Ice Melt for Painted Wooden Wheelchair Ramp
Friends would like to keep in place their wheelchair ramp during the winter, but forecasted freezing rain/snow would render unusable. The ramp is (porch) painted MDO ply over treated wood frame, with adhesive backed grip strips, resting on mortared brick walk and steps. Sand will provide good traction over the ice, but scratch/gouge the paint, as would rock salt. Don’t know what effect calcium chloride and such would have on the wood. Feedback greatly appreciated.
Replies
What about steel mesh with teeth, over a rubber pad?
ramp traction
same thought, diamond grid mesh
If this looks too harsh, when weather allows repaint the surface and mix ground walnut shells into the paint.
Fertilizer generally makes a halfway decent ice melt, and it's at least easy (perhaps too easy) on the grass/plants. And a number of other ice melt chemicals are available. You can find some that come in rounded, fairly soft pellets, so the tendency to scratch would be minimal.
(Frankly I think worrying about scratching it is silly -- just resign yourself to repainting it in the spring if need be.)
A trick I've used before on icy pavement is to cover it with clear plastic on a sunny day. This traps a significant amount of heat and can melt the ice even when air temps are only in the teens.
Could ya put small strips of wood every foot or so?
Make them about 12" wide. That way they'd catch the feet of the person pushing, but not interfere with the wheels on the wheelchair.
And they'd make shoveling the snow that much more fun.
We have a similar problem and found a great solution at Petsmart. They sell Simple Solution Ice Melting Pellets that is safe for painted surfaces. We have used it for the past 4 winters without repainting. The porch steps are only now showing signs of needing attention but we would have expected that after 4 years anyway. The product is pricey but a little goes a long way and it works great. We use cheaper stuff for the sidewalk and use the pellets exclusively on the porch. It's kept our handicapped daughter safe and been easy on the wood. I hope this helps.