Garage service pits

["Jon Inge" <joninge@domain.elided>]

Not sure how the building codes vary from area to area, but I put a pit into
my new garage a couple of years ago (in Snohomish Co, WA) with no permit
problems.  They wouldn't let me install lighting unless I used sealed,
explosion-proof equipment, but using a couple of fluorescent tubes on 2x4s
to slide under the car as needed does the trick.  Someone wondered if
swimming pool lights might have worked, but construction was too far along
by then.

The other issue I had was the grate covering the 10ftx3ft hole; the
architect specified cast iron but neglected to also specify the 2-ton hoist
I'd have needed to lift the thing.  We  settled on a fiberglass grate (which
I cut into four even more manageable sections) which the Permit People let
through on a faithful promise that I wouldn't ever drive the car over it.
Which (so far) I've managed to keep.

And oh the joy, the rapture, the ease of changing oil or replacing exhaust
systems while standing up...  Thoroughly recommended if you can work it.
Open to NWARC members on an as-available basis.

Jon Inge
86 Spider Veloce
Edmonds WA

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