A Shed Ramp Or Stair Is A Perfect Add On For Your Shed!

For most sheds you don't need stairs but if you have a riding mower or a rolling item that needs to be pushed into your shed you might consider building a ramp for your shed.

you've built your shed up off the ground and need an extra step or two you might need to build stairs. I will show you the basics of how to build a ramp and stairs for your shed.

RampShed Ramps should be the same size as the door opening. For a 6' door make your ramp 6'. The length of your ramp will depend on how much space you have and the pitch of ramp you want.For this example Ive chosen a 6' wide x 4' long ramp. I will be using pressure treated 2"x6" lumber and galvanized nails or screws.

Start by cutting a skid or ledger for your ramp the length of your shed door width. Nail it to the shed in front of the shed door flush with the top of the shed floor. Next cut out 4 ramp joist with the appropriate angle cuts on each end to accommodate the the ramps pitch and slope of terrain.

Now mark your layout for the ramp joist on to the installed ledger one for each end and one every 2'.

Make another mark for each joist on the ledger 1.5" down from the top edge. This will allow for the decking of the ramp.

Now cut out all the deck boards you will need and install them on to the ramp joist.

You might need to have your first bottom deck board ripped on an angle allowing a smooth transition from ground to ramp. I recommend starting from the bottom and decking your way up towards the shed just in case you have to rip the last decking board.

You don't want a ripped board at the bottom of your ramp

If you find you need a stair for your shed you might only need one step in this case just simply build a box onto your shed securing strongly to the shed sub-floor and deck it off with a 2"x12" tread.

If you need more treads and want to install a nice stair system for your shed its going to take a little calculating. Its pretty simple.

Follow this formula.

A stringer is the cut out 2"x12" board that runs under the stair. Its the actual frame of the stair.

A tread is the top cut of this stair, the part you step on.

A riser is the face cut into the stringer, where your toes kick.

Measure the bottom of the ground to the top of the floor divide this by 7. This will tell you how many risers you will need to cut into your stringer. Lets say it 9' or 108" (108/7=15.428) You need 15 risers. Now divide the height again by this sum (108/15=7 and 3/16") This will tell you how high each riser will be. Most treads need to be about 10 inches and you should have one less tread than risers. Now its time to find the length of the stair and total risers that it contains (10x14=140" long)

Add in all your own parameters. Treads are usually 10" and risers about 7". Mark them all out on your stringers using a framing square and cut them out with the appropriate cuts on the top and bottom. Install your stringers . Now cut out all the top tread boards form 2"x12" about 2" wider than the stringers outside to outside width and install.

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