alchemysa
Veteran Member
The shack needed a 20' x 23' garage to house the Kubota and boat, but then I decided rather late in the piece to install a shallow pit. Even though I have a backhoe the Kubota dug the hole in about 30 minutes with the bucket alone. (Hole size was exactly 4' x 9' and pretty neat prior to these pictures.). At about 20" deep I hit a hard slab of limestone that the Kubota was not going to get through, so that became the pit depth. (The stone was so smooth and level that I almost didnt need to lay a concrete base.). After pricing concrete (cinder) blocks I decided it was a lot cheaper, quicker and easier for me to mix and pour concrete walls. I used some old blueboard and ply offcuts for the internal walls and made a frame to keep everything straight. The external walls were just ply and blueboard scraps roughly propped inside the hole and supported with bricks or whatever was handy.
After the walls had dried I had to take the internal formwork apart and move it up another 4" to the final level of the floor. I topped the formwork off with a large plywood sheet that will become the lid for the pit. Then the dirt was all levelled and packed hard, plastic and mesh was laid, and the garage floor was poured. (What a beautiful site!). It took a complete truckload to do the garage floor and the strip along the front. That's about 6.5 cubic yards of concrete. Average thickness of the garage floor is about 5". (I can add a final pic when can get back to the shack and remove the formwork.)
Final size of the pit is about 24" deep x 32" wide x 8'5". OK its not big and it looks like Dracula's crypt but its plenty big enough to change the oil or do most jobs under the cars or the tractor. When I need more height I've got ramps that will add another 12". I plan to cut down an old secretarys chair to give myself a low seat to slide around on.
This was a cheap, quick project but in my opinion a very worthwhile one. I already have a pit at our other house so I know how handy they are.
By the way, the shed is all zincalume with a galv frame. Timber is so expensive its virtually never seen in a shed over here. The ground was levelled and cleared with the Kubota. The 8 postholes were dug with the backhoe and the back wall was entirely fabricated on the ground then stood up using the Kubota bucket.
After the walls had dried I had to take the internal formwork apart and move it up another 4" to the final level of the floor. I topped the formwork off with a large plywood sheet that will become the lid for the pit. Then the dirt was all levelled and packed hard, plastic and mesh was laid, and the garage floor was poured. (What a beautiful site!). It took a complete truckload to do the garage floor and the strip along the front. That's about 6.5 cubic yards of concrete. Average thickness of the garage floor is about 5". (I can add a final pic when can get back to the shack and remove the formwork.)
Final size of the pit is about 24" deep x 32" wide x 8'5". OK its not big and it looks like Dracula's crypt but its plenty big enough to change the oil or do most jobs under the cars or the tractor. When I need more height I've got ramps that will add another 12". I plan to cut down an old secretarys chair to give myself a low seat to slide around on.
This was a cheap, quick project but in my opinion a very worthwhile one. I already have a pit at our other house so I know how handy they are.
By the way, the shed is all zincalume with a galv frame. Timber is so expensive its virtually never seen in a shed over here. The ground was levelled and cleared with the Kubota. The 8 postholes were dug with the backhoe and the back wall was entirely fabricated on the ground then stood up using the Kubota bucket.
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