Someone in the house needs to reach the front door, and a deck builder has priced the ramp like a deck: height, footings, guards.
A wheelchair ramp permit turns on different questions. Is an interior temporary ramp exempt where you live? Is a short exterior ramp exempt only under a local height cutoff? Does the run land in a setback or on the sidewalk? Who may apply if the person who needs the ramp is not the owner doing the work? PermitCove is an independent homeowner guide, not your building department. The examples below are three local pages, not a national ramp code. Confirm with your authority having jurisdiction before you set posts. See our disclaimer.
Related: deck permits · porch permits · setback variance · HOA versus city · curb cut and right-of-way · who pulls the permit.
Is a wheelchair ramp just a deck?
County websites often file ramps on the same menu as decks and porches, then hide a different exemption in one sentence. Deck rules ask how high the walking surface is, how it is attached, and whether it needs guards. A ramp asks about slope, clear width, landings, handrails, and where the lower end sits. Footings and guards can still matter if the ramp is also a platform. They do not answer the ramp questions.
Read the deck guide so you do not borrow a deck exemption that your city never wrote for ramps. If you are rebuilding the landing at the door, the porch guide is the closer cousin. Commercial ADA advice is the other wrong model. A one- or two-family house is not an office building. New Castle County, Delaware, says so on its FAQ: residential ramps and non-residential ramps are different codes, and it points readers to the ADA site only for further access information, not as the house permit.
Temporary, interior, or a permanent exterior ramp?
New Castle County, Delaware. The county FAQ says a building permit is required for an exterior ramp. An interior temporary ramp does not need a building permit. Non-residential ramps always need a building permit and, on that page, follow the International Building Code and ICC/ANSI rather than the house code. The same FAQ describes the residential rules it is using, and it attributes them to International Residential Code section R311.8: slope no greater than 1:8, clear width of 36 inches, a handrail on at least one side when the slope is steeper than 1:12, and a landing at least 3 feet by 3 feet at the top and bottom, where a door opens onto the ramp, and where the ramp changes direction. That is New Castle’s FAQ. It is not a promise that your city still uses that edition, or that 1:8 is allowed at your door. Ask for the ramp section your building official enforces.
York County, Virginia. The county says the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code requires a permit for structural work, and that a building permit is required for handicap ramp projects. The exemption is narrow: for R-3 and R-5 occupancies, a permit is not required for a temporary ramp serving an entrance less than 30 inches above grade. That 30-inch cutoff is York’s. A permanent ramp, a higher entrance, or a different occupancy does not inherit it. Do not tell a neighbor in another state that “under 30 inches is fine.”
West St. Paul, Minnesota. The city handout answers “is a permit required?” with yes. A building permit is required, the building official reviews the plans, and the application needs a site survey showing the ramp. The sheet says its construction notes are recommendations. A residential ramp may be shaped around the person’s needs, but it still has to meet minimum building code for materials and structure. The handout prints dimensions (including a 36-inch minimum clear width, landings, and handrails when the rise is greater than 6 inches) and cites section numbers. Do not treat those section numbers as the current model IRC. They are what that sheet printed. Use them only as West St. Paul’s published recommendations, then confirm the code your official is enforcing today.
Will the ramp fit the yard, the sidewalk, or the HOA?
York County’s application wants a plot plan showing setbacks from existing and proposed improvements: the whole property, property-line dimensions, and the distance from each property line to the closest point of the new work. That drawing is how you find out the run is in the required yard before you buy lumber. A ramp permit does not waive zoning. If the only route that works crosses the setback, the conversation is a variance, and the hardship test is stricter than “this layout is more convenient.”
If the lower landing crosses a sidewalk, a planter strip, or any other public right-of-way, you have left the building counter. That is a public-works or right-of-way permit, the same family of approvals as a curb cut. Do not pour the last landing on the city’s concrete and call it part of the house permit.
An HOA architectural letter is a third approval. It does not replace the city permit, and a city permit does not replace the HOA. See HOA versus city. Get both clocks running if you need the ramp soon. Neither office is fast just because the need is urgent.
