In our country, the inspection pit is planned first during the construction of a garage. It is an excellent assistant for any motorist, as it allows you to carry out minor repairs or preventative work, as well as diagnostics, and without any special material costs. From this article you will learn how to make a viewing hole in the garage, what materials are required for this, as well as what its benefits are in general.
The answer is obvious: it is needed to make it more convenient to maintain the vehicle. Some people turn to special technical centers in case of breakdowns, but most car enthusiasts prefer to carry out the most complex operations with their own hands. And doing this in a cozy and calm environment is much more convenient.
In addition to practical work, the inspection pit can provide unhindered access to:
Now, having familiarized ourselves with the purpose of the inspection hole, we proceed directly to work.
The process consists of several stages, let's look at them.
First, you must determine the shape and size of the inspection hole in the garage. This one is extremely important point, since the pit will be installed in an existing garage, which, accordingly, will make the task more complicated, and the working conditions will be cramped.
When marking, be guided by the fact that the soil that forms the walls of the pit will have some slope, while the dimensions of the structure themselves should be such that working in it is as convenient as possible. This is the first thing. And secondly, in the future you should be able to easily park over a hole without fear that the vehicle will fall into it. There are certain anti-slip measures, but more on them later.
Based on all this, the working width of the pit should be 70 cm - in this case, even the smallest car models will have about 15-20 cm for maneuvers. If necessary, the width can be increased.
Note! If you are the happy owner of a Zhiguli with a track width of 1.3 m, you can increase the width of the pit to 80-85 cm.
The length of the structure is also determined for reasons of ease of use, but the area of the garage itself should also be taken into account. In any case, it should be at least 2 m.
Using pegs with rope or small quantity Using lime, mark the perimeter of the pit on the floor, add wall thickness on each side (depending on the stability of the soil) and make a small margin for slope. If we're talking about, for example, about dense loam, it should be approximately 25-30 cm. But the depth should be such that there is about 25 cm left from the top of your head to the bottom of the car. Let's give a small example.
Example .
For this we use the same Zhiguli. The ground clearance of this car is approximately 16 cm. And if your height is, say, 1.8 m, then the “net” depth of the pit should fluctuate between 1.7-1.8 m. Although it is better to make it somewhat larger, because in the future You can always arrange a raised floor to the required height or, as an option, substitute a bench.
During the work you will need:
The amount of this or that material depends on the size of the future structure.
You have to dig about 9 m³ of earth, which is difficult, especially if the soil is strong, and the work will be done by hand. This is the most difficult stage, but professional excavators can be involved in the work.
After digging a trench, leave some of the earth in the garage or next to it - with its help you will fill up the sinuses after finishing the construction of the walls. Take everything else out. To correctly calculate the equipment required for removal, remember: the volume of loosened soil will be approximately ¼ greater than the volume of the pit itself.
After this, level the bottom of the trench and compact it using fine crushed stone. To do this, pour crushed stone in a layer 5-7 cm thick and compact it using a tamper.
Note! It will be much more convenient to work in the inspection pit if you make niches in the walls for materials, tools and spare parts. Provide such niches in advance, even at the stage of excavation work.
There are two possible materials that in this case can be used:
We recommend using the second option, as it will cost less. In addition, the design will be more reliable, and the embedded elements will be fixed better. Therefore, we are considering the option of monolithic concrete.
Step 1. First, build a concrete floor 6-7 cm thick on top of the crushed stone. Reinforce it with a reinforcing mesh 3-4 cm thick and cell sizes of a maximum of 15x15 cm.
Step 2. Prepare concrete in the following proportion (for 1 m³): “four hundredth” cement (300 kg) + crushed stone with a fraction size of 0.5 to 2 cm (1210 kg) + water (210 l) + sand (680 kg). If you mix by hand, you will need a little more water, although it is still recommended to use a concrete mixer - this way ready solution will be more mobile.
Step 3. Fill the floor with the resulting solution.
Note! The compressive strength coefficient of such a surface will be approximately 200, which in this case is quite sufficient.
Step 4. Prepare the mortar for the walls. The proportions here should be slightly different: 360 kg of the same cement + 1168 crushed stone + 670 kg of sand. The volume of water is the same - 210 l. The thickness of the walls will be 15 cm.
Step 5. Build formwork from OSB boards 1-1.2 cm thick. In the future, these plates may be required for other needs.
Step 6. Reinforce the walls. Many people neglect this, but it’s better not to skimp on quality. For this you can use the same mesh as for the floor.
Step 7. Pour the concrete in layers, the height of each tier should be 30-40 cm. Compact each tier using a bayonet shovel. In the last tier, arrange cylindrical “glasses”, into which you will then install lamps. To do this, place pieces of sewer pipe into the holes in the formwork (always at an angle).
Step 8 Use pre-welded metal corners to frame the pit; for fastening, use embedded anchors made from pieces of reinforcement. The frame will perform several functions at once:
Step 9 Backfilling. Pour soil into the gaps formed in layers of 15-20 cm, carefully compacting each of them.
If the groundwater level in your region is high enough, then take additional care of high-quality insulation. There are several possible options here.
It's easy to make a viewing hole yourself. Of course, it’s easier to do it at the stage of building a garage, but it won’t be difficult to do it in a finished structure. With such a “bunker” it will be much easier for you to repair and maintain your car.
As a result, we note that it is better to work with an assistant. He will not only help or provide tools, but will also come to the rescue in an emergency.
The need for an inspection pit in the garage is obvious, since in cases of oil changes, minor repairs to the bottom of the body or a routine inspection, you have to set aside several hours to travel to a service station and pay for expensive service.
Pit for technical inspection The car can also be used as a cellar or vegetable storage. For this purpose, niches and shelves are constructed inside it.
The condition for high-quality use of the inspection pit is: technical structure and places for storing products is compliance with all construction standards and the presence of reliable waterproofing of the floor and walls.
Even such a simple design requires careful planning. An important point in this regard is the determination of soil quality and groundwater levels. The most suitable foundation for such structures is clay soil. Its peculiarity is that it does not allow moisture to pass through, which means it can become a kind of waterproofing layer.
At large cluster groundwater and its high level location, the inspection pit is additionally equipped with a drainage system to remove excess moisture, as well as submersible pumps so that the room can be quickly drained.
The staircase will provide a convenient and safe descent
You can install the inspection pit yourself. There is nothing complicated about this if you follow.
To calculate the area of the future inspection pit, you need to take into account the thickness of the walls and base. For such calculations, it is necessary to remember the geometry course and resort to a simple formula that determines the area - S = ah, where a is the length, h is the width of the pit. Inspection hole when finished, it will have dimensions of 75x185x300 cm. The thickness of the concrete walls and floor, as a rule, is about 10 cm. The calculations will be as follows: 0.85x3 = 2.55 m² - this is the area of the pit for the inspection pit.
Comfortable work in the inspection pit is created by a correctly calculated space, namely, its parameters should be convenient for the build of the person in it. Typically, the width of the pit is built in the range from 70 to 75 cm. This width is enough for you to move freely inside. The same distance between the walls makes the observation structure convenient for entry passenger car.
The pit may be wider if the inspection pit is intended for large vehicles or trucks. Distance between internal parties The wheels of such vehicles are much larger (from 80 to 90 cm).
The inspection pit is arranged in such a way that the walls are slightly narrower towards the floor. Schematically, in cross-section, its design resembles an inverted trapezoid. This form provides easy access to tools in niches and free movement.
