Building a Garage Pit

[OrangeB2400]

I'm thinking about putting a pit in my garage. 4 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Concrete floor with cinder lack walls filled with concrete and rebar. My garage is not high enough for a lift and I can build a put myself fairly cheaply.

 

[Parkanzky]

You'll want some sort of bump rails to make it a bit harder to drive into and make sure that you put in a system for ventilation. It's dangerous to have a pit that you don't pump fresh air into.

You might as well also have a plan to fill it in, since there's probably nowhere in the US that a homemade pit is going to meet code.

 

[boomer1025]

First thing I'd do is check with your Insurance Company.

 

[BHD]

Can you put a lift out side to work on your cars? putting a pit out side is not a good idea as if some one walks in it and gets hurt, the liability is to great IMO, even putting a pit in the garage is or can be dangerous.

most likely the cost of the pit would not be a lot different than the lift and I think you will find a lift much better than a pit, pits are either to low or to high for easy reach, many times the sides are not such to do much your limited, to what one can reach or work on,

even an old alignment rack, or an alignment rack and a shallow pit could be considered, with the rack up about 18" and the depth would be minimal, and shielded on both sides, and would be simple to put a small fence type gate, on the front and the back of the ramps.

 

[hawkeye08]

Friend built on in his shop when he did the floor, he has steel plates (when not using it for long periods) and wood panels that cover it when not using to avoid someone or something falling in. He also put a lift in but much later. He said the pit is best for some tasks, lift better for others. He usually has a car parked over it to avoid problems.

 

[bcp]

This:



or this:



Probably not this:



or this:




How about a ramp like many car dealers use to display cars, especially 4x4's?



Bruce

 

[newbury]

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View attachment 468856

or this:

View attachment 468857


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I LIKE those two!

I've a steep slope like the first pic next to one of my workshops. I could build a strong drive on 2 ramp "covered pier" and work standing up.

 

[alchemysa]

I'm thinking about putting a pit in my garage. 4 feet wide and 6 feet deep. Concrete floor with cinder lack walls filled with concrete and rebar. My garage is not high enough for a lift and I can build a put myself fairly cheaply.

I have a pit and use it regularly. 6 feet sounds pretty deep, even for a tall guy. Your arms will get tired reaching up all the time. Without going out and checking, I think mine is about chin or mouth high, and even then I will sometimes stand on an old car battery to give me extra height so I can get my head up into some areas for a better view.

Mine is only 3 feet wide which I think is pretty good. Wider might be nicer, but remember that some tractors and other kinds of wheeled equipment can be quite narrow. (Maybe the pit could be narrower at the front end so you could drive something like a ride-on mower over it). And being only 3 feet wide makes it unlikely we will accidentally drop a wheel into it when we park over it.

Length is an important consideration. You will want to be able to reach at least the centre of the vehicle when its parked over the pit. But remember you will lose at least 2 feet of space at one end because you have to leave room for yourself to climb down. So a pit with a 8 foot long 'opening' really only gives 6 feet of undercar working area.

A really long pit with comfortable steps would be terrific but its more work to build, and remember you have to cover it to make it safe. The bigger it is the harder that will be. I was restricted in length because a pipe runs through the middle of my shed so I have to do with just 3 steps from top to bottom.

An electric power point and some lighting built into the pit wall would be very nice but I don't have those. A small portable flood light on an extension cord is my lighting method. I should also paint the walls and the floor of the pit white to reflect more light. (It seems you never have enough light in the pit).

You absolutely must cover it when its not in use. You've got to be fanatical about this or someone will eventually fall in. Mine is not very long or wide so it just requires a couple of pieces of 1'' ply to cover it. Personally I've never had any concerns about ventilation or fumes collecting in the pit but I don't have any petrol storage or household gas pipes nearby.

 

[bcp]

I LIKE those two!

I've a steep slope like the first pic next to one of my workshops. I could build a strong drive on 2 ramp "covered pier" and work standing up.

The concept is good, but I wasn't impressed with what I could see of the construction. I've been thinking of something like that using two H beams for rails. Maybe one adjustable for width.

Bruce

 

[leop]

I would not do it.

These used to be more common but they turned out to be death traps. The fumes from numerouse solvents (gas, brake clean, carb cleaner) collect in the pit and eventualy overwhelm the person in the pit who then collapses in the pit and sinks to the bottom where there is even less air than there was at the top. The other thing that can happen is the volitile solvens explode in the pit.

