Building a Garage Pit

[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.