DIY car repair pit

In detail: a pit for repairing a car with your own hands from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

The article will talk about inspection pit in the garage. It provides additional options when performing repairs. With its help, you can make light and medium car repairs, drain / change oil.

For a car owner with repair skills, equip a garage inspection pit would be a very good solution.

To build it correctly, you should take into account the recommendations for the characteristics of the structure. Recommendations primarily relate to dimensions, waterproofing and materials. By observing the rules and regulations, you will get a convenient and safe site for repairs.

Observation pit increases the functionality of the garage. The car owner can make complex types of repairs, avoid an unnecessary trip to the service center. Observation pit in the garage often saves a lot of money and time. With the skills, you can independently perform one of the most regular procedures - drain and replace the oil.

You can build the structure yourself, in the process of building a garage and when the garage has already been built.

If you adhere to the regulations and technologies, this design will be safe and comfortable to use. Garage with inspection pit significantly expands the capabilities of the car owner when performing self-repair.

Inspection pit in the garage - Photo:

Lookout pit can be erected at any stage of garage construction. But the best solution would be to plan the construction "from scratch" and lay the foundation for a garage with a pit. Otherwise, you will have to exert more effort and spend more time.

Video (click to play).

If you are just starting to build a garage, it is highly recommended to immediately create drainage system... The pipes are connected to the manifold. With the help of this, the amount of moisture and fumes can be greatly reduced and damage to the car can be minimized.

To find out what are the requirements for observation pits in the garage, let's look at the most important questions.

Construction size directly depends on the size of the car and the driver. For calculations, you need to know the exact length and width of the machine. In addition, the growth of the car owner should be taken into account.

Optimal inspection pit size in the garage for a car should be as follows: the width is about 80 centimeters, the depth of the inspection hole in the garage should be 10-20 centimeters more than the height of the car owner. This is done to ensure convenience during repairs - you did not have to bend, it was easy to reach the desired parts of the car.

The length of the inspection hole should be about a meter longer than the length of your car. An additional meter is needed to create a staircase, that is, an entrance / exit.

In this way, the size of the pit in the garage for a standard car:

is long - 5 meters;
width - 80 centimeters;
height / depth - 2 meters.

Scheme inspection pit in the garage - width:

In the garage inspection pit often causes concern among car owners. One of them is moisture and its potential harm. There is a deal of truth in it. If the pit under the garage was poorly covered with waterproofing, moisture can condense and form vapors. In this case, the vehicle is exposed dangers.

Constant presence above the depression from which the vapors rise will negatively affect the metal. Corrosion processes accelerate, parts begin to rust... The best solution would be to size the pit garage so that there are two places for your car. First place - normal soil / garage floor, the second is inspection pit.

If necessary, the car should be brought to inspection pit, make repairs. The rest of the time the machine stands on the ground, and cannot even theoretically be affected by moisture. But this is not always possible to achieve. The garage may simply be too small for two separate parking spaces. In this case, the question waterproofing have to deal with thoroughly.

The most important thing to find out is at what level do groundwater... At high levels - 2.5 meters or less, it is better not to build a pit. The only possible solution at such groundwater levels would be lying pit... Its depth is much shallower, hence moisture / evaporation will be less of a problem.

In addition to finishing with special materials to ensure waterproofing, you should additionally use shield, with which the pit is closed so that moisture does not spread throughout the room, and thereby does not harm the car.

The wood shield should be 30-50 millimeters thick. The relative subtlety is explained by the fact that the shield is not loaded by the mass of the vehicle. Its main function is to protect the room from moisture.

Another useful procedure will be periodic draining the garage... It is best to drain the pit in the summer - for this you need to open it if you left for a day or longer.

The pit in the garage is made of brick and concrete, if desired, you can plaster or even tiled. Before that, the walls are covered with clay and covered with polyethylene. After coating, the formwork is mounted, its thickness is 15 centimeters.

For waterproofing, it is better to take quality material, since the structure is constantly exposed to moisture. One of the standard solutions is polymer membrane... For a single-layer membrane, the thickness is 1.5-2 millimeters, for a two-layer membrane - about three millimeters. Polymer membranes are durable and resistant material, but quite expensive.