Who may apply, and what goes on the plans?
The person who will use the ramp is often not the applicant. A parent, a tenant, or a contractor may be doing the work on someone else’s house. Cities usually want the owner, or a contractor the owner authorizes, on the application. Our who-pulls guide walks through that split for building permits generally. Ask this building department whether a household member who is not on the deed may sign. Do not invent a caregiver exception.
York’s plan list is a useful packet even if you do not live there, as a checklist of topics, not as York’s structural details copied onto your lot:
- How the ramp attaches to the house
- A floor plan and the floor framing
- Footing details
- Guard and picket framing, if the city requires them
- Where the posts are, and their size
- The plot plan with setbacks, described above
Add the ramp-specific notes your official will measure: slope, clear width, landing size at the door and at turns, and where handrails start and stop. West St. Paul wants the site survey in the application, not after the posts are in. If the entrance is also a porch you are rebuilding, say so. Hiding a new roof or a new landing inside a “ramp only” description is how the permit comes back incomplete.
Design numbers people use as a starting point
Most local ramp pages focus on whether you need a permit, not on how to build the ramp. Many builders and occupational therapists start from the federal 2010 ADA Standards. Those standards are written for public and commercial buildings, not private homes, so your building department won't necessarily require them. Still, they are a solid reference:
- Slope: ramp runs no steeper than 1:12, meaning one inch of rise for every 12 inches of length.
- Rise per run: no more than 30 inches for a single ramp run.
- Width: at least 36 inches clear between handrails.
- Landings: at the top and bottom of every ramp run.
Source: U.S. Access Board: 2010 ADA Standards, section 405 (Ramps).
The slope rule is what makes ramps so long. A 24-inch-high porch at 1:12 needs 24 feet of ramp, before you count landings. That length is why the setback and sidewalk questions above come up so often. Measure the rise at the door first, then sketch the run on your site plan before you buy materials.
Help paying for a ramp: veterans
If the person who needs the ramp is a veteran with a qualifying service-connected disability, VA housing grants may help. VA lists installing ramps and widening doorways as examples of home changes, and says a Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant can be up to $126,526 for fiscal year 2026 (VA: Disability housing grants). Eligibility rules are strict, so apply through VA directly before you sign a contract.
Common mistakes
- Measuring the rise wrong. Measure from the ground at the bottom to the door threshold, not to the porch floor if they differ.
- Forgetting the landing at the door. A ramp that ends at a door with no level space is hard to use.
- Building it as a deck. Get the ramp reviewed as a ramp, not a deck, so the questions match the project.
- Running out of yard. A long ramp can push into a setback or the right-of-way. Check before you build, not after.
- Calling a permanent ramp "temporary." If it is bolted down and staying, treat it as permanent.
FAQ
Do the ADA rules apply to a ramp at my house?
Usually not as a legal rule. The ADA Standards cover public and commercial buildings. Many people use them as a design guide anyway, and your local building code still decides the permit.
How long does a wheelchair ramp need to be?
At a 1:12 slope, one foot of ramp for every inch of rise. A 30-inch rise needs 30 feet of ramp, plus landings (ADA Standards 405).
Can a veteran get help paying for a ramp?
Possibly. VA's housing grants for veterans with qualifying service-connected disabilities can cover changes like ramps (VA).
Last checked: October 2026.
Official sources
- York County, Virginia — Handicap and Wheelchair Ramps
- New Castle County, Delaware — Ramp FAQ
- City of West St. Paul — Handicap Ramps handout
- U.S. Access Board: 2010 ADA Standards (section 405, Ramps)
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: Disability housing grants
Bottom line
Treat a house ramp as its own permit: temporary versus permanent, interior versus exterior, then setbacks and the sidewalk. York’s 30-inch temporary exemption, New Castle’s interior exemption and slope notes, and West St. Paul’s survey requirement are three different pages. Deck height rules and commercial ADA sheets will not answer them. Confirm the packet with your building official, and with zoning if the run cannot stay inside the yard.
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