Graceland

Since I don't have room for a lift or ramp in the garage come workshop, how difficult is it to install a pit - The digging isn't the problem, but the side walls would be the difficult bit - There are no utilities under where I want to dig so that makes it a lot easier in that respect

Chya

DanCossie

iTrader: (1)

pm Cowboi on here Paul....he put one in his mums garage....we have all used it loads...one of the best things he has ever done. all my cars have been on it, ginges too lol

Graceland

Thats one of the reasons I want to do it - makes life so much easier, no more pissing about laying on your back trying to crack balljoints off and the like

Cowboi

my garage never used to be attached to my house.
so my dad decided to knock it down and build it on the side of the house and build a bedroom on top of it.

when he had the concerete poured he left a nice long hole in the middle of it. lol

for years it sat there with junk dumped down it as him and my mum split up before he finished it.
then i got into cars a one day my mum came home and found a skip on her drive way where she would have parked her 206 lol.

and in the garage was a fridge full of beers and all the mates i could drag round there.
5 foot later and the pets were banned from the garage.

Now for the bit u actually wanted to know. lol

i dug the edges about 8 inches wider than the hole in the concerete all the way down.
bought a roll of the blue polythene stuff and laid it across the floor.
then laid about a 4" floor. i just poured it in and made a t shape with some 4x2 screwed together and wacked it about a bit.

then i worked out how many blocks i would need to go from top to bottom all round. put some more polythene in all round the edges and blocked up leaving the blocks 2 inches in from the garage floor (reducing the size by 4 inches total if u see what i mean)

i also put some metal mesh down behind the blocks as i went. and when i was 1 block from the top i poured concerete down behind them for extra strength.

Now the floor to my garage was about 6 inches thick. once the block work was done and was 2 inches in from the hole in the floor i put shuttering against the blocks up to 2 inches below the floor and poured concerete.

hard to explain but now i had the floor and then 2 inches lower it steped out 2 inches for the pit wall.
then i got a load of 8x2 cut them to size giving me a flush floor.

I'll take some pictures next time im at my mums house and send you them as im sure what i just typed it hard to understand

Matt Evans

I think you can buy pre-moulded fibreglass pit "liners" with steps in and all sorts. They keep all the moisture out.

Cos damp and water ingress can be a real issue with these things.

Graceland

Cheers boys - thats exactly the info I needed, pics would be aswesome too

Mat - I was going to use pond liner plastic to damp-proof it and have a pump to drain should it ever get ingressed with water

Was also thinking of having a couple of flush fitting strip lights in there too for excellent illumination

Cowboi

i put an upsidedown icecream tub in when i poured the floor so if i got water init i could put a pump in and sweet the water into the hole and pump it away.
i bought the step things that they have in manholes. u put them between the blocks at one end of the pit.

it only cost me a few hundred quid and a few crates of stella to build my one. but i done all the work myself. i got one of them big bags of soft sand and a yard or so (cant remember exactuallynow) of ballast, and a load of bags of cement. plus the roll of polythene. but i have a cement mixer so that helped. oh yeah and the blocks of course. i used propper concerete ones by the way not breeze blocks.

i'll sort the pictures out asap for you. but they are really handy, even for oil changes.
jump under there have the sump plug out and filter off much easier.

one thing i will say if u have to empty the water do it before u get it in the garage, ive forgot a few times lol

costina

iTrader: (1)

My wife always asked why i did'nt dig a pit? my answer was clear i'd only fill it with engines etc

Mind u it would be a good place to put a compressor

Right then weres that spade

Paul

Kamike

I dont have the company name to hand but our garage has a tub almost like the kind you would sink into the ground for a pond that has steps built in. We dug the hole 8ft long, 4ft wide and i forgett how deep. And then just dropped the tub in and poured concrete down the sides. If i can find he company name we got it from i will post it up

Cowboi

just had a flick through my photobucket, this is the only picture that shows the pit at all out of hundreds of pictures lol



thats how it sits when not in use. when i want it i just pull up the timbers that i need out the way. its also hand as you can put them back down if u need to put a jack or axle stand on one.

DanCossie

iTrader: (1)

cowboi i cant beliebe of all the pics you could have used you put that shocking blue nova one up lol

Graceland

Great pit


shocking car

Cowboi

one other thing, be carefull with florescent lights down there. if you was to get a build up of fumes it could be dangerous. i know you can get enclosed lights that make sure no sparking happens outside the casing as we have them in out diesel tank room at work.

just something to bare in mind really

Phil

iTrader: (1)

http://mech-mate.co.uk

They do pit liners

Cowboi

i had that car for a few weeks and it cost me a onner with a set of alloys and the smooth boot.

the tow truck come and got it a week or so later.

Seademon

Great website they've got, full of useful info!

Graceland

I thought that - under construction

fish99

They look fantastic... I just wish the concrete base for my garage wasnt 18" deep. Would be a fooker to hack that up

Graceland

The base in my garage is 8" deep - took me ages to break thru it when I put a land anchor in there for my motorbike

fish99

I misread the instructions I was given for my base... was meant to be 12" on perimiter then 4" everywhere else... I dug it by hand and thought sod it and went 12" all over.. when builder measured it it was 18"..doh.. cost a bloody fortune to fill up with concrete. Well at least it wont crack

Graceland

Thats not a base for a garage, its a foundation for a multi-story building

fish99

lol, your right.. Its only a pre fab garage sitting on it... The other day I run some power out to it, but with pre fabs your not allowed to drill through the concrete panels.. so I thought I would go under the panel and up... I have a hilti drill and it juct about scratched the surface... I scrapped that idea and went through the wooden door frame. Lesson learnt

FlatheadFordV8

Always have it so that you can climb out, when a car is in place, as a few folks have been burnt to death with petrol fires in pits, when they could not get out.

Graceland

LMFAO

That is some mix then you ordered

Ginge

When you do it, just dont do this!



Ginge

Graceland

I'll be honest with you, I nearly did that with a bus when I was a PSV fitter at a local bus firm

Rich_w

Pits aren't really a good idea tbh. Risk of sufficating yourself by accident, if you drop something heavy you are limited on escape room and don't really give much access to anything away from the centre line of the car.

But mainly they leave the car on its wheels, which defeats a lot of jobs. How often do you (for the work on your car) need to be under a car?

89xr2

My neighbour wanted to put one in his garage but needed planning permission for it. This was a good few years ago now though so it might not be relevant now. Just a thought though.

madmack99

lmao

les3002

Ive got one in my garage, probably used it once in the last year for removing my prop on the cav, dont bother for everything else, to cramped and not quite deep enough to be comfortable standing up, need to pull the car completely over it aswell most of the time, not good!