The length of the inspection hole is selected based on the size of the garage. If the space of the room allows, then a staircase can be provided in the pit. To do this, the length of the pit is increased by 100–120 cm.
Depth of the pit “with reserve” for installing the floor
The height of the pit is at least 170–180 cm. These dimensions are relative, since the depth is made in accordance with the height of the car owner. While in the inspection hole, a person should not touch the bottom of the car with his head.
For additional safety of the car and its owner, an inspection pit is equipped metal stops. They usually consist of four pillars fixed at the corners of a niche. They rise 10–15 cm above it. Sometimes for technical inspection, not four pillars, but two metal corners are used. They are fastened against each other along the edges of the length of the pit.
The depth should be 25–30 cm greater than the owner’s height. With such a distance from the base to the body, the arms will not get tired quickly, as this makes it possible for them to be in a bent position.
Most often, concrete, wood, metal or brick are used for manufacturing.
To calculate the required amount of concrete, you must use a formula that determines the volume. To do this, you need to multiply the length, width and height of the wall. Similar calculations are carried out for the floor.
If brick is used in the construction of the pit, then, knowing its parameters, it is easy to calculate the required amount of this material in pieces. The dimensions of the red brick are 250x120x60 mm.
When building a viewing hole, you cannot do without the following tools:
The following materials are also required:
All work must be done in a strict sequence of steps:
Features of installation of partitions depend on the material used.
Before pouring the mixture, it is necessary to make formwork. For this, it is best to use OSB boards. This material does not allow the poured mixture to pass through and does not deform over time. The plates are fastened together using boards and screws so that the distance between them is at least 15 cm.
To maintain the shape of a wooden structure, it must be secured with spacers. Gaps in the joints of the slabs should be absent or minimal. A reinforcing mesh should be installed inside the finished formwork.
There is an option for pouring concrete with one-sided formwork. To do this, it is necessary to cover the walls of the pit with waterproofing material. Next, OSB boards are installed along the inner perimeter of the pit. A metal mesh is placed between them and the waterproofing. Concrete is poured inside this structure.
After the concrete has hardened, a monolithic structure is obtained.
A waterproofing sheet is placed in the finished pit. It should completely cover the floor and walls. The canvas must be laid with an overlap. To prevent the edges of the material from lifting up, they are pressed down with boards. A half-brick masonry is made on top of the waterproofing. When the wall reaches a height of 135 cm, you can make niches and then continue laying to the top edge of the pit. It is recommended to install a metal frame from a corner on the last row, and it should be welded in such a way that one shelf on each side is parallel to the floor. Thick boards will be laid on it to cover the pit. Next, they pour the concrete floor in the garage.
This design resembles a large box. During its manufacture, the sheets must be joined by continuous welding. Ready design must be carefully treated with anti-corrosion coatings. The box should be equipped with fasteners. They are welded metal corners that rest 100–150 cm into the ground. They are attached to the body on four sides. They will hold the box in place. If this is not done, the entire structure will simply float when the groundwater level rises.
The staircase is made of the same material
Wood without proper treatment quickly rots. Therefore, the material must be impregnated with special antifungal substances and additionally waterproofed. It is better to take thick boards for walls. The material is installed horizontally. Spacers are secured along the edges of the narrow sides of the inspection hole.
For reliability, the bottom of the pit is made of concrete
This process is carried out both before the construction of the structure (external insulation) and after its construction (internal insulation).
If the garage is located in an area with a low groundwater level, then many owners are in no hurry to isolate the inspection pit from moisture. However, the hydrological situation of any area changes every year, so it is recommended to take care of insulation at the construction stage. For this purpose they are used special films or membranes, for example, butyl rubber, aquaizol. They need to be laid in a pit. The edges of the material should be laid with an overlap of 10–15 cm. To obtain a sealed seam at the overlap, use double-sided tape.
When installing a film or membrane, it is important not to damage its integrity. Otherwise, moisture from the soil will enter the hole.
The laid waterproofing layer is melted using a blowtorch. As a result, the film straightens, fitting more tightly to the walls and bottom of the inspection pit.
The overlap of the material will prevent moisture from seeping into the pit
Do-it-yourself internal waterproofing of an inspection pit in a garage involves treating the surface of the finished inspection structure with liquid substances, which, when dry, form a dense water-repellent layer. The composition for treating swimming pools has proven itself well. It is applied with a thick, wide brush, and when it hardens, the substance forms a waterproof material resembling rubber. For greater reliability, more than two layers should be applied.
Insulating material can be applied using a spray gun
There is another way of internal insulation from moisture - this is the use of special cement-based primers, which tend to be deeply absorbed into the applied material. This effect is achieved thanks to the polymer particles that are in the mixture. They block capillaries that allow moisture to penetrate through the base material.
A covered inspection hole will not only protect the car from accidental failure, but will also serve as an additional waterproofing layer. In the absence of a cover, evaporated moisture settles on the lower parts of the car body, thereby creating favorable conditions for the formation of metal corrosion. To avoid such problems, the inspection hole is covered. For this purpose, sheets of metal or boards are used.
Wood is a relatively inexpensive and lightweight material. If necessary, the boards are easy to replace. They are selected from hard woods, such as oak and larch. Before use, the boards are coated with antifungal impregnations and antiseptic substances. They are placed in the openings of metal corners fixed at the top of the inspection hole. The thickness of each board must be more than 40 mm.
The most suitable option for this purpose are boards
Using metal is less convenient, since this material is heavy, expensive, and not resistant to corrosion. During use, its surface bends.
The construction of a vegetable pit has its own characteristics.
For a vegetable pit, both the presence of waterproofing and depth are important.
The place for storing vegetables must be below the freezing point. Otherwise, the point of storing food is lost, since it will be spoiled by low temperatures.
The freezing point depends on the region where the garage is located, for example, Vin the northern regions the ground freezes up to 150 cm. Taking this fact into account, you should dig a pit with a depth of at least 190 cm. From 10 to 15 cm must be allocated for the drainage layer under the base, another 10 cm is required to install the ceiling. 170–175 cm remains for placing shelves, racks and niches for vegetables and lighting. The depth also depends on the height of the owner.
Option with optimal dimensions for this structure
The optimal width of the pit for vegetables is 150 cm. This size allows you to optimally place shelves and racks, while a person will not be constrained in movement inside the pit. To select the length, you need to follow the rule - the pit should not reach closer than 50 cm to the walls of the garage.
To make a vegetable pit in the garage you will need the following materials:
When building this structure, you cannot do without the following tools:
Calculations of materials for the construction of a vegetable pit are similar to the inspection pit.
Having prepared all the necessary tools and materials, you can begin building a vegetable pit:
On the issue of isolation inner surface Cellars should be treated especially carefully from moisture. This is important, since the slightest hole in the waterproofing will become a source of dampness and cause spoilage of vegetables.
You can proceed to this stage only if the concrete is completely dry. You will need a waterproofing sheet or aquaizol. This material must be used to cover the walls and floor of the vegetable pit. The canvas must be laid with an overlap of at least 15 cm. The joints are secured using a blowtorch or double-sided tape. All actions with the lamp should be carried out very carefully so as not to damage the canvas, otherwise moisture will get inside the vegetable pit. The same materials cover the outer part of the ceiling of the pit.
Make an observation room in the garage or vegetable pit It’s not at all difficult to do it yourself. It is enough to listen to the recommendations of specialists and follow step-by-step instructions. If desired, these two rooms can be combined.
Hello friends!