A cheaper option is to use bituminous materials (roofing material, bituminous grease). Their service life does not exceed twenty years, after which the waterproofing will become unusable. Pieces of insulation can be glued together by heating or with a bituminous solvent.

In addition to waterproofing, you can use thermal insulation... The thermal insulation material should be glued to the concrete / brick of the structure. A common solution is expanded polystyrene.

When building, you need to take care of insurance rail... An insurance rail blocks the vehicle wheels from entering the inspection pit. The second plus is that the water from the wheels collects in the recess and does not fall down. It is necessary to make the rail in the shape of the letter T using metal. It must be strong enough to support the weight of the vehicle.

As you can see inspection pit will save you from unnecessary trips to the service center. The main condition is the construction in compliance with the rules and regulations. The structure can be built on your own, even if the garage has already been built. Particular attention must be paid to waterproofing and dimensions.

If the groundwater is too high (2.5 meters or more), then build a pit Not recommended... The humidity will be too high and the fumes are likely to harm the vehicle. How to do without a hole in the garage? A possible solution would be to create lying pit... Then the groundwater will not be able to corrode the metal.

Watch the video about the inspection pit in the garage:

Many people try to do maintenance or minor repairs on their own. In order not to lie on your back under the car, you need an inspection pit in the garage.

The wiring must be installed before you start laying / pouring the walls.

You will not find strict recommendations for the size of the garage pit. They are mainly based on the parameters of the machine and their own growth. The dimensions of the garage pit are selected from the following considerations:

The width should be sufficient for you to work comfortably in it.At the same time, it is limited by the distance between the wheels of the car - each wheel must have room to maneuver. On average, the width of the inspection pit is from 80 cm and more.
Its length depends on the length of the vehicle. Add 1 meter to the size of the car. This is enough for a comfortable work.
The depth is calculated depending on your height: your height is + 10-15 cm. In this case, you don't have to worry about hitting your head. If you need to work for a long time with your hands up, you can knock down a special small stool and stand on it. You can raise the floor in the observation pit a little more using wooden ladders.

This is far from being dogma. Everyone does as he sees fit. To some, deep holes seem uncomfortable and they make them almost exactly in height, and sometimes even lower - 1.5 meters. If we take into account the clearance of the car, from the floor of the pit to the bottom of the car, it will turn out to be about 1.7-1.8 meters. You can do it like that.

Another point in length. Sometimes it is not possible to make a long hole. Then it is made about half the length of the car, driving it forward or backward, depending on which part of the car needs inspection or repair.

Now about where to place the hole in the garage. Usually it is slightly shifted to one of the walls, leaving a wide side for installing equipment, storing spare parts, etc. In this case, from the edge of the pit to the near wall should be at least 1 meter.

That's all for this. Just note that we were talking about the final dimensions of the pit. When marking the pit, it will be necessary to add thickness to the walls, and dig deeper to the height of the floor screed (if you do it).

The inspection pit in the garage (its walls) is laid out with bricks, heavy building blocks, made of monolithic concrete. If we talk about brick, it is better to use ceramic brick: it is not afraid of moisture. The walls are made in half a brick or brick. The thickness of the wall, depending on the method of laying, turns out to be 12 cm or 25 cm. This must be taken into account when marking the pit.

You can use bricks on dry, dense soils. The groundwater level should be low. If the water rises high, it is better to make the pit walls of reinforced concrete.

Brick inspection pit in the garage

Building blocks also need to be chosen those that are not afraid of high humidity. These are concrete blocks. The rest, if used, then with the obligatory external waterproofing, and then this is not a guarantee that they will not crumble, especially if the groundwater is located close.

With a concrete inspection pit, everything is easier: concrete is not afraid of moisture, it only gets stronger from it. M 250 concrete is used for filling the walls, M 200 is enough for the floor. Why is this so? Because during winter heaving, the main load falls on the walls. So that they do not "fold", a margin of safety is required, which is achieved by reinforcement and the use of high-strength concrete. By the way, in order to avoid heaving of the soil under the garage, it is necessary to make a good blind area so that the water goes away and does not absorb into the soil.

