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Screwing a temporary ramp into wooden steps. Update: now with pictures. :Now Solved!
Nobeard
North Carolina: Failed StateRegistered User regular
North Carolina: Failed StateRegistered User regular
So my wife has a broken leg and we need a ramp for our apartment. I can get a collapsible ramp because we only have two steps, but it needs to be screwed in on the top step with two screws as the steps are wooden. I've got approval from the landlord. I don't know how to choose what screws to use, although I do have a power drill which should help. The landlord said I need to fill in the holes after my wife's leg is healed and the ramp is removed. What do I use to plug the holes with?
I hope this is simple. I'm so far out of my element with this kind of thing. I'm heavily intimidated by it.
I hope this is simple. I'm so far out of my element with this kind of thing. I'm heavily intimidated by it.
Nobeard on
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Did the ramp come with screws?
Can you take pictures?
If it's wood you can usually just get some wood hole filler and sandpaper and call it a day when you need to take them out.
To repair the holes, get a small dowel rod (just a little smaller than the screw holes), coat the end in wood glue and slide it into the holes. Cut it off as close to the porch as you can then sand it flush once the glue has dried.
EDIT: I just googled wood filler, and it seems incredibly simple.
You want to find a drill bit that's the about the size of the shank (ie, don't include the width of the screw threads) of the screws your using, or maybe a bit smaller. I just eyeball it holding the bit up to the screw, you don't need to bust out the calipers or anything.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
I'm only asking because two screws on my steps wouldn't work at all unless I put them in a stud, since my top step is my porch, and my porch is basically wood flooring. You're fine if you're drilling into a solid chunk of wood.
When you buy wood putty, get the kind that's paint-able or stain-able, so it can be made o look like the rest of the steps easier.
Wood filler is a putty that you use to fill holes in wood. It's available in pretty much every DIY warehouse (like for example Home Depot, and Wood filler is what you ask for).
If it's a tiny hole or painted wood you can pretty much just fill the hole with wood filler, let it try, sandpaper off the excess and there you go.
If it's oiled wood then you should find a wooden plug that closely matches the grain of the wood used, put some wood filler in the hole and press the plug into it, let it dry and then sand it off and slap on another layer of oil.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
You just...repaint the staircase. You ask the landlord where he got his paint (if he wants the exact same colour), then you buy a bucket of that paint for outdoor/indoor use (depends on where the staircase is). Then you clean the staircase carefully, and use a brush to apply a new coat of paint.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
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Maybe put the screws in just to stabilize it.
Agreed, especially as a temporary concern. If you're worried about it walking away (theft) just bring it out as needed, but screwing the thing to your deck is just causing you more headaches than the effort is worth.
if you are handy you could put a piece of wood cut to an appropriate angle underneath the top bit to fill the gap, but its probably not worth the effort
How does the other end look, the one in the ground? Is it just sitting on the shingle? If you could brace that end against something, I'd call it properly over-engineered and rock solid. But since it's 10 feet long, I doubt that would be necessary. As you said, you've tried it.
The benefits of screwing it into place would be that it won't wander, though. As in, laid like that, I'd roll a piano up it no problem. But it could happen that one day it's wandered backwards and the lip slips off.