As always, while surfing the INTERNET, I came across a very good topic that may be of interest to many.
I really liked this hole, but the problem is... the groundwater is very close, and it’s scary to make such beauty))) but if it helps someone, I will be very glad)))
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STROYPORTAL
The presence of an inspection hole in the garage provides the opportunity to carry out independent repairs of your own car. It can be done with minimal knowledge in the field of construction and the availability detailed instructions. Using a step-by-step master class, it will not be difficult to carefully and efficiently prepare and independently build a pit, regardless of the size and layout of the garage.
🔹 Determining the optimal size and shape of the inspection hole
The finished inspection pit should be both safe and convenient to use. Therefore, before starting work, it is recommended to study geological survey data on the condition of the soil and the location of groundwater under the garage. This will allow you to determine the optimal depth of the hole. If groundwater are quite deep, then the recommended height from the floor to the “ceiling” can be about 2 m or less (owner’s height + 20-30 cm). The dimensions can be found in the drawing.
An inspection hole is made in the garage with your own hands after drawing up a project plan for the facility. Its width is determined according to the wheelbase of the car: it should be smaller, ensuring the possibility of safe entry of the car. The length should be at least 1 meter longer than the length of the car: this will allow you to work comfortably in the pit.
The installation of an inspection pit allows the presence of small niches. They can be used to store parts and conveniently arrange tools. They should not be made too deep. It is recommended to determine the dimensions of the niches according to the available quantity of auto tools and spare parts.
🔹 Laying out walls and niches in the inspection hole
After digging a pit with predetermined dimensions, you should begin strengthening the walls, protecting them and then laying bricks. The use of brick is optimal due to the ease of working with it and ease of purchase. You can find out how to build a viewing hole in a garage from the most affordable building materials in the following instructions:
1. First, you need to make the floor of the inspection hole in the garage: level the bottom of the pit, lay down roofing material (with an overlap of about 0.5 m on the walls for each of them). Concreting is carried out with the M-200 grade, the thickness of the floor should be about 10 cm. The length and width of the floor should include the sum of the thickness of the two walls, the length/width of the pit itself and an increase of 10 cm. After pouring, leave the concrete to harden for 4 days.
2. The construction of walls begins with laying 4 rows and subsequent waterproofing of the inspection pit with outside using bitumen mastic. This will prevent the destruction of the walls due to exposure to moisture from the earth cover adjacent to the brick. After laying out the walls, you need to fill in the remaining gap from the ground to the brick.
3. The final stage of work will be the installation of a metal frame around the entrance to the pit. It should protrude slightly above the floor level of the garage box.
The frames of the niches should also be made of metal corners. This will prevent the bricks from subsiding or breaking.
🔹 Features of the ventilation device and choice of stairs
High-quality ventilation in the inspection pit of the garage will prevent the appearance of mold and the gradual destruction of the walls. It can be made exclusively exhaust or supply and exhaust. In the first case, when laying out the last rows of bricks, it is necessary to install a pipe that will allow air to be removed from the pit through the garage box upwards (it will approach the garage ventilation pipe or be discharged directly to the street). In the second case, an additional pipe is installed, which is diverted outside. Its end should be located at a distance of 15 cm from the floor.
Make comfortable staircase for the inspection hole it can be made of wood or metal corners. For a small block, a repositionable ladder will be much more convenient. In the attached photos you can also see examples of pits in which the steps were laid out of brick or concreted.
🔹 Summing up lighting
In the process of laying niches, you need to connect a 36V wire in an insulating rubber hose. This will allow you to connect the light in the pit and conveniently illuminate the car during repairs. When performing these stages of work, it is advisable to invite a qualified electrician who will help to correctly determine the optimal location of the wire and ensure its protection, and will ensure its correct connection to the power supply.
A diagnostic pit is always a welcome attribute of a garage. It allows you to conveniently inspect the underside of the car. A handy car enthusiast can use it to independently replace oil or a torn cuff. This is where you should start arranging your garage. After spending a certain amount, a pit can be built using hired labor. The article tells you how to do this work yourself.
An inspection pit in a garage is usually constructed of brick or monolithic reinforced concrete. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages. Brickwork is less labor-intensive, but not as durable and requires additional grouting of external masonry joints before applying waterproofing.
Reinforced concrete walls are stronger and more durable. Disadvantages include increased manufacturing complexity. To pour the concrete solution, it is necessary to construct a formwork, inside of which reinforcement is knitted. A large amount of solution is required. You can make both brick and concrete walls with your own hands.
It is more rational to tear off the inspection trench at the same time as laying the foundation of the garage. The width of the ditch is usually 70–80 cm. If you take it less than 70 cm, the trench will be cramped; wider than 80 cm, there is a greater risk of falling into the hole, which often happens. It’s good if there are a few strong guys nearby. The height of the trench is made approximately 180 cm, so that there is about 15 cm of clearance from the head to the bottom of the car. The length must be at least two meters, or better - the length of the car plus 1 meter.
The position of the ditch can be different: in the center of the gate or offset. In this case, the car stands away from the underground with its damp air. To inspect or perform any work, you will have to maneuver to enter the ditch. For more convenient entry, the inspection pit in the garage can have an L-shaped configuration. You can go up and down the stairs without rolling over the car.
Going down into the pit using the ladder is inconvenient and dangerous. The staircase must be stationary, at the same time comfortable and safe. The best option is to manufacture the steps simultaneously with the construction of the enclosing structure. With brick walls, it is advisable to make the steps from brick. When pouring walls made of monolithic reinforced concrete, steps should be cast at the same time. If for some reason they were not made at this stage, then the stairs can be made later with your own hands, when the inspection ditch is being constructed. The staircase is made of wood - with the steps fastened on bowstrings or stringers, as well as metal - with treads made of corrugated iron.
When arranging a garage box, you should provide lighting for the inspection pit in the garage. According to the rules for lighting installations in repair pits, the use of 220 V incandescent lamps is prohibited. It is allowed to use light sources with lamps of no more than 36 V. A step-down transformer is used to power them. A good option are fluorescent lamps in a sealed housing. If a 24V carrier is used, the cable must be at least four meters long for safety reasons.
In the repair trench, due to the temperature difference, increased humidity occurs and condensation forms and settles on the bottom of the car. To avoid this unpleasant phenomenon, the inspection hole in the garage must have good ventilation. The exhaust duct is made of asbestos-cement or plastic sewer pipe embedded in the crushed stone preparation of the floor. This pipe must be connected by a transition elbow to a vertical exhaust riser. The hoods from under the ceiling of the garage box and trench must be independent. If you combine them into one, the efficiency of ventilation of the technical underground will sharply decrease.
Before marking a place in the garage for a future trench, you need to make a drawing of its cross section. The clear size of the trench should be taken as a basis. For example, the width will be 70 cm. To this value you need to add twice the wall thickness. If the latter is 20 cm, it will be: 70 + (2 × 20) = 110 cm. Add another margin - 5 cm on each side. Ultimately, the width of the trench at the bottom will be: 110 + (2 × 5) = 120 cm. In order to facilitate the subsequent application of coating waterproofing, the walls of the trench should be inclined. To do this, it is enough to increase the width of the trench on the garage floor by 60 cm (30 per side). That is, at the top the width of the ditch will be 180 cm. Trenches for the foundation are dug using the same principle.