The wall thickness when filling the inspection pit with concrete is from 15 cm. The stacks must be reinforced. To do this, use a ready-made mesh with a wire thickness of 5-6 mm and a pitch of 150 mm (if the groundwater is deep) or knit a frame made of reinforcement with a diameter of 10-12 mm. The step of installing the reinforcement is 20 cm. For greater strength, you can make a single rod on the bottom and walls, bending it accordingly.

The inspection pit in the garage can be protected from moisture penetration in two ways: with the help of external waterproofing, which is carried out exclusively during the construction process, and internal, which can be done during operation.

If at the construction site of the garage the groundwater is deep, lower than 2.5 meters and does not rise higher even in spring or after heavy rains, you can do without waterproofing. On the other hand, the hydrological situation is constantly changing, and where it used to be dry, water may appear.If the inspection pit in the garage has already been built, you cannot do external waterproofing. It remains only to use deep penetration impregnations to reduce the hygroscopicity of the walls. Therefore, if possible, do external insulation in any case.

The second method of external waterproofing

How to prevent moisture from entering the inspection pit in the garage? Most often, waterproofing films or membranes (butyl rubber, aquaizol, etc.) are used. They are laid with panels, covering the pit from one edge to the other, with 10-15 cm protruding from each side of the pit to the garage floor. The sheets are laid with an overlap. They should overlap by at least 15 cm. To obtain a more airtight joint, they are glued together with double-sided tape, in two strips, at the beginning and at the end of the "overlap". The film is well straightened so that it fits snugly against the walls of the pit. During further work, it is important not to damage the membrane.

Internal waterproofing is usually the impregnation of walls with coated waterproofing. If possible - composition for swimming pools. It creates a waterproof, dense film that closely resembles rubber. It has a blue color and after hardening it washes well. It is better to process the walls with this composition twice, or more.

Deep penetration impregnation significantly reduces the hygroscopicity of the material

Another option is a cement-based deep penetration primer. The polymer particles contained in it block the capillaries through which moisture penetrates through the thickness of the material. One such treatment significantly reduces the hygroscopicity of the material. In the case of water in the garage pit, at least two treatments are required (and even more is better).

There is another option to escape from the ground - to make a metal caisson. A box of appropriate dimensions is cooked from sheet metal, treated with anti-corrosion compounds, and then installed in a pit. If the welds are sealed, there will be no water, but another problem may arise. Large quantities of water can squeeze out the caisson. They say that it "pops up".

To avoid such a situation, corners and rods are welded to the sides of the caisson from the outside, which go 1-1.5 meters into the ground. So that at the same time the volume of earthwork is not very large (the foundation pit, taking into account these struts, turns out to be large), you can cheat. Before installing the caisson, drive corners or metal rods into the ground, releasing their ends outward. They can be welded to the body of the caisson after installation. The pit will still have to be made larger (it must be cooked outside), but its dimensions will still be smaller. The second plus of this method is that the rods will be driven into dense soil, which means that they will better hold the caisson.

Another way to exclude the "floating" of the caisson is to make a hole in the wall at a certain height. If the water rises to its level, it will begin to pour inward. The water can then be pumped out, the main thing is that everything remains in place. The inspection pit in the garage, arranged according to this principle, stood for more than 20 years - until the metal rusted.

If the pit has already been built, and the coating waterproofing or impregnation did not give the desired result, it is necessary either to arrange a drainage system around the garage, or to collect water in one place. For this, a pit is made in the garage inspection pit, at one of its ends. Water accumulates in it, from where it is pumped out by a pump. In order for the system to work in automatic mode, a water presence sensor is installed, which, when triggered, turns on the pump.Formwork is made under the pit, poured with concrete. Then the pit is waterproofed together with the entire pit waterproofing. For reliability, you can also put a metal box inside.Since in this case it is impossible to get rid of the dampness completely, the boardwalk is knocked down onto the floor of the pit. To make the boards rot, they can be impregnated with working off. If you don't like its smell, take a special impregnation for wood that has direct contact with the ground (Senezh Ultra, for example).If you spend a lot of time in the garage, then you will most likely have heating. To warm up faster and faster, it makes sense to insulate the pit. EPS (extruded polystyrene foam) is best suited for these purposes. It can withstand significant loads, is not afraid of dampness, does not rot, fungi and bacteria do not multiply on it.EPS thickness for creating a tangible effect - from 50 mm. They lay it between the ground and the wall of the pit. Then the outside-inside pit will look like this:

waterproofing film;

EPPS;

wall.