Based on the above insurance companies stopped insuring places with pits, and hence the decline. This is probably why somone suggested checking with your insurance company before going to the trouble of building one.

In the end I decided to get a lift becuase of the above issue with the pit, but also becuase it came out cheaper than building the pit. Now if you do the digging perhaps a lift would not be cheaper, but when I looked at all the digging I said screw it.

Leo

 

[farm boy00]

My dad's gf has a pit in his garage and uses a 6ft ladder to get in and out and 2x8 boards to cover it running across it. It is about 15ft long and saw him working on a jeep and thought about putting one in. But I have many barns that I could possibly do a lift.

And the OP said that he don't have the height for a lift so he can't use one.

 

[otlski]

I would not do it.

These used to be more common but they turned out to be death traps. The fumes from numerouse solvents (gas, brake clean, carb cleaner) collect in the pit and eventualy overwhelm the person in the pit who then collapses in the pit and sinks to the bottom where there is even less air than there was at the top. The other thing that can happen is the volitile solvens explode in the pit.

Based on the above insurance companies stopped insuring places with pits, and hence the decline. This is probably why somone suggested checking with your insurance company before going to the trouble of building one.

In the end I decided to get a lift becuase of the above issue with the pit, but also becuase it came out cheaper than building the pit. Now if you do the digging perhaps a lift would not be cheaper, but when I looked at all the digging I said screw it.

Leo

Agreed. Plus, with most explosive fumes settling in the bottom, a dropped tool causing a spark, or a drop light dropped, has caused explosions. Good ventilation would be mandatory. The blower should be remote and not located actually in the fume laden pit, or simply turning it on could cause things to go wrong...

 

[bcp]

Pitfalls of a pit:

Car drives in service pit - YouTube

Inspection pit fail - YouTube

Bruce

 

[Wnc3]

To each his own....
Oil changes and inspections are a breeze. I built one with concrete steps and poured in place walls.
I did make it too deep and I think it was 5 feet. I'm 6'1" and it was way too deep for shorter guys that did all the work. I have since rented the shop and permanently sealed it off with 1/2" steel plate. You guessed it, I don't want the liability.

You do need ventilation, but it is not that hard to achieve.

 

[arkydog]

if you could make one end open, below ground leveel or at ground level, one end closed one end open ditch.

 

[GLyford]

A friend's father has one that is about 2 feet deep, outside, concrete, on the side of a slope, and the end open to just above ground level on the "downslope" work area, so that fumes roll out of the pit and spread out rather than collect and concentrate.

 

[LD1]

Got room for one of these? Seen it awhile back and I think it was on here I seen it

Genius Home Car Ramp - YouTube

 

[Parkanzky]

My four post lift is from Greg Smith Equipment. I've had it for about ten years and I love it. I mainly use it to store a summer car in the winter.

Some friends on a race team had a shop with a mid-rise scissor lift. Greg Smith also sells those:

Low Rise Scissor Lift Supplier for Auto Service Shops and Hobbyist | Greg Smith Equipment Sales, Inc.

It's awesome for wheels-off service (brakes/suspension) and pretty good for stuff at the very ends of the vehicle (installing a hitch or replacing a radiator). Shipping on my four post lift (and a big roller cabinet and a rolling table) was quite reasonable back when I bought mine.

 

[leop]

You could put a fan in. The "muffin" fans they use in computers are brushless motors, and you could use an occupancy sensor from Home Depot to make sure it was always on when someone was in the pit. You could also hook an alarm up to one of those explosive gas sensors that are also sold at the Home Depot and overall cost would be very low. The only problem is that your insurance guy is going to look at it and either say "I don't understand it and it is therefore still not safe" or "Yes I understand it, and it is safe, but I don;t want to deal with explaining it to the home office and getting a rider written up for it so I am therefore saying it isn't safe". It's all about covering your behind these days.

I understand you don't have room for a lift (went back and read your post more carefully) so a lift won't work. Perhaps some ramps, an air powered jack, and aluminum jack stands would ease the pain of not having a lift or pit long enough for you to eventually get a building that could accommodate a lift.

 

[Egon]

The ventilation system will have to have an Engineers stamp.