If the inspection hole in the garage is made at the same time as the foundation is being poured, it makes sense to resort to the services of an excavator. All work will be completed in half a day. The costs will be of the same order as if you hire diggers. Sometimes it happens that during the season you still won’t find them. Well, what if the idea came to build a technical trench when the garage was already built? There is only one way out - to dig a pit with your own hands. In order not to do unnecessary work, a certain amount of excavated soil should be stored near the construction site, since the earth will be needed for backfilling the sinuses.
The base of the trench should be protected from penetrating moisture by waterproofing. A 10-centimeter footing of concrete is first poured onto the compacted bottom of the pit. For preparation, a solution of grade M 150 is sufficient. The width of the preparatory layer is made flush with the outer surface of the future walls of the trench. To insulate the sole, use any type of rolled material. insulating material- roofing felt, Bikrost, Aquaizol, polymer membranes. The canvas should be cut to overlap the walls.
A concrete floor is poured on top of the insulating layer. The brand used is stronger - M 200. A thickness of 7–8 cm is sufficient, but it is better to reinforce the poured surface with a 150 × 150 road mesh with a wire thickness of 4 (3) mm.
To paraphrase Henry Ford, we can say - the design of the trench walls can be anything, provided that it is rigid and durable. To prevent the walls from bulging and cracking in the near future, you should know how not to do them:
Below we describe one of the possible options for constructing a building envelope with your own hands. The outer walls of the pit are dug inclined, with a margin of width, to ensure future access for waterproofing works. Lay out 4–5 rows of half-brick brickwork along the entire internal contour of the future structure. This partition will serve as internal formwork. The outer one is installed, retreating 130 mm from the folded wall immediately to the entire height of the trench, using old boards, sheets of plywood, chipboard, OSB and other similar materials. They support it with spacers and jibs, after which they fill it concrete mortar with the top edge of the masonry.
Lay a reinforcing masonry mesh 250 mm wide with a cell size of 50 × 50 and a wire thickness of 4 or 5 mm. Lay out the next section and install the reinforcement again. For better adhesion to concrete outer surface Brickwork is done “in a wasteland.” The rigidity of the structure will be provided by closed belts made of reinforcement bars with a diameter of 10 mm, laid at the bottom and top of the fence. In order to subsequently equip the lighting of the inspection pit in the garage, niches are provided for installing lamps. Waterproofing, if provided for by the project, is carried out after removing the external formwork.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to make a viewing ditch in the garage. If groundwater (GW) is located under the garage at a depth of less than two meters, it is not worth starting construction. Life shows that in this case no amount of waterproofing of walls will help. When the hot water is below 2.5 meters, a trench can be built provided that the high-quality waterproofing external walls of the inspection ditch. It can be done with your own hands from several layers of adhesive material: roofing felt, TechnoNIKOL, Stekloizol, Gidrostekloizol and others. Cover the surfaces with molten bitumen. There are penetrating materials: Hydrotex, Aquatron-6, Penetron. They are convenient because they are applied to wet concrete and reduce waiting time. A good clay castle is oily, crumpled clay.
To prevent the inspection pit in the garage from becoming covered with frost in winter, it can be insulated. To do this, the external walls on which waterproofing is applied must be covered with insulation boards - polystyrene foam 5 cm thick. If such insulation is laid in 2 layers under the blind area around the perimeter of the entire garage, the floor in the garage and the trench will be even warmer.
To avoid accidentally falling into a hole, you need to make a protective deck over it. The simplest design is thick transverse boards laid inside a edging of corners, installed using embedded elements or secured with anchor bolts. Woodworking waste - slabs laid with the convex side down - are well suited for this purpose. The inspection hole in the garage, covered by them, when viewed from below, resembles a front-line dugout.
The construction of an inspection trench resembles pouring a foundation and goes through the same stages:
Having completed the construction of a trench made of reinforced concrete or brick, it is arranged. The inside of the pit can be plastered or tiled. Such an “underground”, built with your own hands, will allow you to drive your car with complete confidence in its technical condition. After all, by connecting the lighting of the inspection pit in the garage, you can regularly assess the condition of the chassis of your car.
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TO any motorist knows how necessary it is sometimes inspection hole in the garage! It happens that there is a nonsense breakdown, it’s a piece of cake to fix, but try, you’ll get there! Or changing the oil - five minutes of work, but you have to drag yourself to the service station and pay an amount that is completely incommensurate with the work!
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It’s worth it, perhaps, to shed a little sweat, work a few weekends and get rid of such difficulties forever! Find out how to make a viewing hole here.
As for everyone, even the most simple structures, we begin the construction of our pit with markings, that is, with determining the outlines and dimensions of the future pit. This is necessary, especially since we will be constructing a pit in something that has already been built, or even in operation. Which, you see, complicates our task, if only because of the cramped working conditions.
We will mark the pit based on the fact that the soil forming the walls of the pit will have a certain slope, while the dimensions of the inspection hole must be maintained within limits that make the work convenient.
This is on the one hand. On the other hand, when parking, the driver should not break out in cold sweat for fear that the car will fail. To ensure against slipping, we will take certain steps, but more on that later.
Based on all the mentioned requirements, we determine the width of the pit “cleanly” (that is, according to the width of the working space) to be 70 cm. This is enough for convenient work, and even for the Daewoo Matiz crumb (128 cm track) there will be room for order maneuver 20 centimeters (between the pit and the wheel). And for Zhiguli cars, with their track of 132 cm, the width can be made even larger. Five to ten centimeters, but that’s not bad either.
We determine the length based on personal concepts about ease of work, as well as the size of the garage, but making it less than two meters is hardly justified.
On the floor of the garage we draw (or mark with pegs) a rectangle of our pit, then we add the thickness of the walls on all four sides and, guided by the stability of the soil, we give an approximate margin for the slope of the earthen walls. For dense loams this value is approximately 20-30 cm.
We determine the depth from the requirements of ergonomics, and in relation specifically to our loved one. It is clear that bending over or standing on tiptoes will not work much. Therefore, we calculate our hole in such a way that there is a distance of 25-30 cm from the top of the head to the bottom of the car.
With a ground clearance of about 16 cm (Zhiguli) and a worker’s height of 180 cm, the depth (again, “in the purity”) will be about 1.70 -1.80 m. Here it is better to dig a little than not to dig under your feet if necessary You can always substitute a bench, or make a raised floor at the desired height. All this is clearly shown in Fig. 1.
Now we have to imagine ourselves as a mole for a while. After all, you will need to remove about 9 cubic meters of soil, a lot, especially if you dig by hand, and the soil is strong. But let us take comfort in the fact that this is the most labor-intensive part of the work (in extreme cases, diggers can be hired).
Part of the soil must be left, stored next to the garage or inside it. This earth will be useful for filling the sinuses after the walls of our structure are completed. We take out the rest of the land. When calculating the equipment necessary for removal, it is necessary to take into account that the volume of loosened earth will be approximately 20-25% greater than the volume of the pit.
We level the earthen floor of the pit, and then compact it with crushed stone. To do this, pour crushed stone in an even layer, with a thickness equal to one and a half times the size of the largest pieces. After this, we “drive” the crushed stone into the ground using a tamper.
An inspection hole in a garage will be much more convenient for work if there are niches in the walls where you can put tools, spare parts, etc. Places for niches must be provided in advance, at the excavation stage.
For building walls, there are two most common and proven options: block masonry (brick) and monolithic concrete. Both solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. We recommend and will continue to consider monolithic concrete. The cost of materials (especially if you prepare the concrete yourself) will be cheaper. When installing embedded parts, you can perform their high-quality, durable fastening. And the structure as a whole will be more reliable.