It is EPS extruded polystyrene foamExpanded polystyrene can also be laid under the screed at the bottom of the inspection pit. A reinforcing mesh is usually laid on top of it, and then concrete is poured.After you have decided on the dimensions and what material you will make the walls from, what thickness they will be, you can start marking the pit. This can be done with pegs driven around the perimeter. The second option is to pull the string / rope between the stakes driven in at the corners. We begin to dig a foundation pit according to the markings. The land is usually taken out and temporarily stored near the gate.Along the way with excavation, monitor soil moisture. If you have reached the design depth (required + floor screed thickness), and there is still no moisture, you can do without waterproofing. Those who do not want to take risks can be advised to immediately lay the film.We level the walls. It is not necessary to achieve ideal geometry, but there should be no noticeable humps and pits. We also level the bottom of the pit, ram it, compacting the soil well. Usually a manual rammer is used. A layer of crushed stone is poured onto the bottom (twice 5 cm each), each layer is also carefully rammed. Next comes a layer of sand. It is enough 5 cm. The sand is moistened, tamped to a high density - so that the foot is not imprinted. Next, we lay a waterproofing film.We cover the bottom and walls with a waterproofing filmWe level it well, tucking it into the corners. We lay the sheets with an overlap of 15 cm, which we glue with double-sided tape. To prevent the edges from rolling, we press the materials at hand - boards, stones.We put a layer of insulation on the bottom, on it - a reinforcing mesh made of wire. We fill all this with concrete of grade M 200. The thickness of the layer is at least 5 cm. To make it easier to navigate when laying, we make marks on the film by which you can control the thickness of the layer.If you use Portland cement M 400, the proportions will be as follows - 1 part of cement, 3 parts of sand, 5 parts of medium and fine crushed stone.An inspection pit is being built in the garage: the floor is filled with concreteWe are waiting for several days until the concrete gains 50% strength. The exact time depends on the temperature. If it is around + 20 ° C, you will have to wait 5-6 days. If + 17 ° C it is already two weeks.Let's start laying out the walls. It was decided to do it in half a brick. Used bricks were used, about 850 pieces went (pit size 4.2 * 0.8 * 1.7 m). The walls were laid out in a circle to the level of the elbow.We erect the walls in plokirkiAt the level of 1.2 meters from the floor, it was decided to make a niche for the instrument. Its height is 3 rows of bricks, the top is covered with a processed board.In order not to have to lay out a brick niche, a metal insert is inserted. A box is welded, suitable in size.Further, the walls were driven out almost level with the garage floor. Part of the walls was replaced by two sections of channels. Jacks rest on the bottom if necessary. A metal corner with a shelf of 50 mm is laid on the top row, the thickness of steel is 5 mm.Channel on both sides of the inspection pit in the garageThe corner unfolds so that one of its shelves hangs down, the second covers part of the upper surface of the brick. To prevent the wall from collapsing under load, mortgages are welded to this corner, which are then connected to the reinforcing belt of the concrete floor in the garage.Corner laid, welded embeddedFurther, preparatory work was carried out on the construction of a concrete floor and it is filled with concrete.Pouring the floor in the garage - the concrete level at the upper edge of the cornerThe second side is concretedWhen casting concrete walls, formwork must be made. It is easier to make it from sheet material - construction moisture-resistant plywood with a thickness of 16 mm, OSB. Shields of the required size are knocked down, reinforced with bars on the outside. They are necessary so that plywood or OSB does not bend under the pressure of concrete. First, put the outer parts of the formwork. If the walls of the pit are even, there will be no problems. Just lean them back, put them straight.Then the internal formwork panels are exposed. There should be a distance of at least 15 cm between them. So that the walls are not deformed during the pouring process, spacers are placed between them.Example of formwork for a concrete inspection pit in a garageIt is advisable to fill it at a time. The filled portions must be bayonetted or processed with a submersible concrete vibrator. Remove the formwork after two to three days. After that, you can install a corner with welded embedded rods (strips) and start pouring the floor.Convenient maintenance and minor car repairs, which can be carried out independently, can be provided thanks to the inspection hole. Otherwise, you will have to lie on your back under the car, which does not guarantee maintenance comfort at all. Let's figure out how to make a viewing hole in the garage. Image - DIY car repair pit

