garage

[Messenjah]

hi guys ,

 

some of you might know probably not i'm building a house in Ireland with my old man and i've got the go ahead for a nice big garage .... we haven't quite decided where its going to go yet but it will be a 4 car garage either way

 

either 4 one beside kind alike a line of single garages or it will be a big square like a double length double garage depending which side of the house we decide to put it on and basically the question is what are we gonna be better off with .... a pit or a ramp because this summer should be the last time we have to hire a digger so if its a pit ill get it dug ... the pit could be 6 foot deep and 10 foot wide with runners over it for the car to go on (so it doesn't feel claustraphobic) or dig the whole thing out a bit so i can get a lift in without having to raise the ceiling what do you guys reckon would be more practical.

 

[v8cortina]

If you do not have the headroom the pit is the way to go. This is what I did and it works really well. Just make sure to seal the pit with a few layers of damp proof polythene up the sides so no water can get in before you construct the walls etc.

[Wessie]

i'd choose a ramp everytime !

[Pipster007]

Not sure what the story with private properties are, but I believe that the safety of pits are in question, due to the noxious fumes that can build up over the course of time.

 

If you're working alone and collapse or faint, the heavier noxious gases can do you more damage when you're in a pit, possibly death from suffocation

 

Whereas a set of ramps, fresh air will generally be blowing the gases away.

 

I personally would go for the ramps, as they are also adjustable to different peoples heights

 

There's just something else to think about

[Savvi]

I had a pit at my old house as said make sure you line the walls to stop water running in, i now have a workshop with a 2 post ramp and i find that much better and more useful than the pit.

 

 

I helped a mate change his rear steering rack on his GTo the other day..............

we used my ramp just lowered the car, unbolted rear sub frame on axle stands lifted car on ramp leaving sub frame on the floor to work on ................

 

you couldn't do that in a pit !!!!!

[baz105e]

if youve got a pit and you need to do suspention work you've still got to kneel on the dirty wet cold floor in the middle of winter just asif you ,were working on the floor with no pit. get a 1 or 2 post ramp they are cheap second hand and very easy to work on

[andy a]

If you've got room for a ramp then thats the best option, but unless you can find a single phase one your going to need a 3 phase supply or go through the agro of either phase converters or a different motor.

 

If you decide to go with a pit do yourself a favour and go for a proper fibreglass pit liner, you'd be surprised how far the water table can shift during the winter, theres nowt like lifting the boards on a pit to find that youve got a muddy swimming pool

 

Also if your installing a pit dont forget to reinforce the sides or even better run a decent steel framework around it so you can run a jacking beam along it, a pit without a beam is pretty pointless

[sidspop]

Going back to your introduction, what are you going to use the garage for?

I know that sounds daft, what I mean are you going to store finished cars in there, or just work on them?

 

Now the reason why I am asking is if you are going to store finished cars, it would be nice to sheet that end of the garage off, so you dont get dust, grinder shit etc on your car, and that is easier to do if you have a 4 x 1 garage, rather than a 2x 2 garage

 

No idea about your pit. If you do then fit some fume extractors at the bottom while you have digger on site. Decent industrial type extractor fan, through ducting, such a s plastic drainpipe to the outside world.

And fit decent electric supply to the pit, rather than trailing leads across the floor down into the pit.

 

Hope this is usefull

 

Andy

[one-day]

its got to be a ramp/lifter or even a pit aswell lifter is better i should think than a pit.