We start by making a concrete floor over the soil compacted with crushed stone. Six to seven centimeters of thickness will be more than enough for him. We reinforce the floor with wire mesh with a mesh size of no more than 150x150 mm and a reinforcement thickness of 4-5 mm.
We will prepare concrete based on the following proportions per 1 cubic meter of concrete: 300 kg (0.28 m 3) PC cement, grade 400; 680 kg (0.47 m 3) sand, 1210 kg (0.9 m 3) crushed stone fraction 5-20 mm and 210 liters of water. When mixing by hand, you will have to add more water to make the mixture more mobile, but when using a concrete mixer, it is better to keep the proportions close to those indicated. If you add noticeably more water than normal, we will increase the amount of cement by ten to fifteen kilograms.
The concrete obtained in this way will have a compressive strength grade of 200, which is more than enough for us.
We will make the walls 15 centimeters thick, this is quite enough for our pit. The composition of concrete is slightly different than for the floor: cement 360 kg (0.33 m3), sand 670 kg (0.46 m3), crushed stone 1168 kg (0.86 m3), water is still the same 210 liters.
We will concrete the walls in layers, in tiers thirty to forty centimeters high, compacting them with bayonets, for which a narrow shovel is well suited. It is impossible to compact a thicker mass manually with high quality, unless you can get a deep vibrator somewhere (say, rent it). But even in this case, you should not make the tier more than 50 cm.
As formwork, we use OSB sheets with a thickness of 10-12 mm. Subsequently, OSB will be useful for various garage needs: making shelves or racks, lining gates for insulation, etc.
When constructing the walls of an inspection pit, reinforcement is sometimes neglected, but it is better not to skimp and still carry out this operation. As reinforcement, you can use the same mesh as for the floor. Let's install it at a distance of 3 cm or a little less from the inner plane of the wall. Installed at once over the entire height of the pit, the mesh will get in the way, so we will install it in strips as the concreting progresses.
, we immediately install wall niches. We reinforce the “ceiling” of the niches along the entire length with two or three reinforcing bars (A-III reinforcement with a diameter of 8-10 mm will be enough), so that they do not move, we fasten them together with wire.
In the last tier it would be useful to provide inclined cylindrical “glasses”, where we will subsequently install lamps. The construction of such glasses can be achieved by inserting a plastic sewer pipe cut at an angle into the formwork at an angle (see Fig. 2).
We frame the perimeter of the pit with an embedded part welded from corners with a shelf width of 60-70 mm. The “whiskers” (anchors) of the embedded part are made from reinforcement identical to that which we used when reinforcing the niches. We take the length of the anchor to be 50 cm. If, when installing the part, the anchor does not fit the height of the tier, you can bend it as needed.
The frame performs several tasks: it strengthens the corner of the wall, serves as a “clip” for laying the plank flooring, and finally, as already mentioned, it plays the role of a safety curb that prevents a car wheel from sliding into the hole (see Fig. 2).
So that our concrete does not collapse when moving the formwork, we need to let it set for two - three days. After installing the last tier, before backfilling begins, let it sit for at least a week.
We backfill with loam, in layers of 15-20 cm, carefully tamping each layer. Ideally, backfilling can be done with so-called “incompressible” soil (crushed stone, gravel). However, this is expensive, and it is not particularly necessary for a passenger car.
You can use a trick. After we do it, don’t immediately concrete the floor, but fill it with crushed stone to the desired height (if the garage has already had a floor). After a couple of weeks, when driving in and out of the garage, you will compact the soil in the sinus areas with the wheels, after which you can safely concrete the floor, it is guaranteed not to sag.
Making a viewing hole is not enough; you also need to “equip” it. To do this, we install lamps and cover the pit (flooring).
For flooring we use wide boards “forty” (40 mm thick). The boards can be knocked down into several panels, but you should not make them too large and heavy.
If a voltage of 220V is used, the wires must be hidden in a corrugated sleeve (preferably steel). We use semi-sealed, waterproof sockets and switches.
If the groundwater level is high in your area, and there is a danger that the inspection hole will be flooded, high-quality waterproofing is necessary.
We will carry out comprehensive waterproofing and use a barrier made of rolled materials as the first “line of defense”.
We lay a layer of waterproofing film (aquaizol, butyl rubber, etc.) under the concrete floor, so that the edges of the panel extend onto the walls at least 15-20 cm along the entire perimeter. When concreting the walls, we sequentially lay layers of insulation. The installation is carried out with an overlap of at least 15 cm.
If there is a danger of flooding, we make it with greasy clay, compacting it in layers of 15-20 cm.
The final protection measure will be the addition of water-repellent additives to the concrete during its preparation.
A few words about “labor safety”, more precisely, the protection of your health from this very work.
When carrying out excavation work in unstable soils, be sure to secure the walls of the pit, (ensure their slope along the line natural slope the task is obviously more labor-intensive). The fact that the soils are unstable and prone to collapse will be visible already at the beginning of excavation work.
We carry out fastening by placing boards on the walls and securing them with spacers. It is advisable to do this when the depth of the pit reaches a meter or a little more.
However, if the soil is unstable, then there is a possibility that without strengthening the walls, further work will become extremely difficult, or even stop altogether.
Carrying out work do not neglect personal protective equipment(canvas mittens, durable work boots). Working with a hammer drill, jackhammer, grinder don't be lazy to wear safety glasses Otherwise, an inspection hole in the garage can be expensive.
And finally, work with a partner. Even if your partner has red pigtails and is twelve years old! The instrument will give or bring water. You don’t need a lot of strength for this and you will get used to work! And if trouble happens, he can call for help.
Ask questions either. , photographs, we will publish them on the website. Order work from specialists! Support the project! Good luck to you, good to your home!
Many people try to do maintenance or minor car repairs themselves. To avoid lying on your back under the car, you need an inspection hole in the garage.
This is far from dogma. Everyone does as they see fit. Some find deep holes inconvenient and they make them almost exactly tall, and sometimes even lower - 1.5 meters. If you take into account the car's ground clearance, from the floor of the pit to the bottom of the car it will be about 1.7-1.8 meters. You can do it this way.
Another point about length. Sometimes it is not possible to make a long hole. Then it is made approximately half the length of the car, driving it in front or back, depending on which part of the car needs inspection or repair.
Now about where to place the pit in the garage. Usually it is shifted slightly towards one of the walls, leaving a wide side for installing equipment, storing spare parts, etc. In this case, there must be at least 1 meter from the edge of the pit to the near wall.
That's all the parameters. Just note that we were talking about the final dimensions of the pit. When marking the pit, you will need to add thickness to the walls, and dig deeper to the height of the floor screed (if you make one).
The inspection pit in the garage (its walls) is lined with bricks, heavy building blocks, made from monolithic concrete. If we talk about brick, it is better to use ceramic brick: it is not afraid of humidity. The walls are made of half a brick or brick. The wall thickness, depending on the laying method, is 12 cm or 25 cm. This must be taken into account when marking the pit.
Brick can be used on dry, dense soils. The groundwater level must be low. If the water comes high, better than walls pits should be made of reinforced concrete.
Building blocks also need to be selected those that are not afraid of high humidity. This concrete blocks. The rest, if used, must require external waterproofing, and this is not a guarantee that they will not crumble, especially if groundwater is located close.
