The Ocean Springs Site

Our second work team (Jay, Rich, Maureen, Eleanor, and Camp Victor crew chief Ken) was assigned the task of building a wheelchair ramp at the home of Phyllis and David in eastern Ocean Springs. Phyllis had contacted Camp Victor only the week before, explaining that her father, John, had broken his hip and was being released from the hospital sooner than expected. They had an immediate need for a wheelchair ramp to access the house and had sought assistance from a number of organizations, but no one could help them. The good folks at Camp Victor recognized the difficult situation they were in and decided to give some immediate help.

And had any of this top notch crew from North Carolina ever built such a ramp? Heck no! But we were able to get some good instruction from the construction gang at Camp Victor and combine our skills to get the job done in a little more than 3 days.

The house had a basic but very steep ramp in place when we got there. The Camp Victor staff drafted plans for a new ramp that would be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This meant that it was to be four feet wide and extend one foot horizontally for every inch it needed to drop in elevation from the house to the ground, resulting in an L-shaped ramp about 30 feet long! Lots of lumber, lots of post holes, lots of nails, some interesting angles, and many power tools!

All of the work was outside, which was great. It was shady and not too hot and rained only briefly and the bugs were not bad, so we had good conditions to work in.

After disassembling the existing ramp, the first job was to dig holes for the posts that would support the ramp. Ken rented a motorized auger to “drill” the post holes (below). Although it kicked and bucked a bit when it hit tree roots, overall it made this part of the work much easier.

We then constructed the ramp in three main sections: the long ramp section from the front door to the ramp landing; the flat landing section; and the short ramp section extending from the landing toward the driveway.

We first constructed the “ladder,” or joist structure for the long ramp section.

The Ocean Springs crew took pride in making precision cuts and became expert nail gun operators.

Next we attached the ladder to the landing and the posts, readjusted it a bit after realizing it wasn’t quite right the first time, and nailed plywood on top for the decking. We also trimmed the top of the posts to (approximately) the correct height…

We constructed the second “landing” section separately and then attached it to the first ramp section and its posts.

The third shorter ramp section was next – but we first needed to dig out some of the dirt over which this section would lie. We did so to provide clearance for the support structure of the ramp, which extends about 8 inches below the walking surface. Pick axes, the power auger, shovels, and a little bit of sweat made this happen. Then we attached the ladder to the landing and the posts, and nailed the plywood surface on top.

The final part of the job was to cut all the posts to the correct size, and add a middle rail and a top hand rail on each side. A little bit of sanding and clean up, and we were done!

So, as it turned out, this job was not related to repairing damage due to Hurricane Katrina. But we all saw the big difference it would make for John and his family right away, and we all felt blessed to have the opportunity to help them out. We also found that participating in this kind of project, with old and new friends alike, feeds your own soul as well.

RBD, 11/8/07

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