Anyone know about the regs regarding putting a pit in my garage floor?

IS your garage part of the house ?

No, it's seperate and made of a pre-formed concrete wall structure with solid concrete floor, about 2m from the house at its nearest point.

There was a thread on here a while ago about pits. Apparently they're an excellent way of inadvertantly gassing yourself and as such are frowned upon by building regs.

just get on and do it ! dont tell them cant see why it would matter unless you want to sell anytime soon and even then….

What out when you dig it out though lots of services etc around most houses

😀 that's a fair point, but one would assume that your exhaust has an exit out of the garage rather than into it?

I'd rather do it with permission and with some knowledge of the drainage and pipework of the area 😀

Wot sobriety said.

Technical details can be downloaded here: http://www.sbsa.gov.uk/tech_handbooks/tbooks2009.htm

EDIT: This looks interesting http://mech-mate.co.uk/How-to-Fit-a-Pit.html

Hmm searching that now thanks, not that it's easy to find – it's not going to be listed as "inspection pits" and it seems to make a difference if its not attached to the house as originally questioned so this could get difficult.

I think Josef Fritzl has some plans online.

😀

Ultimately Im not sure why they'd be overly worried about gassing people in pits, if youre mad enough to not provide a decent ventilation and not be wary of feeling grotty while running the engine for ages, you're equally at risk of runningthe car with the garage doors shut.

"Im not sure why they'd be overly worried about gassing people in pits"

because it's happened quite regularly and petrol fumes sink into the pits and people end up with terrible burns too.

I suppose you have to protect against peoples stupidity. Not sure where the terrible burns come from?

heavier than air petrol fumes? plus broken inspection light bulbs go boom!

I have one that I never use, you can have it for postage.

heavier than air petrol fumes? plus broken inspection light bulbs go boom!

Fair point, but you'd hope not to be using breakable inspection lamps when working on fuel-related jobs! Could make a nasty noise!

midlife – sure, can you do it parcel post?

I do know someone who suffered third degree burns when wleding a car and a spark form the welding went into his pit and ignited theb fumes in there. Could you not fit a lift instead as they allow you to take the wheels off as well or do you have a hight restriction.

Steel framed pre fab section bolted on and together? What size is the garage? Did you put it up? Did you need regs/planning ? Business, or just personal tinkering use? Many a question really.

owen – ive no doubt mistakes are easy to make and I've probably made many of them myself, I've set fire to paintwork/sound deadening on cars I've welded, soaked myself in fuel from a burst fuel filter, shocked myself several times with HT leads including through my chest and upper lip 🙂 I have come out (largely) unscathed and more cautious! Welding and fuel spills never mix, in a pit or on a drive!

I'd love to fit a lift but it would take up too much extra room and I only have a normal garage height (6-7ft) in which to do it, less if I want to use the roof space as storage 🙁 I had considered some sunk-in-ground hydraulic rams and a ratchet locking mechanism like a mini-4-post lift just to lift it a foot or two without having columns taking up space, but that's a fairly pricey route to take so not at the top of my list. It would have the benefit of needing no additional ventillation or draining though, which might ofset the cost.

Wrightyson – the garage is concrete section, not put up by me, large enough to get a car in and work on it with a bench at one end but not large enough to waste space. For personal tinkering, nothing commercial.

Right so no major insurance problems to worry about liability wise. As it's prefab, seperate from the house and not overly big I'd doubt it req'd planning or regs when it was erected originally, unless your area or specific house required them, such as conservation area etc. So IMO that leaves the ball in your court construction wise! You could go down the road of gettin a quick engineer design which will probably suggest dig out, cast base (concrete) with starter bars at 200 centres, formwork (basically consisting of a ply box) then backfill with concrete (poss some horizontal mesh), hey presto ready made box. Now an engineer will qualify his design which is good if you ever move on, however they will always insist on doing it properly. At the end of the day it's "only a garage" but it's nice to do it right, last thing you want is to be stood in two inch of water whilst doing your tinkering. Loads of different construction methods some far cheaper than others! If you want anymore I can bore you with the details.

No, you won't require build regs and certainly not planning (unless it is listed, which I would imagine it isn't!).

As long as you don't have a neighbour's building within 6-metres then I'd say just do it without notification of the local BC. Certainly wouldn't need planning unless you're intending to start a business – assuming this is at home. Fair bit of work to do it properly though, damp proofing and tieing into the existing slab. Bear in mind you'll be undermining the garages foundations whilst a, digging it out and b, back filling around any casting.