With a concrete inspection hole, everything is simpler: concrete is not afraid of moisture, it only makes it stronger. To fill the walls, concrete grade M 250 is used; for the floor, M 200 is sufficient. Why is this so? Because during winter heaving the main load falls on the walls. To prevent them from “collapsing”, a margin of safety is required, which is achieved by reinforcement and the use of high-strength concrete. By the way, to avoid heaving of the soil under the garage, you need to make a good blind area so that the water leaves and does not soak into the soil.
The wall thickness when filling the inspection hole with concrete is from 15 cm. 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 from reinforcement with a diameter of 10-12 mm. The reinforcement installation step is 20 cm. For greater strength, you can make a single rod for the bottom and walls, bending it accordingly.
An inspection pit in a 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 in the place where the garage is being built the groundwater is deep, lower than 2.5 meters, and even in the spring or after heavy rains it does not rise higher, you can do without waterproofing. On the other hand, the hydrological situation is constantly changing, and where it was previously dry, water may appear. If the inspection hole in the garage has already been built, external waterproofing cannot be done. All that remains is to use deep penetration impregnations to reduce the hygroscopicity of the walls. Therefore, if possible, do external insulation in any case.
How to prevent moisture from entering the inspection hole in the garage? Most often used waterproofing films or membranes (butyl rubber, aquaizol, etc.). They are laid in sheets, covering the pit from one edge to the other, with 10-15 cm released from each side of the pit onto the garage floor. The panels are laid overlapping. They must overlap by at least 15 cm. To obtain a more airtight joint, they are glued together with double-sided tape, possibly in two stripes - at the beginning and 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 coating waterproofing. If possible, use a composition for swimming pools. It creates a waterproof, dense film that closely resembles rubber. It is blue in color and washes well after hardening. It is better to treat the walls with this composition twice, or more.
Another option is primer deep penetration based on cement. 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 a garage pit, at least twice the treatment is required (and preferably more).
There is another option to escape from the ground - to make a metal caisson. A box of appropriate dimensions is made from sheet metal, treated with anti-corrosion compounds, and then installed in a pit. If the welds are made airtight, there will be no water, but another problem may arise. If there is a large amount of water, it 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 the volume of excavation work is not very large (the foundation pit, taking into account these spacers, turns out to be large), you can cheat. Before installing the caisson, drive corners or metal rods into the ground, letting their ends out. You can weld them to the caisson body after installation. The pit will still have to be made larger (you need to cook it from the outside), but its dimensions will still be smaller. The second advantage of this method is that the rods will be driven into dense soil, which means they will hold the caisson better.
Another way to prevent the caisson from “floating up” is to make a hole in the wall at a certain height. If the water rises to its level, it will begin to pour inside. The water can subsequently be pumped out, the main thing is that everything remains in place. An inspection hole in the garage, built according to this principle, stood for more than 20 years - until the metal rusted.
If the pit has already been built, and coating waterproofing or impregnation did not give the required result, it is necessary to either install a drainage system around the garage or collect water in one place. To do 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. In order for the system to operate in automatic mode, a water presence sensor is installed, which, when triggered, turns on the pump.
Formwork is made under the pit and filled with concrete. Then they waterproof the pit along with waterproofing the entire pit. For reliability, you can also put a metal caisson inside.
Since it is not possible to completely get rid of dampness in this case, a boardwalk is knocked down onto the floor of the pit. To prevent the boards from rotting, they can be soaked in waste. 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 everything up 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, and fungi and bacteria do not multiply on it.
The thickness of the EPS to create a noticeable effect is from 50 mm. Place it between the soil and the wall of the pit. Then from the outside to the inside the pit will look like this:
Expanded polystyrene can also be placed under the screed at the bottom of the inspection hole. A reinforcing mesh is usually laid on top of it, and then concrete is poured.
Once you have decided on the dimensions and what material you will make the walls from and how thick they will be, you can begin marking the pit. This can be done using pegs driven around the perimeter. The second option is to stretch a twine/rope between the stakes driven into the corners. According to the markings, we begin to dig a pit. The earth is usually taken out and temporarily stored near the gate.
While excavating, monitor soil moisture. If you have reached the design depth (required + thickness of the floor screed), but there is still no moisture, you can do without waterproofing. Those who do not want to take risks can be advised to immediately lay down the film.
We level the walls. There is no need to achieve ideal geometry, but there should be no noticeable humps or holes. We also level the bottom of the pit and tamp it, compacting the soil well. A hand tamper is usually used. A layer of crushed stone is poured onto the bottom (twice 5 cm each), each layer is also carefully compacted. Next comes a layer of sand. 5 cm is enough. The sand is moistened and compacted to a high density so that the foot does not leave imprints. Next we lay the waterproofing film.
We even it out well, tucking it into the corners. We lay the panels with an overlap of 15 cm, which we glue with double-sided tape. To prevent the edges from rolling, we press with available materials - boards, stones.
We lay a layer of insulation on the bottom, and a reinforcing mesh of wire on it. We fill all this with concrete grade M 200. The layer thickness 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 cement, 3 parts sand, 5 parts medium and fine crushed stone.
An inspection hole is being built in the garage: the floor is filled with concrete
We wait several days until the concrete gains 50% strength. The exact period depends on the temperature. If it is around +20°C, you will have to wait 5-6 days. If +17°C is already two weeks.
Let's start laying out the walls. It was decided to make it in half a brick. We used used bricks, about 850 pieces were used (pit size 4.2 * 0.8 * 1.7 m). The walls were laid out in a circle up to the level of the elbow.
It was decided to make a niche for the tool at a level of 1.2 meters from the floor. Its height is 3 rows of bricks, the top is covered with a treated board.
To avoid having to lay out a brick niche, a metal liner is inserted. A box is welded to suit the size.
Next, the walls were driven almost level with the garage floor. Part of the walls was replaced with two sections of channels. If necessary, jacks rest on the bottom. A metal corner with a 50 mm shelf, steel thickness 5 mm, is placed on the top row.
The corner is unfolded 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, embeds are welded to this corner, which are then connected to the concrete reinforcing belt.
Pouring the floor in the garage - concrete level along the upper edge of the corner
When casting concrete walls, it is necessary to make formwork. It is easier to make it from sheet material - construction moisture-resistant plywood with a thickness of 16 mm or more, OSB. Shields of the required size are knocked down and reinforced with bars on the outside. They are necessary to prevent plywood or OSB from bending under the pressure of concrete. First, the outer parts of the formwork are installed. If the walls of the pit are smooth, there will be no problems. You simply lean them against them and place them level.
Then the internal formwork panels are installed. There should be a distance of at least 15 cm between them. To prevent the walls from deforming during the pouring process, spacers are placed between them.
It is advisable to fill the filling at one time. The poured portions must be bayoneted or treated with a submersible vibrator for concrete. The formwork is removed after two to three days. Afterwards, you can install a corner with welded embedded rods (strips) and begin pouring the floor.
The garage is the creative workshop of real men. Most representatives of the stronger sex have a car that needs to be looked after and repaired on time. In order to avoid carrying out repair work under a car while lying on your back, everyone can independently equip their garage with a so-called inspection pit. How to make this device correctly and what you need for this we will consider in more detail in our article.
