How to Make a Skating Ramp

It’s the dog days of summer and you are tired of riding on your favorite park in this blistering heat. The streets are also highly crowded with human traffic and patrol. You may think about the skate parks!

I know these skate ramps are a man-made dream for every skateboarder. But there are problems too! In the bigger cities, there is too much skateboarder. And the park always remains full.

So, what will you do now?

If you have nowhere to go for skating but you want to have a safe ride with your kids, maybe it’s high time to build your own skating ramp.

How to build a scooter ramp?

Building a skateboard is always a do-it-yourself ethos. According to a report of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, the very first skate ramp was built in the 1950s. But the facts have been changed in time. Not only the skate ramps but also the boards also have been modernized significantly.

So, let’s build a modernized ramp on our own backyard. In this article, I’ve listed a step-by-step process about how to make a skateramp. Let’s check –

Step #1: Beware about your zoning laws:

Before you start to build your dream on the backyard, check the zoning laws of your state. At first, you have to ensure that whether it is legal to build a skate ramp on your neighborhood. Every municipality, city or town has their own zoning laws. This zoning law regulates the construction of the structures of your own home. For example, the gazebos, wheelchair ramps, sheds, fences — and obviously the skateboard ramps.

This zoning law also regulates the height of your backyard ramps. If your construction makes awful to the neighbors, then there will be a big problem. Even sometimes you have to grant special permission from the local land office to make a ramp. And it will also cost some additional bucks. A dad in Fairfax, Virginia reports that he was ended up paying $1,800 for land permission and another $1,400 for the construction of a skate ramp. [Source: Code Publishing]

So, be careful about the laws!

Step #2: Choose a perfect location:

You know not every backyard is created equally. Before visiting the land office, make sure that you have enough space to build a skate ramp.

It will be great if you include your family members in the ramp making plan. You know you have to calculate both the flat surface and the halfpipe portion. It will be difficult to measure your backyard on your own.

If you need more place for the flat surface, then should choose a longer space. Otherwise, the comparatively smaller place works fine for the halfpipe lovers.

Here, I want to mention an additional tip. If you are like me who loves to perform some stunts, make sure that you have made your ramp beside the swimming pool. The feeling of jumping on the swimming pool after a crazy stunt is incredibly awesome!

Step #3: Determine your budget:

If wood only grew on the trees … oops, let’s make a correction on this sentence. Unless the 2x4s wood screws grew on the trees, or you own a timber and construction business, you must have to perform a budget planning. How much money do you need? Let’s calculate.

To be honest, there is no universal budget plan for building a skateboard ramp. All I can do just giving you a professional idea.

Rick Dahlen, a dad from Minnesota, made a nearly perfect skateboard ramp plans. According to him, you can build an entry-level ramp only with $700 and 20 hours of rough labor. But if you want to build a smaller one, then $350 to $450 budget also works fine.

However, are you thinking about adding cement to your ground? That will be far more expensive. According to the manager of a San Diego skate park, a cement truck that can hold about 10 cubic yards (7.65 cubic meters) will cost you about $1,200 to $1,500.

Generally, the municipality authorities build their ramps with cement. And a 10,000 square foot (929 square meters) skate ramp costs around $350,000!

Step #4: Construction plan and material gathering:

To begin the whole process, you have to ask a few questions on your own. From all of those questions, I have listed the most important five questions. They are –

Ø How much money do you want to spend on this ramp?

Ø How much space do you have?

Ø How much bigger ramp you can build without any sort of special permit?

Ø How frequently do you skate?

Ø Does the local weather allow year-round skating?

After answering all of these questions, now it’s time to gather construction materials.

The most basic tools are given below –

· A marker or pencil

· Power drill

· Carpenters square

· Circular saw

· Jigsaw

· 25’ measuring tape

If you are good with this tool, then go for it. Otherwise, hire some professional hands.

After collecting these tools, now it’s time to collect the basic materials. For the wooded materials –

· Paint or seal

· 1 ½” deck surface

· 3/8” 8x4 plywood for covering

· ¾” or ½” 8x4 plywood for structure

· 2x4s

· Glue

Step #5: Start building your ramp:

Now you have selected your ramp location, fixed the budget and gather all of the required tools. Now it’s time to build your own ramp.

Before starting the process, you will need four basic components. They are –

Ø Curved side pieces cut with a Jigsaw

Ø Horizontal joists screwed into the curved side pieces

Ø A curved ramp surface

Ø Coping

The curved ramp surface made from plywood sheets. These sheets should screw into the joists. The coping has to be made from metal or PVC pipe.

After collecting all of them, follow this skateboard ramp plans.

1. Take some high-quality strings. Secure one end of a string with a thumbtack to a piece of plywood. This plywood must be kept lying flat on the ground.

2. Then tie the other end of that string around a marker. This marker should be a permanent marker.

3. Now lay a plywood sheet on the ground. This sheet should be 4x8 foot (1.22 to 2.44 meter).

4. Then measure the 8.89 centimeters (3.5 inches) up from the bottom right corner. This bottom right corner is the starting point for your curved ramp.

5. Now adjust the spare board with the thumbtack. It will keep the string perfectly aligned and taut with the 4x8 plywood sheet. This spare board will be attached to the right side.

6. As we have pointed a location on #2 with a permanent marker, a point that marked the location. Now taut the string as you traces the curve to the upper left position.

7. Use the jigsaw to cut the curved line.

8. Then use the completed side to cut and measure the other part of this trail.

9. Now go for the coping section. All you need is just 8 feet (2.44 meter) long metal or PVC pipe. This pipe must have 2.5 inches (6.35 cm) width.

10. Now drill a hole through both sides. Enlarge those holes in such portion so that a screwdriver can pass through.

11. Now screw your PVC pipe to the lip of the ramp. It will provide a grindable and smooth surface.

12. Additionally, you can also paint your ramps with some waterproof sealant. This sealant will protect your construction from external pollution. If your ramp is smaller, then you can use a tarp while you are not using the ramp.

Step #6: Building the grind components:

The grind components are considered as the staple of a skate park. These grind rills help the trainers and trainees to perform basic grind tricks as toe and ollies grind. The grind rails won’t cost you more than $200. Purchase it from the local hardware store and put it on your skateboard ramp.

Step #7: Building the concrete bowls:

In case you want to build a concrete-made bowl, you have to perform some additional task. Unlike building a wooden scooter park, the concrete made ramp need more effort, more energy, more speed, and obviously more money!

The concrete bowl building method is almost similar to a wooden one. The width will depend on your personal preference and make sure that you will do this far more quickly. You know, concretes dry very fast. If the concretes become dried, you can’t use it on your ramp. That means your ramp will be just a waste of time, money and energy.

So, try to take precautions rather than cure it. If you made the bowl of your own, try to do some trial. At first get used to working with the bulldozer, gravel, rebar and the concrete itself. Don’t start developing the concrete bowl until you think that you can handle the concretes efficiently.

Final Verdict:

Once you finished your skateboard ramp plans, don’t waste any more time. Start building your ramp very quickly. Hope that this article will provide a clear idea about how to build a scooter ramp. Now you are all set for your ride. Before your ride check other parts of your skateboard. Like: skateboard trucks, bearing, deck, if those are perfect then you should ride skateboard on your very first make ramp.

However, if you want to know more about how to make a skateramp, feel free to comment here. We will be delighted to answer your inquiries.