The size and depth of the inspection pits may vary. When constructing such a pit yourself, you need to proceed from the dimensions of the car and your height. At the same time, it should be convenient in the viewing hole - so that there is where to turn around. But the pit should not be wider than the distance between the wheels.

Usually the pit is made more than eighty centimeters wide. The length of the pit is determined by the length of the car, to which 1 m is added.This approach will provide convenience when working. The depth is calculated based on their own height, while adding about ten to fifteen centimeters. If you plan to spend a lot of time under the car, a small stool or wooden ladder can help.

All of the above is optional, building an inspection pit in the garage with your own hands, you need to try to make it suitable for yourself.

On the location of the pit. As a rule, it is more convenient to make a hole near the wall so that equipment, cabinets, etc. can be installed in the garage, where spare parts will be placed.

Let's consider how to make the walls of the inspection pit correctly and from what materials. The pit walls are usually made of bricks, building blocks, or monolithic concrete.

When choosing the first option, ceramic is preferable as the most moisture-resistant material. It is worth remembering the thickness of the brick when determining the size of the pit - after laying out the walls with bricks or blocks, the volume of the pit will decrease.

The choice of material for the pit walls depends on the soil. If it is dry and dense, feel free to choose a brick. Otherwise, reinforced concrete must be used.

Concrete blocks are moisture resistant. When using other units, a waterproofing material is required. Concrete blocks can interact with moisture without negative consequences, are durable and will not swell in winter.

If the inspection pit is filled with concrete, the layer of such a fill should be at least fifteen centimeters. Reinforcement of concrete with wire mesh 0.5 cm thick will also be required. Instead of a mesh, it is possible to install a frame. You can use fittings for it.

To reliably protect the pit, you need to waterproof the outside. Such waterproofing should be carried out only during the construction of the pit itself. For the protection under consideration, a film or membrane of butyl rubber or similar materials is used. Such protection must be lined in several layers, sealing the joints. In this case, the film or membrane must adhere well to the walls.

For complete protection from water, the pit must be waterproofed from the inside. For this, the walls are impregnated with a special coating. As the latter, a special composition for the pool or a primer is often used.

Also, a caisson made of metal sheet material can protect from moisture. The design is represented by a box, treated with a special compound against corrosion. You can clearly see the caisson by examining the photo of the inspection pit in the garage with a caisson.

Natural ventilation is an integral part of the inspection pit. You need to do it during the construction of the pit. Ventilation in the inspection pit can also be done by hand. For this, when working on the floor of the pit, a special hole is made in it to exhaust air through a hose. After installing the hose, cover it with a lid.

If desired, electricity can be supplied to the inspection pit so that there is light. At the same time, do not forget about safety and moisture resistance.

Also, for the same purposes, you should not install sockets with a voltage of more than 35 volts. 220 Volt lamps cannot be used.

An additional element will be the roof, which is usually wooden. The roof should be secure, but not too heavy. The golden mean will be a thickness of three cm, which will provide reliability and will not cause problems when opening.

Arranging an inspection pit in the garage with your own hands will help speed up and reduce the cost of car repair, its presence will allow you to conduct regular independent technical inspection. The correct arrangement of the inspection pit gives a whole list of advantages, and your main task during its construction is to comply with all the subtleties of the technology.

How to make an inspection hole on your own will be discussed below.

The size of the inspection pit directly depends on the number of people who are planned to be accommodated there at the same time, as well as on the dimensions of your car and the size of the garage.