Having your own inspection pit is a big plus for car enthusiasts. Without extra costs and at any time of the day there is an opportunity to spend minor repairs or preventive maintenance of your car without leaving home. Of course, it is correct to plan the construction of an inspection pit before constructing the garage itself, but often they are created on the basis of a finished building. Before starting construction activities, it is necessary, based on measurements, to make a project for the future garage fixture. Professionals in this field give many answers to the question: how to mark an inspection hole in the garage? The dimensions of the inspection pit should ideally correspond to certain parameters. You can rely on the dimensions of your specific car if the structure is intended purely for the repair of one car. But it’s still worth thinking about the fact that over time you can change your car, and it will be of completely different dimensions, but the garage will remain the same. Therefore, it is recommended to add a margin of about 1 meter to the dimensions of the car, this will allow workplace even more convenient.
The length of the inspection hole is most often 4-5 meters, plus a margin. These dimensions allow you to have enough space to carry out repair work.
The width of the structure varies depending on the distance between the wheels of the machine. For passenger models, the standard is approximately 80 cm.
The depth of the hole is usually determined according to the height of the owner. But this does not mean that it should be very deep or vice versa. It’s better to find a middle ground, based on the previous dimensions. Determining the dimensions of the inspection hole involves the further production of a drawing, which in the process is implemented by the stage of digging a pit.
One of the most voluminous and effort-requiring stages is the excavation stage when making an inspection hole in a garage with your own hands. To dig a standard size hole you need to excavate about 10 cubic meters of soil. Typically, the markings of the future structure are marked using pegs. The excavated bottom is checked building level, which allows you to determine whether the surface of the earth is evenly excavated. A correctly dug pit, in compliance with all dimensions, is considered the key to the future functionality, reliability and convenience of the inspection pit design in your garage.
Before you start working on the floor and walls of the garage pit, you should check all the measurements again. It is recommended that top part the pit was slightly wider than below.
Most often, the floor of the inspection pit is filled with concrete. This process must be carried out in two stages: first fill half, then another. Pre-under concrete pouring the floor is prepared in this way: 5 - 6 cm of sand is poured onto the ground, which is compacted by hand.
When concreting the floor, reinforcement or fine mesh is used, which ensure concrete pavement durability and reliability.
Features of making the walls of an inspection pit with your own hands depend on the chosen material for the work. For the construction of walls, one of two common materials is usually chosen: brick or monolithic concrete.
To build a pit for a garage, you need to prepare the following tools and materials:
1. Saw, bayonet shovel, level, wire cutters, square, hammer, bolt cutter, etc.
2. Nails, concrete, lumber for formwork, reinforcing mesh, gravel, etc.
We dig a hole according to size, as described above, and fill the concrete floor. After the concrete has completely dried, the stage of work on the formwork begins. You need to think in advance about shelves for tools and available materials. Formwork is usually assembled from boards or other wood materials. When the formwork structure is completely assembled, it is cemented with a layer of approximately 40 cm. It is recommended to add metal mesh into each layer.
When everything is done with the walls Finishing work, then a mounting frame is placed on top, the main function of which is considered to be to insure the wheel from falling into the hole.
The peculiarity of a concrete inspection pit lies in the correct implementation of the stages of work with the solution itself, on which the strength and durability of the structure depends.
Remember, in order to avoid unpleasant inconsistencies and hassles, you need to prepare in advance the design of your inspection pit for the garage.
Similar to the first option, the first process of constructing a brick garage pit is pouring the floor. When the floor is ready, you can start working directly on the walls themselves. The features of a brick inspection pit include the following points of work.
When planning, it is worth choosing in advance the location of niches for tools, etc. It is better that such recesses are located on the sides of the building. When laying out the walls, you can choose the thickness - whole or ½ brick. When preparing a solution, beginners are advised to add liquid soap, as it prolongs the hardening time, which is very beneficial for the work of inexperienced builders.
When laying bricks, it is important that everything is neat and level. To do this, use a stretched cord to check verticality.
As practice shows, the top rows of bricks are susceptible to rapid destruction. Therefore, they need to be protected with metal corners.
Having an inspection hole in the garage is, of course, very convenient and so on, but it is also very dangerous for the equipment itself. If you miss such an important point as the waterproofing of this structure, then the room will be humid and damp, and this is a direct road to corrosion and other negative aspects.
The issues of waterproofing and insulating an inspection pit in a garage with your own hands are considered quite controversial even among professional craftsmen. And the whole point is that to create waterproofing they use different types materials:
Waterproofing work can be divided into primary and secondary.
The primary stage includes the following processes:
1. The first layer of concrete should be covered with gravel approximately 15 cm deep.
3. The initial protection of the walls, before the waterproofing coating, requires surface treatment with rich clay.
Secondary waterproofing, which is also the main one, consists of using materials suitable for deepening.
The first type is bituminous materials. They are usually produced by manufacturers in specially formed rolls. The use of bitumen requires additional use the right brand solvents. Bituminous materials such as roofing felt, euroroofing felt, rubemast are considered popular.
The second is polymer membranes. The service life of this type is almost unlimited. Waterproofing membranes There are single-layer and multi-layer. They are very resistant to physical and chemical influences. One important point is that the material is quite expensive.
Penetrating materials are renowned for their maximum resistance to moisture penetration. Special lubricants must be applied to a damp surface. Due to their properties, they penetrate deeply and are firmly sealed.
Liquid rubber is considered a frequently used material for waterproofing. It is very convenient to use and can be used under different temperature conditions. In addition, this is a very profitable product: only 2 mm of liquid rubber almost completely compensates for four layers of bitumen materials.
Work on waterproofing the inspection pit must be carried out in several steps. It is worth considering that each layer of materials used for waterproofing, one way or another, is taken away from your garage structure albeit minimal, but space. Therefore, it is very important to make the dimensions of the dug hole with a reserve, taking into account all the processes. Installation of waterproofing directly depends on the selected materials.
As for the insulation of the inspection pit, many say that the best option This is a heated garage. But if this is not an option and you need to choose some kind of material, then it is best to take polystyrene foam.
If in garage room Since there is an inspection hole available, it is very important that it is closed during non-working hours. To do this, the owner needs to take care of additional equipment in the inspection hole. The roof of the inspection pit, even if there is waterproofing in the recess, still protects the car from possible high humidity.
A controversial issue regarding the equipment of the inspection pit is lighting. Some car enthusiasts say that this is a necessity, others believe that simply carrying a light bulb is enough. Remember, 220 V voltage when used in a viewing hole poses a threat to life. For such rooms, special lamps are used.
The presence of an inspection hole automatically makes the car owner's garage multifunctional and convenient.
For detailed information on designing and constructing a viewing hole with your own hands, we suggest watching the video:
Experienced car enthusiasts who repair their cars themselves know how necessary it is to have own garage inspection hole. This simple recess in the floor allows you to inspect and, if necessary, repair the lower part of the car, exhaust pipe, muffler, gearbox, engine and other hard-to-reach places. If there is a hole, you don’t need to pay for a simple oil change procedure at a car service center.
However, the existence of such a structure in the garage inevitably leads to increased humidity. Therefore, if the size of the room allows, it is recommended to do it away from the place where the car usually stands. Otherwise, water vapor accumulating above the pit will condense on the bottom of the car and lead to rapid corrosion.
It is ideal when you think about building a viewing hole before building a garage. But you can equip it in an existing garage, although you will have to face a number of restrictions. Doing this work with your own hands is not so difficult, the main thing is to know how! When performing work, it is advisable to study building regulations and strictly follow construction technologies. Then the results of the work will please the owner for many years and sad consequences will be avoided.
Work on arranging an inspection pit for a garage begins with its design and calculation of dimensions. It makes sense to record the results of this work on paper in the form of a garage plan and a pit drawing. You need to think carefully about where it will be located and how the car will enter the garage. The required dimensions of the inspection pit depend on the width and length of the car, the size of the garage, and the height of the owner. It is important to make the calculations correctly, otherwise mistakes made will cost too much later.
