Eli5 why aren’t 2 story houses built with ramps instead of stairs?

Question

Are they just not practical? They seems cheaper to build instead of elevators for wheelchair bound people.

In: 0

Answer 1

Ramps require more than double the footprint a staircase does to be usable.

For ramps, an incline of over 10 degrees is damn near unusable, meanwhile staircases can have an incline over 45 degrees no problem.

Answer 2

It would take a lot more space. Stairs work better than ramps because we can use a much higher angle. Most stairs are 30-45 degrees, and the maximum slope for a wheelchair ramp is about 15 (but most are smaller.)

So you’d need at least two to three times the space for a ramp. Not to mention that you’d probably need to have turns in the ramp for safety depending on building codes.