Any Tips For Building Your Own Garage Pit ??

[bcowanwheels]

I,am going to build a pit in my shop so i can get under these modern semi trucks with the ground effect fairings. this old dude is getting old and on my back is getting old !!!! anyway does anybody have any tip like i wish i would have done it this way ect. ? i know about all the drawbacks so thats what i dont need just helpful posts please. i think its gonna be 30ft. long with steps on each end extra , alot of explosion proof lights , small sump pump , as wide as the inner dual tires on the rear of a semi. some kind of rolling trans jack setup . air lines, electrical plug ins and of course a cover for when not in use so shop dogs wont fall in while playin. any tips guys ?
bob in tn.
p.s.
i have no restrictions in my area against this build. AND SHOP DOGS EQUAL NO THIEFS..... MINE ARE FAMOUS, ALL SHOPS NEED A GOOD DOG OR DOGS. I HAVE 5 GERMAN SHEPERDS ALL SOLID BLACK.

 

[oldgoat]

It looks like you have good basic idea already. A couple of ideas that a friend of mine did in his though was puting in hot and cold water to a sink. He can use his power washer to clean off the underneath side and clean up and little himself. Also he has a crane overhead so that he can use it to hold up the diesel when he changed his ****** on his 1 ton dodge.

 

[cranejon]

Air Handling!! You need a ventilator that will change the air completly (total pit volume in cubic feet) at least once every ten minutes. Carbon Monoxide and other bad things will settle in the pit area. Air intakes should be at the bottom of the pit. Also consider some sort of fire suppression system so that a man won't be trapped in the pit if something starts on fire, (a torch cutting off a muffler) Think safety. jon crane

 

[Bib Overalls]

Don't forget to install a drain.

 

[brownbagg]

alot of places. pits are illegal due to tripping hazard and that some gases settle. But other than that, you start by digging a hole. once the hole is done, you are done.

 

[MustangRick]

I have a pit in my garage, it is about 5'6" deep, 4'wide, and 10' long. It had a 5 gallon bucket sunk into the floor near the middle for a drain, I cemented that in because it was a foot catcher. You spend all your time looking up unless you drop a tool. I have 3/8" angle iron along the sides that I throw wood on top of for a roof. It started out with 2x12 but I have been slowly swapping them out for plywood because it is way easier to deal with. The ideal roof would be to hinge the roof and drop it down in 4' sections. I have not ran compressed air or electrical yet but I really need to. I have one of those cheap metal stairs/porch from a mobile home in there that works out great for getting an additional range of height. If you keep it covered, you really don't get bothered by extreme hot and cold weather. I have never heard anything about solvent gases and such until I started reading this site, but now it makes me wonder how I am going to deal with that.
No one has the guts to pull into my garage, they always want me to do it. I did hang a mirror at an angle in front to help with getting the vehicle centered, but one of those rounded mirrors would work great there. You may want to keep tools down there to keep from having to climb up and down the ladder. If you do, put a dehumidifier down there, mine constantly stays damp, cementing the bucket in certainly didn't help. I lived with mine for 7 years and I love it, plus it is kind of handy when the tornados are flying around. You will definitely want a tray about a foot wide that will sit on top of the rails at about ground level. That is very hand for holding drain pans and tools. If you are going to put lights in there, I would not have them sticking out from the walls do to the constant looking up. Imbed them into the floor or into the walls. If you paint the walls and floor white, then you will find your tools way easier and it will require way fewer lights. I seem to always have oil dry down there, haven't figured out a way around that yet.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[kbs2244]

As was said, you seem to know what you want. Do go with the ventilation, drainage, electric, lighting and air ideas.
Everything else is a structure engineering problem. And I do think you need a pro for this. It sounds like you are gong to have a lot of other peoples money involved. For both your physical and finical safety, do it right.
This is not just a case of adding more mesh and thicker concrete for a stronger floor. We have side loads involved.
I assume this is going into an existing shop. So you will be breaking up the current floor. With the weight of the trucks you are talking about, that is going to be a thick floor. Then you are going to be pouring good thick walls that are tied back into the soil under the surrounding floor somehow to resist the side loading. For the length of the pit walls you are talking about, this is not something to guess at. Do it wrong and they will bulge and bust on you. I would not be suprised if you were told to think about I beam crossmembers at 10 foot spacing across the top of the hole.
I was at the local WalMart the other day, and they had pits in the auto area. So there must be a way to build them according to code. Love them, or hate them for your political reasons, they do things according to the law.
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