mechanics pit in the garage?

[travis_gillard]

is this illegal? i know we are in the by-law capital of the world so my guess is yes, i have one in my residential garage im renting and ive been told that its a fire hazard of some kind

[dj_rice]

Yes illegal, you don't have a business licence and or proper removal of fluids or something like that

[epp01]

It's illegal because unless you have proper ventilation all the exhaust gases and shit will always lay in the lowest place making it like a death trap lol.

[2EFNFAST]

Originally posted by epp01
It's illegal because unless you have proper ventilation all the exhaust gases and shit will always lay in the lowest place making it like a death trap lol.

^

That - I can't believe somebody would actually put a pit into a residential garage.....

[Rat Fink]

.

[C_Dave45]

Can someone find a source as to the illegality of a pit? Rather than just opinion.

[bbcustoms]

It's actually not a bylaw issue it is an Alberta building code issue.
If the pit is older and was installed with the original building permit than it is perfectly legal. If it was done after the fact with no permit than it is illegal. Pits are still legal but there are quite a few codes that have to be followed. I'm not 100% on the new requirements but i think you have to have a full egress to stairs, not just a ladder. If it was built prior to these codes under a building permit than it is perfectly fine.
You should be able to get the info from the City of Calgary development and planning office.

[Offroad]

Also before alot of you were born there was a serious incident with a man with a gun in a garage pit in a stand off with police. It ended with him dead after they brought in a tank and parked it on him. After that pits were banned in this city. :rolleyes:

[Offroad]

Originally posted by Speedy
My dad used to tell me a story of when he was in high school in the SW near Westbrook mall (many years ago) a a guy with a shit load of guns and ammo barricaded himself in his garage, he had a pit like you see in those oil change places for working on your change so he was below ground. This was way before SWAT and the police moved in and I think 3 were killed and bunch were wounded but they ended up bringing up tank from the military base to bulldoze into the garage and eventually shot him.

Supposedly 2 medics also drove their ambulance in between the line of fire took rounds and pulled a cop out. its partly why cops and medics get along so well in this city.

[AndyL]

There's still more than a few of them out there...

I found myself hanging over the precipice of one recently - no idea why the guy had it - the F355 parked on the other side of the garage tells me there's about a 99.999% probability the guy doesn't do his own oil changes :) And this wasn't in an old neighbourhood.

[travis_gillard]

ah yea i never really thought about propane, thats a good thing to keep in mind haha thanks for the info