The standard width is 75–80 cm. If a pit is needed simultaneously for a car and a truck, then the final width is averaged, despite the fact that passenger car it will be more difficult to enter;
Dimensions of inspection hole 
The photo shows a drawing of the inspection pit 
In the garage, a pit is necessary for inspecting the car. 
Section of the pit showing its structure
To the obtained dimensions, the necessary allowances on each side should be added for subsequent finishing, waterproofing and insulation work. The dimensions of the allowances for brick walls are 12 cm, for concrete - 20 cm on each side. The allowance for the floor is 20 cm. If waterproofing or insulation of the pit is intended, the allowances must be increased.
If the groundwater level is above 2.5 m, the pit will be flooded It is imperative to find out how deep the groundwater is in the soil. This information is included in the pre-building survey report for the garage. The level of groundwater in the area where the garage is located plays a very important role. If it is higher than 2.5 m, then you cannot make an inspection hole in an already built garage, because it will be flooded. In the garage under construction, it will be necessary to make a drainage system that drains excess water into the sewer system. If the groundwater is deeper, there are no contraindications for construction.
In the niches you can place the tools necessary for repairs It is convenient when small niches are made in the walls of the inspection pit. The tools needed to repair a car are usually located there. Places for niches and their sizes should be thought out in advance and drawn on the plan. The depth of the niches is usually 15–20 cm, the length and width are determined at the discretion of the owner.
After the work “on paper” comes the turn of work “on the ground”. The stages of construction of the inspection pit are as follows:
Loose soil occupies 20–25% more space, so this must be taken into account when exporting it.
Part of the earth must be left to fill the sinuses. Inside the excavated pit, the resulting walls and floor must be leveled with a hand tamper as thoroughly as possible. After the surfaces are ready, the bottom is covered with a 10 cm thick layer of gravel and compacted well. 5 cm of sand is poured on top, then compacted again. If the soil is wet, then 5 cm of clay is poured for waterproofing and covered with the same layer of gravel. The surface is covered with polyethylene film, after which it is reinforced with metal mesh;
The space between the formwork and the edges of the pit is filled with mortar. A metal corner is placed in the last layer of concrete, protruding 10 cm above the surface. Such edging is needed so that when entering the garage, you can see where the pit is. Subsequently, boards are laid on it to cover the inspection pit.
The formwork is removed 2 weeks after pouring the walls, after which the concrete is allowed to harden for another month. This is the only way to guarantee the strength of the walls. When the concrete has hardened, they proceed to backfilling the soil, and then to the interior finishing of the inspection pit. The sinuses are backfilled with clay or loam, which protect the pit well from water penetration. Pour 15–20 cm layer by layer and compact well. Instead of clay, you can use the original soil, but it must be compacted especially carefully. Recently, they have been used for finishing walls and floors. ceramic tiles. Another option is to plaster the walls with white gypsum plaster.
The excavation preparation procedure described above is applicable when the garage is located in an area with fairly dry soil. If the soil is wet, then there is a risk of flooding and constant dampness inside the pit. In such a situation, additional waterproofing measures for the bottom of the structure are needed.
To do this, before pouring concrete, layers of special materials are laid on the floor to prevent moisture penetration. The edges of the piece of material should extend 15–20 cm onto the walls along the edges.
Most often used:
For additional protection from moisture, the concrete solution is prepared using special additives.
In order not to freeze when repairing a car in winter, it is better to insulate the inspection hole. This way you can further save on the electricity spent on heating the garage. Insulation should be provided at the stage of determining the dimensions of the pit. Among modern insulation materials, polystyrene foam is considered the best. It has the following properties:
In order to make it comfortable to work inside the inspection pit, you need to perform a number of additional works:
Adequate lighting is required to inspect the vehicle. 
When carrying out work on arranging an inspection pit for a garage, we must not forget about our own safety measures:
These rules will help you cope with your work without compromising your health.
Watch a video about building a viewing hole in your garage with your own hands.
Reading time ≈ 4 minutes
The presence of an inspection hole in the garage provides the opportunity to carry out independent repairs of your own car. It can be done with minimal knowledge in the field of construction and the availability of detailed instructions. Using step-by-step master class, it will not be difficult to carefully and efficiently prepare and build the pit yourself, regardless of the size and layout of the garage.
The finished inspection pit should be both safe and convenient to use. Therefore, before starting work, it is recommended to study geological survey data on the condition of the soil and the location of groundwater under the garage. This will allow you to determine the optimal depth of the hole. If the groundwater is quite deep, then the recommended height from the floor to the “ceiling” may be about 2 m or less (owner’s height + 20-30 cm). The dimensions can be found in the drawing.
An inspection hole is made in the garage with your own hands after drawing up a project plan for the facility. Its width is determined according to the wheelbase of the car: it should be smaller, ensuring the possibility of safe entry of the car. The length should be at least 1 meter longer than the length of the car: this will allow you to work comfortably in the pit.
The installation of an inspection pit allows the presence of small niches. They can be used to store parts and conveniently arrange tools. They should not be made too deep. It is recommended to determine the dimensions of the niches according to the available quantity of auto tools and spare parts.
After digging a pit with predetermined dimensions, you should begin strengthening the walls, protecting them and then laying bricks. The use of brick is optimal due to the ease of working with it and ease of purchase. You can find out how to build a viewing hole in a garage from the most affordable building materials in the following instructions:
1. First, you need to make the floor of the inspection hole in the garage: level the bottom of the pit, lay down roofing material (with an overlap of about 0.5 m on the walls for each of them). Concreting is carried out with the M-200 grade, the thickness of the floor should be about 10 cm. The length and width of the floor should include the sum of the thickness of the two walls, the length/width of the pit itself and an increase of 10 cm. After pouring, leave the concrete to harden for 4 days.
2. The construction of the walls begins with the laying of 4 rows and subsequent waterproofing of the inspection pit from the outside using bitumen mastic. This will prevent the destruction of the walls due to exposure to moisture from the earth cover adjacent to the brick. After laying out the walls, you need to fill in the remaining gap from the ground to the brick.
3. The final stage of work will be the installation of a metal frame around the entrance to the pit. It should protrude slightly above the floor level of the garage box.
The frames of the niches should also be made of metal corners. This will prevent the bricks from subsiding or breaking.
High-quality ventilation in the inspection pit of the garage will prevent the appearance of mold and the gradual destruction of the walls. It can be made exclusively exhaust or supply and exhaust. In the first case, when laying out the last rows of bricks, it is necessary to install a pipe that will allow air to be removed from the pit through the garage box upwards (it will approach ventilation pipe garage or go directly outside). In the second case, an additional pipe is installed, which is diverted outside. Its end should be located at a distance of 15 cm from the floor.
You can make a convenient ladder for the inspection hole from wood and metal corners. For a small block, a repositionable ladder will be much more convenient. In the attached photos you can also see examples of pits in which the steps were laid out of brick or concreted.
In the process of laying niches, you need to connect a 36V wire in an insulating rubber hose. This will allow you to connect the light in the pit and conveniently illuminate the car during repairs. When performing these stages of work, it is advisable to invite a qualified electrician who will help to correctly determine the optimal location of the wire and ensure its protection, and will ensure its correct connection to the power supply. When doing the work yourself, you should study the auxiliary video lessons on creating proper lighting in the inspection hole.