The standard version offers the following sizes: width - 80-100 cm; depth - 170-200 cm; length - from 160 to 200 cm.

When planning the size of the inspection pit, it is also necessary to take into account the features of the building itself, which can affect its size.

After the pit for the inspection hole is dug, you can proceed to the construction of the floor. To begin with, you will need to equip the ventilation of the inspection pit, as shown in the photo.

Before setting up the floor, take care of the hole through which the duct hose will pass. The hose is closed with a cap and inserted approximately 20 cm.

Then you need to prepare a two-layer concrete pad. The first layer 10 cm thick is poured into gravel, the second, 6 cm thick - sand, such a drainage system will ensure the removal of moisture. Each layer is leveled and rammed, the pit is smeared with clay.

Next, you need to lay the reinforcement and pour the surface with concrete. After the concrete has dried, another waterproofing layer is laid, then the final finishing and processing of the pit with materials for thermal insulation is carried out.

The main requirements for waterproofing materials are their cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Based on these criteria, the following options are possible:

single-layer polymer membrane - its thickness is 2 mm, the material is durable and strong, but it has a high cost. In addition, special equipment is required to install the membrane;
bitumen-based materials (roofing felt or bitumen grease) - are widely available in terms of cost, very simple to install, their service life will be at least fifteen years;
waterproofing lubricant - easy to apply and has a relatively low price.

For the convenience of performing preventive maintenance and repairing a car, a good owner's garage is usually equipped with an inspection pit. This is not surprising - the mentality of most of our men is such that almost every motorist prefers to control the condition of the car himself, and, if necessary, to repair it.Having invested in such a garage arrangement once, in the future you can save a decent amount on service maintenance, since you can carry out such simple but necessary procedures as changing the oil or covering the bottom with an anti-corrosion compound, as well as a number of other work related to the bottom or suspension of the car, you can will be on your own.

Do-it-yourself inspection pit in the garage

However, it should be noted right away that the optimal location of the inspection pit is considered to be a place under a canopy next to the garage, or in the garage, but next to the parking lot, since wet vapors that accumulate between the bottom of the car and the bottom of the pit often contribute to activation of corrosive processes. But, as you know, most often the space in the garage is limited, so the inspection hole is arranged in the middle of the room. Based on this circumstance, further it will be considered how an inspection pit in the garage can be made with your own hands with the arrangement of reliable waterproofing, ventilation and using various materials for the construction of walls.

The best option would be to build a pit before erecting the walls of the garage, in the place planned for it, in parallel with the creation of the foundation and floor. It is clear that in an already finished building, you can face a number of restrictions that significantly complicate the work.

It is most convenient to tear off the pit for the pit even at the stage of preparatory work, before pouring the floor and erecting walls

For example, the same foundation pit, set up in an open space, can be dug quickly and accurately using special equipment. In the finished garage, it will have to be dug exclusively by hand, and this work is quite laborious, since you will have to not only loosen, but also extract several cubes of soil from a sufficiently large depth, and then organize its removal from the garage and further removal from the territory.

When planning the excavation of a pit, it is recommended to obtain information in advance about the location of groundwater at the construction site in order to protect the building from their penetration into the pit, otherwise it will become unsuitable for work, and over time its collapse will begin. In this case, you will have to "save" the garage, bring the soil and bury the hole. Therefore, it is best to think over all the nuances of its arrangement in advance and get all the information necessary for this, otherwise the work may be done in vain.

To build a viewing hole, you will need a lot of different materials that need to be purchased with a small margin. Usually professional builders are advised to increase their number by 10-15%.

