the guardrail) was a 2x6 with a full radius on top. The finger grip was a shallow cove starting about 1/2" below the round-over that I cut by running the stock diagonally on the T.S.. Another way to make the handrail "graspable" is to cut a 3/4" x 3/4" groove on the outboard face about 1-1/2" down from the top; a 1-1/2" bullnose with the stock vertical, followed by a pass on the flat will produce three quarters of a full circle on top of the 2x6. Both methods will leave enough space below the profile to mount the rail to the posts and balusters to the rail.

[K. L. McReynolds]

There are some specific code requirements for railings. Basically there needs to be a top and bottom rail with spindles spaced 4" or less apart. I generally set a 2x4 between the posts vertically with a 1x4 dressing piece on top of that horizontally for the top and a 2x4 vertically for the bottom rail. That makes installing the spindles on the 2x4's easy.

The most involved part of that design is mitering each end of all the pieces. I use a miter saw for the most part, with a circular saw for the wider top rail dressing.

[MstrCarpenter]

There are some specific code requirements for railings. Basically there needs to be a top and bottom rail with spindles spaced 4" or less apart. I generally set a 2x4 between the posts vertically with a 1x4 dressing piece on top of that horizontally for the top and a 2x4 vertically for the bottom rail. That makes installing the spindles on the 2x4's easy.

The most involved part of that design is mitering each end of all the pieces. I use a miter saw for the most part, with a circular saw for the wider top rail dressing.

This  ^ design will meet most residential and commercial code requirements for guardrails. It does not address or provide any of the requirements for handrails. I built a farmers porch on a colonial with nice V.G. fir top rails. The tops had a slight bevel to shed water and the edges were beaded. I set these top rails on the stairs at 36" above the tread nosings in a rail-over-post design so there were no interruptions in the "handrail". In order to get my final sign-off, I had to screw 1-3/8" round handrail to the top of the nice fir to meet the maximum cross section dimension of 2-¼". She didn't measure, and I didn't offer the fact that the beautiful red oak balustrade I installed inside with two goosenecks, and a bottom turn-out volute has a cross section dimension of 2-3/8".

[messmaker]

It is only 7 inches high at it's max. Are spindles necessary? I did not see that in code.

[MstrCarpenter]

It is only 7 inches high at it's max. Are spindles necessary? I did not see that in code.

For most jurisdictions guard rails are only required at 24" or higher. Here's a quote from ADA standards; "When a handicap ramp has a rise greater than 6 inches or a horizontal projection greater than 72 inches, the ramp must have handrails on both sides." and "The top of the handrail surface shall be placed between 34 and 38 inches above the ramp's finished floor surface." So you don't have to include balusters, but you should still consider something to keep the wheels (and small feet) from slipping off the sides of the ramp.

[messmaker]

For most jurisdictions guard rails are only required at 24" or higher. Here's a quote from ADA standards; "When a handicap ramp has a rise greater than 6 inches or a horizontal projection greater than 72 inches, the ramp must have handrails on both sides." and "The top of the handrail surface shall be placed between 34 and 38 inches above the ramp's finished floor surface." So you don't have to include balusters, but you should still consider something to keep the wheels (and small feet) from slipping off the sides of the ramp.

That is helpful. Thanks

[Cecil]

Others are giving better advice about the railing. 

Regarding the post, I used Oz Posts a few times.  I really like them.  I have another thread here regarding galvanized fencing.  I which I could find galvanized terminal posts with the Oz post style fins.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE3PKWU4at8

Edit to add, I did find round Oz post bases. I may have just solved my problem.