o_teunico Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Hi all, After more than six months of digging, I have finally reached entry's level at the back corner in the old hen/duck area at in law's farm. I will like to build a pit, but need help on deciding what to do. The building is at a sideslope. Height is now 2.7m, ok for the landy and acceptable for the caravan, but not enough for a big motorhome I will like to buy in the future. The 5 metre wide path in front of entry door is inclined. I could lower all the area, along with the path, about 70cm for creating a flat area in front of the garage entry and then the height will be 3.4 meters, good for a motorhome. The problem is that below the soil there is a black water tank, and I cannot dig for more than 1.6 metres from the level it has now. This will leave just 90 cm for the pit. Is this enough or it will be better having less height in the garage and more in the pit? I'm nearly 6' tall if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 At nearly 6' tall you're going to need a big pit if you want to walk under the vehicle without banging your head. But! There's no reason why you should stand in a pit. In my mine at least, there's nothing wrong with having a shallower pit and sitting down on a height adjustable chair when you're working. It'd be like a reverse lift, rather than lifting the car to working height, you lift your chair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landowner Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Hi all, After more than six months of digging, I have finally reached entry's level at the back corner in the old hen/duck area at in law's farm. I will like to build a pit, but need help on deciding what to do. The building is at a sideslope. Height is now 2.7m, ok for the landy and acceptable for the caravan, but not enough for a big motorhome I will like to buy in the future. The 5 metre wide path in front of entry door is inclined. I could lower all the area, along with the path, about 70cm for creating a flat area in front of the garage entry and then the height will be 3.4 meters, good for a motorhome. The problem is that below the soil there is a black water tank, and I cannot dig for more than 1.6 metres from the level it has now. This will leave just 90 cm for the pit. Is this enough or it will be better having less height in the garage and more in the pit? I'm nearly 6' tall if that helps. The pit I dug in my garage at home is just short of 3 feet deep and I sit on a beer crate to work on cars. It could do with being a little deeper for cars but I would be working stooped if I could get the landy in, its a bit in between really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanuki Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 How high's the water-table? And is it stable? If there's any chance it can rise to your pit then you need some serious engineering to handle 'uplift' - your pit can behave like a boat and try to rise as the water-table does! Someone I know had a 'Klargester' moulded-GRP septic-tank installed. Before it was fully-filled with wastewater/sh*t there was a period of heavy rain that caused the local water-table to rise by a few yards. The buoyancy of the incompletely-filled tank against the insurgent water caused the tank to force its way up through the backfill and emerge through the lawn in a rather impressive way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Dont forget to cut out the sides so that it has a dual purpose as a wine cellar !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sparkes Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Have I understood this correctly? You want to lower the whole area, to get a level patch in front of your garage, and give enough garage height (3.4metres) for your proposed motor-home. Due to the existing underground tank, lowering the whole area like this will leave you a maximum pit depth of 90cm? 90cm isn't a typing error? It is less than one metre (say 35 inches for UK readers)? Even if you add the ground clearance of your Land Rover, that is barely space to sit upright, with your backside on the bottom of the pit. I don't think that is workable, and possibly not worth digging out. If you straddle a 90cm pit with a lift, then OK, it means you don't need to lift the LR so high, and might then be worth doing. You might achieve something useful buy putting the LR on normal short wheel ramps to give the essential extra height you need. In the UK I have seen someone dig a wide pit, put a 4 post lift inside it, and leave the ramps at floor level. A shallow pit does mean it's easier to get in and out of. How were you planning to access and exit your pit when a vehicle is over it? Via a sideways extension, which you have to bridge when moving the vehicle on or off the pit, or making a long pit so it extends in front or behind the vehicle? HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tacr2man Posted August 9, 2014 Share Posted August 9, 2014 Ideal pit depth for below HGV is 1,4 mtrs to 1.6 mtrs dependeant on operators height ! If its a bit deep you can always put a duckboard shallow you cant do much about it (stoop, kneel) ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o_teunico Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 David, you have understood it perfectly! I have been searching the web for vehicle heights. A Pulse/Wolf 130 ambulance is 2820mm tall, a big van, such a high roof MB Vario, 2930mm and big motorhomes are arround 3 to 3.1m. I could give it a 3.2m height and a 1.1m depth pit, enough for beeing in a chair under a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elbekko Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 I can think of so many jobs under a Land Rover you wouldn't want to be doing while sitting in a chair or crawling... Can't you go up instead of down? A roof extension and a lift will probably be around the same budget as all the digging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o_teunico Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Digging is free, as I'm doing it by myself with hand tools. Roof is relatively plain, so there is not much height gain once you enter the site. What about width? I was thinking about 70cm, for using it with small cars (rover mini, fiat 600...). Length will be about 6m, using that space in front/rear of the car for accesing the pit. Entire village is in a hillside, and farm is at the top, so water table shouldn't cause problems. Will post some pictures at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o_teunico Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 The pics... The Fiat seat over office chair wheels is height adjustable and top of my head is at 130 cm in lowest position. Whe have already added an extra step to garden stairs and have raised the lower part of the path about 40 cm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boydie Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 I'm assuming here that in the UK you have a product called "UNISTRUT" this is a "U" shaped channel with turned over lips normally used in the construction industry as a means of bracketing pipework. One of the "accessories" you can purchase are small wheels which lock into the Unistrut and when incorporated with pipe brackets allow for expansion..... however.... if you afix two lengths of Unistrut either side on your garage floor - the lengths come in 6 metre long and if required are predrilled - and purchase 4 of the said wheels you can easlity make a trolley that will slide under the vehicle, I know 'cos in one of my past homes I did just this, to get over the need for a pit I then fixed a set of ramps to the garage floor slab, removed the stop ends and extended them with suitable angle Iron frames to equal just over the length of the vehicle, (in this case a Diahatsu Charade Rally car). The car was then at a convenient height - just under a metre above the garage floor - and I was able to very easily slide under the car on a trolley with padded head rest, tool areas either side and, best of all it was on wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
o_teunico Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 I have searched for Unistrut and it´s also available here in Spain. I think that at the end I will make a mix of both systems, with a 110 cm pit, with me seating under the car, and some linfting device that will enable me beeing upright in the pit under the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffcrete Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 How high's the water-table? And is it stable? If there's any chance it can rise to your pit then you need some serious engineering to handle 'uplift' - your pit can behave like a boat and try to rise as the water-table does! Someone I know had a 'Klargester' moulded-GRP septic-tank installed. Before it was fully-filled with wastewater/sh*t there was a period of heavy rain that caused the local water-table to rise by a few yards. The buoyancy of the incompletely-filled tank against the insurgent water caused the tank to force its way up through the backfill and emerge through the lawn in a rather impressive way. Tthree years ago here in Crete several large swimmimg pools that had been enptied floated off down the hill. Even if below the water table a small sump with a submersible pump is a good idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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