Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Plywood Walkway

Hi, all. I am looking for advice on a walkway I'm building for my neighbor. She is is her late 60's and has a son who has been confined to a wheelchair all of his life and he can't take care of himself. Last year there was a group of people who put in an emergency wheelchair ramp for her from her back door, along side of her house and right out onto my lawn. I'm cool with it because it was a safety reason for putting in the ramp in the first place and its that much less that I have to mow. Well anyways, they did a quick and dirty job on the ramp and left her with a 21 foot section from the end of her ramp to the pavement. Long story short, if it rains or snows she can't push him. So I decided to make the walkway for her. I am going the cheapest possible route because I don't have any money and she's not paying me for it because she can't afford to. I stopped at a yard sale and found nice little sheets of 1" thick plywood. 18 of these sheets should do the job perfectly. I'll be nailing these to 3 rows of 4x4's because the plywood needs to be 2 sheets wide to be wide enough to fit the ramp. I'm still shy a few 4x4's but I'm getting there one piece at a time. I just need 2 more 10 footers and an 8 footer and some nails and that should be it besides staining or painting the plywood to protect it from the weather. My question is this. The ramp is only about 2 inches above my lawn. I'll need to dig down about 4 inches just to make the planks level with the bottom of the ramp. Once I did this all out what do I do? Just tamp it down and lay the 4x4's? Should I add sand? The boards will be tight enough together that I shouldn't need to lay down a weedguard. Once its all laid in and nailed down is there a way to seal in between the sheets? Thanx for your help guys. Swizzle

Swizzle,

It's wood, it's on the ground, it has no ventilation -- it's gonna rot.

It'll last a few years. Maybe by then you will have a few hundred dollars and be able to replace it with concrete.

The plywood will probably hold up the longest if you paint all 6 sides prior to installation. Paint may also make the plywood slick when wet :eek:

Paint the walking surface with abrasive floor paint. It has a sand-like material mixed in the paint which prevents the surface from being slick when wet. Good luck with your project.

The 4x4's are pressure treated so they should last a while, (I hope). Even if it last a few years until I can do something better. The end of the walkway out to the pavement should end up being a good inch off of the pavement. Would it last longer if I put spaces in between each 4x4? It might save me a few bucks if I can space them a short distance a part every foot or so. I might even cut notches into the 4x4's and add a 2x4 connector between the 4x4's to add an air hole. The only other thing I think I could do would be applying ruberized undercoating to the 4x4's. I really appreciate the help guys. Swizzle

swizzle,

Using PT will give you a few extra years. If you want to buy a few more years, wrap the PT 4X4's with a vinyl like Vycor. (Wrap the bottom side first, then wrap the top and let it lap ove along the sides.)

But regardless of how you go about it, you are placing wood in, or at least very close to dirt, and it WILL rot. PT and Vycor won't prevent that from happening, but it will delay it. Spacing the 4X4's (I'm assuming that you are talking about gapping the butt ends) won't help. It's the earth-to-wood contact that is going to cause the rot.

Well that's all I'm looking to do right now is to get the most bang for my buck. I suppose I could lay down gravel but I'm not sure how good that would work and I really can't afford it so I'd be sifting a local beach for the gravel. Eventually the dirt is going to creep back in. Cement is definately the way to go, there's no doubt about that but the old lady really needs something now. She has been lugging her 140+lb son from his wheelchair to bed and bath and back. Its a lot for her and I haven't seen her much lately so I know she isn't doing well. The longer more gradual ramp will be much easier on her then her front door, short ramp. Right now I'm working on starting my own business but I really need to get back to work so I can buy more supplies. Once I get going then I might be able to get her a nice cement walkway in another year or 2. Even if I have to do it bag by bag and slowly disassemble the plywood walkway over the next few years. Swizzle