Treatment for PT plywood for outdoor ramp

[DaBear3428]

apply penetrating epoxy from total boat between the layers then screw together, then cover it all with more penetrating epoxy. wears like steel will never rot and makes the plywood into a solid part with no movement between layers.
concrete is better but this will outlast you and the pressure treatment will never leach out.

 

[Bmantel]

For rot resistance it's easy:

.https://coppercare.com/preservatives/copper-naphthenates

Can be applied in addition to standard pressure treated lumber for additional life.

I have the 5gal jug, lasts for years for me!

Blake

 

[Bmantel]

Copper Naphthenates - Copper Care Wood Preservatives, Inc. | Wood Preservation Solutions

Copper Care Wood Preservatives, Inc. offers copper naphthenate solutions for wood preservation, such as Cu-Nap Concentrate and Tenino Copper Naphthenate®. These products are EPA registered, may be used to satisfy the AWPA M-4 Standard, and proven effective against decay and insects.

coppercare.com

Somehow had an extra period...

 

[SmallChange]

Lots of useful recent input on this thread!

I have my plywood cut for a 3 layer assembly and it has been drying for a couple weeks now. All from one sheet, all parts run the full 4' dimension of the sheet but have varying lengths on what was the 8' dimension. The worst part curled so bad I've had to clamp it to two steel channels, and I've been trying to heat and air them from their convex sides. The best part is perfectly flat to my eye. No clue why.

I'm going with Titebond III per somebody's recommendation here. I have 13 carriage bolts distributed over the area to pull the layers together for gluing and remain in place for strength. Life keeps getting in the way but I hope to do the gluing any day now.

I plan to let the glued assembly dry for a good while longer. Then I'm going to do extended application of copper napthenate oil-based sealer.

I looked at steel plate first, and rejected the idea because it would have been several hundred dollars. In retrospect, that would have been the smarter move. I have learned the hard way why road construction projects that temporarily put holes in the pavement drop steel plates over them rather than having the crews farting around with gluing stacks of warped plywood.

I did think of pouring concrete. My ramp is 2' high, 4' wide, and 6' long, so 24 cubic feet, or 53 bags of concrete (60#). That's more than I want to tackle. I'd have to make 5 trips just to get it home in my station wagon. And I think the forms to hold concrete this deep would have to be almost as fancy and strong as the ramp does in the first place. Besides, the barn wall behind the ramp isn't strong enough as is to handle that pressure while it sets up.

 

[SmallChange]

More on this. I glued the stack yesterday. What a mess! Parts were so bowed that not even the couple of 6" bolts I bought for just this emergency could reach. It took way longer than I planned to get the parts aligned so bolts would go through, and drawn together. I decided to apply glue to both faces of both joints, reasoning that if the assembly took a long time, I'd rather have the glue surface starting to dry where it was going to hit another glue surface, rather than expecting a slightly skinned over glue surface to penetrate into dry wood. Eventually it all went together, and it became pretty flat as it was all bolted together.

At this point, I would have been better to do steel plate, and be done with it. I could have bought a 1/4" piece the right size, A36 alloy, for only $173. If I ever have to do it again....

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

That's reason #14 to simply pour a concrete ramp!

 

[SmallChange]

pour a concrete ramp

Did you do that with bags of concrete, or a truck? How much concrete? If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost?

I don't know much about working with concrete. I've poured little slabs and set posts and poured steps one at a time, but that's it. How do you do that job? Maybe you do the side walls with boards held together through the wall, then pour the ramp once the walls are strong?

That looks beautiful. The whole setup looks beautiful.

 

[3Ts]

I don't know much about working with concrete. I've poured little slabs and set posts and poured steps one at a time, but that's it. How do you do that job? Maybe you do the side walls with boards held together through the wall, then pour the ramp once the walls are strong?

I had something similar done and that can be done as a monolithic pour. They'll frame the sides and fill with dirt and compact it then use a shovel to dig out along the form walls. The curb will be a "floating" form board suspended from the wall form. The concrete will have to be stiff enough to stay in place on the slope of the ramp.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

That was just an example I found online. There are others here who know much more about concrete than me, I'm just a hack and have poured concrete. Me...I'd measure ramp area you need. Then figure out depth concrete needed. There are formulas based on weight. I think you said 5".
everything-about-concrete.com
Is a good site to check out. It explains the procedure, it's not that big of a deal. Lowe's, Home Depot has wire & Quickrete. If you have a wheelbarrow, hoe & water you're set. Just form it with scrap lumber, level with shed opening, pour, screed, broom finish.
This is a ramp here from asphalt up about 6" to a shed. It's 4ft wider because to left is a walk in door. Sidewalk slopes away from building on right and I cut in a trough under lattice for heavy rainfall, water goes downhill if drains can't take all of it.

 

[DaBear3428]

Lots of useful recent input on this thread!

I have my plywood cut for a 3 layer assembly and it has been drying for a couple weeks now. All from one sheet, all parts run the full 4' dimension of the sheet but have varying lengths on what was the 8' dimension. The worst part curled so bad I've had to clamp it to two steel channels, and I've been trying to heat and air them from their convex sides. The best part is perfectly flat to my eye. No clue why.

I'm going with Titebond III per somebody's recommendation here. I have 13 carriage bolts distributed over the area to pull the layers together for gluing and remain in place for strength. Life keeps getting in the way but I hope to do the gluing any day now.

I plan to let the glued assembly dry for a good while longer. Then I'm going to do extended application of copper napthenate oil-based sealer.

I looked at steel plate first, and rejected the idea because it would have been several hundred dollars. In retrospect, that would have been the smarter move. I have learned the hard way why road construction projects that temporarily put holes in the pavement drop steel plates over them rather than having the crews farting around with gluing stacks of warped plywood.

I did think of pouring concrete. My ramp is 2' high, 4' wide, and 6' long, so 24 cubic feet, or 53 bags of concrete (60#). That's more than I want to tackle. I'd have to make 5 trips just to get it home in my station wagon. And I think the forms to hold concrete this deep would have to be almost as fancy and strong as the ramp does in the first place. Besides, the barn wall behind the ramp isn't strong enough as is to handle that pressure while it sets up.

for this ramp you would form it up and then fill the interior with dirt pack it and only leave 4" for concrete at top and sides.