Clik
Well-known member
I don't have the cieling heigth for a lift and was thinking of putting in a pit. Anyone have a pit?
Anyone have a Pit?
- Thread starter Clik
- Start date
Don't have one myself, but have a buddy that does and have worked in pits. His is good for working on big 4x4s. but low cars are a pain because he thought that 1.8m (rougly 6 feet)would be deep enough. I would go with 7 feet deep.
Make sure you have a well that is easy to clean and a bilge pump that can handle nasty water and other liquids.
Ventilation is a must, we don't want you suffocating in some heavy gasses and fumes do we?
And there is never too much lighting in these pits.
I would sink flat iron or angle iron into the floor around the opening so that 3-4" stick straight up. This will prevent things being kicked into the pit, possibly landing on you. This will also act as a guide, you will feel the tires scrub before the vehicle falls in. I've seen people do things in a rush and it could happen to the best of us.
It's nice to have mirrors on the wall at the end of the pit and on the door. It makes it easy to check the cars lights and makes people calmer when driving over the pit.
Make a sliding platform so that you can work above the pit with out straddling both sides.
I would put stairs at both ends, or a stair at one end and an emergency ladder at the other end.
It's also good to have expanded steel mesh on 1" tall angle iron frames in the bottom. Keeps you from sliding and the wet stuff can flow beneath you with out soaking your feet.
The only problem I have with pits is that you have to climb out if you need a tool or something. On the other hand, you don't have to lower the car to peek in the hood.
I could keep going but I'll just chime in if no one brings up the other things I have in mind.
Make sure you have a well that is easy to clean and a bilge pump that can handle nasty water and other liquids.
Ventilation is a must, we don't want you suffocating in some heavy gasses and fumes do we?
And there is never too much lighting in these pits.
I would sink flat iron or angle iron into the floor around the opening so that 3-4" stick straight up. This will prevent things being kicked into the pit, possibly landing on you. This will also act as a guide, you will feel the tires scrub before the vehicle falls in. I've seen people do things in a rush and it could happen to the best of us.
It's nice to have mirrors on the wall at the end of the pit and on the door. It makes it easy to check the cars lights and makes people calmer when driving over the pit.
Make a sliding platform so that you can work above the pit with out straddling both sides.
I would put stairs at both ends, or a stair at one end and an emergency ladder at the other end.
It's also good to have expanded steel mesh on 1" tall angle iron frames in the bottom. Keeps you from sliding and the wet stuff can flow beneath you with out soaking your feet.
The only problem I have with pits is that you have to climb out if you need a tool or something. On the other hand, you don't have to lower the car to peek in the hood.
I could keep going but I'll just chime in if no one brings up the other things I have in mind.
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Justanoldguy
Well-known member
I have an old Mobil station.
It has a 40ft long pit that I use rarely.
Not really deep enough as it was mailny for working on trucks.
It has a 40ft long pit that I use rarely.
Not really deep enough as it was mailny for working on trucks.
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
I have TWO pits in my garage...that I've never seen. My house was built in 1930; I bought it from an 80+ year old couple that had lived in it since 1958 about 11 years ago. The old guy told me it had two pits in the garage when he moved in but he filled them to keep his kids from getting hurt.
Over the years I have thought a lot about busting up the slab on top and digging one out to see what kind of condition it's in? My garage floor is pretty severely due to being undermined by driveway runoff water and because of the narrow-ness (sic) where the pits are it cracked to the outline of these pits and sunk on one side. You can see the outline of one of the pits in this old photo below.
I think cars of the 30's-50's were tall enough from the factory that it wouldn't have to be that deep for them but would need to be much deeper for more modern cars.
Incidentally, my garage isn't done but it doesn't look THAT bad anymore, lol!
Over the years I have thought a lot about busting up the slab on top and digging one out to see what kind of condition it's in? My garage floor is pretty severely due to being undermined by driveway runoff water and because of the narrow-ness (sic) where the pits are it cracked to the outline of these pits and sunk on one side. You can see the outline of one of the pits in this old photo below.
I think cars of the 30's-50's were tall enough from the factory that it wouldn't have to be that deep for them but would need to be much deeper for more modern cars.
Incidentally, my garage isn't done but it doesn't look THAT bad anymore, lol!
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Hi clik,
I am currently building my garage in the UK - I've gone for a pit too because i'm not allowed to build higher
SO! I decided to build a 5.5x2x2 meter pit hehe
I've finished the pit now and am building the main buildings walls. I've attached a picture of it about 90% finished. Pit has an I-Beam across the long length, what i've done is to basically double the width of a standard 800mm pit, this way I will have a kind of cubby hole. The garage floor will be cast over one half of the pit!
I've also had to tank my pit. It's a real pain but I am unfortunate enough to have an underground stream going diagonally across my site I've used the same tanking membrane they use to build artificial lakes/reservoirs/water storage tanks etc. The membrane weighs 200kg and was incredibly difficult to deal with!
I think I will post my build on the forum soon, heres what I'm building and one of the pit...
I am currently building my garage in the UK - I've gone for a pit too because i'm not allowed to build higher
SO! I decided to build a 5.5x2x2 meter pit hehe I've finished the pit now and am building the main buildings walls. I've attached a picture of it about 90% finished. Pit has an I-Beam across the long length, what i've done is to basically double the width of a standard 800mm pit, this way I will have a kind of cubby hole. The garage floor will be cast over one half of the pit!
I've also had to tank my pit. It's a real pain but I am unfortunate enough to have an underground stream going diagonally across my site
I've used the same tanking membrane they use to build artificial lakes/reservoirs/water storage tanks etc. The membrane weighs 200kg and was incredibly difficult to deal with! I think I will post my build on the forum soon, heres what I'm building and one of the pit...
Damn Dublove. That is nice. I would use the rest of the floor under the garage into a basement. It ***** to have a stream under though. I can imagine how much of a ***** that is to deal with.
Over here in NYC, they only way you can have a pit, is if you can walk out from the pit into a separate room, underneath the floor. So basically one would need a pit, with another pit connected to it for safe exit. Plus venting, and all other safety stuff. Very hard to have it be legal over here.
Over here in NYC, they only way you can have a pit, is if you can walk out from the pit into a separate room, underneath the floor. So basically one would need a pit, with another pit connected to it for safe exit. Plus venting, and all other safety stuff. Very hard to have it be legal over here.
Tman
Well-known member
Lots of places here have outside "pits". Usually on a side hill made out of timbers. No issue with fumes and saves garage space
jerseywild
Well-known member
I have a pit at the garage that I rent. I only used it a couple of times.