So, to create a full-fledged observation pit, you may need the following materials:

Sand, gravel or crushed stone. Sand and gravel are necessary for masonry or filling mortar, and for arranging a pillow at the bottom of the pit, in addition to these materials, crushed stone will be required. For mixing all types of mortars, cement is required.
A beam with a section of 30 × 30 or 40 × 40 mm, boards of 25 mm or plywood with a thickness of 10 ÷ 15 mm - for the manufacture of formwork, and well-processed boards with a thickness of 40 ÷ 45 mm - for the pit cover.
Reinforcing rod with a diameter of 6 ÷ 8 mm for knitting a reinforcing lattice when strengthening walls and floors.
Waterproofing materials - dense polyethylene film, roofing felt and mastic. More modern materials can be used for waterproofing, but they have a higher price.
Metal corner 50 × 50 mm for fixing the pit perimeter at floor level. Often, a wheel stop is also made from a corner.
Steel wire with a cross section of 1.5 ÷ 2 mm - for twisting the reinforcing lattice.
Plastic pipes with a diameter of 100 mm - for arranging the ventilation system of the pit.
Brick or foam blocks, if it is planned to build pit walls from them.

The planning and arrangement of the inspection pit usually begins with determining its size.It is recommended to fix all parameters immediately, for further drawing up a project, in which it is necessary to show the location of the pit in the garage, its width, length and depth. These values primarily depend on the base of the car, that is, the distance between the wheels along the length and width of the car, as well as on the height of the garage owner. Correct determination of these parameters is important for ensuring safety, and for comfortable work, and the convenience of putting the car in the garage.

The dimensions of the pit must meet the requirements for safety and ease of use.

The width of the pit should be 300 ÷ 350 mm larger than the intended size of the inspection pit, and its finished width should be 200 mm less than the distance between the wheels of the car on one axis (with a measurement between the inner surfaces of the tires). In this case, the pit should be comfortable for a person to be inside it. When planning an inspection pit, you should not take the exact dimensions between the wheels of a particular passenger car, since, over time, you may want to replace it with a new one. Therefore, it is recommended to take the average distance for different vehicle variants.

The generally accepted, most convenient parameter of the pit is the width of 800 ÷ 850 mm.

Recommended dimensional parameters of the inspection pit

The length of the pit can be different, and this already depends on the desire of the car owner, taking into account, of course, the length of the garage. The standard length of the pit should be equal to the length of the car plus 1000 mm, but in some cases it is necessary to make it smaller. Therefore, this parameter can vary from 2000 to 6000 mm.

When planning an inspection pit, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of descending into it with a car parked in the garage.

When making calculations, you also need to take into account the place for descending into the pit with the car parked in the garage. The descent must be equipped with a ladder or step ladder. An extension ladder is usually chosen as it takes up significantly less space.

The depth of the pit is determined by the height of the garage owner. It should be such that a person, standing on the bottom, can freely reach any mechanism of the car that goes to its lower part and requires prevention or repair.

It should be noted that it will be better if the pit is dug a little deeper than required, since the required depth can be compensated by raising the floor by increasing its thickness. Usually the depth of the hole is equal to the owner's height plus 100 ÷ 200 mm and is approximately 1800 ÷ 1900 mm.

In addition to the above parameters, when digging a pit, it is necessary to take into account the distance for waterproofing, masonry or pouring walls, as well as for filling clay around the inspection pit, a layer of which will become additional waterproofing. If the walls will be laid out of bricks or filled with concrete, then the pit should be increased in width in each direction by 120 ÷ 150 mm, for gas silicate blocks by 200 mm, for arranging a concrete floor, the depth increases by 200 mm. If a drainage or waterproofing layer is arranged around the pit, the pit will increase in width by another 150 ÷ 170 mm.

As mentioned above, it is necessary to obtain information about the depth of the groundwater location. These data should be indicated in the report, which is given after the research of the site before the construction of the garage.

The close location of groundwater can lead to such consequences.

The level of the groundwater table plays an important role in the construction of any building, be it a residential building or a garage. If it goes higher than 2500 mm, then it is difficult to dig a viewing hole in the garage or make a cellar under the house, since they will be filled with water, even if high-quality waterproofing is done.

In some cases, there is a way out - to avoid this unpleasant situation, a drainage system is made around the perimeter of the entire pit to the height of its walls and under the concrete floor, which will help drain water into the sewer well.

Provided that groundwater is located below the level indicated above, there are no restrictions for arranging a viewing hole.

A niche for placing the necessary tool is clearly visible

Video (click to play).

Almost always, garage owners, arranging a viewing hole, prefer to make niches in its walls, placing them in the upper or middle part of the side walls.