Your Narowest driveway / garage
Discussion
Brigand said:
Eighteeteewhy said:
http://www.influx.co.uk/wordpress/blog/pimp-your-g...
Brigand said:
Eighteeteewhy said:
http://www.influx.co.uk/wordpress/blog/pimp-your-g...
What a stupid idea they are, just attracting tea leaves IMO.
When they were first married my parents lived in a first floor flat in a converted house.
My father once claimed to have ridden his motorbike upstairs to service in the living room when it was too cold and wet to work outside.
I asked mum about it and she said that she remembered it because there had been a bend in the stairs it wouldn’t go around. So dad had wheel spun it on the stair carpet so the back wheel stepped out and up the wallpaper, sliding it around the wall and damaging the wallpaper. The landlord had charged them for the damage.
Dad used to ride trials, race in what was then called Scrambling (now motocross) and Speedway at various times. Having seen him going over rocks I can well believe mum.
My father once claimed to have ridden his motorbike upstairs to service in the living room when it was too cold and wet to work outside.
I asked mum about it and she said that she remembered it because there had been a bend in the stairs it wouldn’t go around. So dad had wheel spun it on the stair carpet so the back wheel stepped out and up the wallpaper, sliding it around the wall and damaging the wallpaper. The landlord had charged them for the damage.
Dad used to ride trials, race in what was then called Scrambling (now motocross) and Speedway at various times. Having seen him going over rocks I can well believe mum.
Negative Creep said:
LukeSi said:
Negative Creep said:
Our work car park has this turning, which can only be described as evil. The remains of many a paintjob can clearly be seen
Handbrake turn surely?Off topic, but this was parke next to me the other day. God knows how he got it out again....
More likely lots of small turns.
I don't struggle with a narrow driveway myself, but I can think of some flats down on Newcastle's quayside that do (they might be called Mariner's Wharf). There must be about 200 flats there with loads of individual garage units on the ground floor. Except the architects famously didn't bother to measure a proper garage and as a result they are all too small to actually drive a car in, resulting in the street outside being flooded with cars. For references, there is an E46 M3 I see parked there every time I am on nightshift, it gets parked facing the garage door and the outer frames of the door are roughly 5" wide of the car on either side. If you folded the mirrors you could drive the car into the garage but you'd never be able to get out of it!
I have a fairly sized garage - nothing stupid like that shoebox with an Exige in it, and there is still a knack required to park my Civic Type R in it. For a start, there is a steep ramp downhill into the garage that grounds the front splitter out, so I have to reverse in, and once inside I have to angle the car towards one of the corners or I can't open either door enough to actually get out, and it's still a squeeze with the car on an angle. Some of my neighbours have lived in these houses since they were built some 50 years ago when they would have been a very generously sized garage, and many can recall getting a family car and a few pushbikes in them, with space for garden and work tools. No such chance with modern cars, unless you own a Citroen C1 or something!
Uncle Fester said:
An old trick is to hang lengths of rope from the ceiling almost to the floor. These mark the furthest you want to go in that direction.
For example you hang a length an inch from the back wall and drive slowly in. When the car touches the rope it twitches and you stop parked an inch from the wall. Other ropes to the side keep you from touching the side walls. Hanging little bells like a budgerigar wears on the rope helps in the dark, but if you have a properly loud car is useless.
Down a side access you might need to construct an archway to hang the ropes from.
I suppose a modern alternative would be to site small laser lights on the ground to mark the limits you mustn’t pass. The laser would shine straight up until the car went over them and cut the beam.
Again driving into the garage, the laser dot is on the ceiling and you can see the beam. When the car is too close the dot and beam disappear.
The trick is to keep an eye on several ropes or beams simultaneously. I suppose that with a laser it would be easy to rig a light sensor on the roof aligned with the beam. When the car cuts the beam it sounds an audible alarm.
No need for all that nonsense! Our garage is big (just under double size but only one door) but there isnt much room for the car For example you hang a length an inch from the back wall and drive slowly in. When the car touches the rope it twitches and you stop parked an inch from the wall. Other ropes to the side keep you from touching the side walls. Hanging little bells like a budgerigar wears on the rope helps in the dark, but if you have a properly loud car is useless.
Down a side access you might need to construct an archway to hang the ropes from.
I suppose a modern alternative would be to site small laser lights on the ground to mark the limits you mustn’t pass. The laser would shine straight up until the car went over them and cut the beam.
Again driving into the garage, the laser dot is on the ceiling and you can see the beam. When the car is too close the dot and beam disappear.
The trick is to keep an eye on several ropes or beams simultaneously. I suppose that with a laser it would be easy to rig a light sensor on the roof aligned with the beam. When the car cuts the beam it sounds an audible alarm.
Ive got a bit of 2x2 wood stuck to the floor with no nails for the front left wheel, soon as I touch that I know its time to stop, then the front of the car is 2" from the shelving and about 12" behind it
djdestiny said:
No need for all that nonsense! Our garage is big (just under double size but only one door) but there isnt much room for the car
Ive got a bit of 2x2 wood stuck to the floor with no nails for the front left wheel, soon as I touch that I know its time to stop, then the front of the car is 2" from the shelving and about 12" behind it
Your garage looks like it has zero gravity .... Ive got a bit of 2x2 wood stuck to the floor with no nails for the front left wheel, soon as I touch that I know its time to stop, then the front of the car is 2" from the shelving and about 12" behind it
I see what you mean about having 2x2 stuck to the floor so you know when to stop , but the issue is driving down a narrow driveway - its very easy for the angle of the car to go off, hence you almost end up wedging yourself.
If its just two posts to get through like the traffic calming things I reckon you could do it within a few cm, but driving down a coridoor is tricky !
djdestiny said:
Uncle Fester said:
An old trick is to hang lengths of rope from the ceiling almost to the floor. These mark the furthest you want to go in that direction.
For example you hang a length an inch from the back wall and drive slowly in. When the car touches the rope it twitches and you stop parked an inch from the wall. Other ropes to the side keep you from touching the side walls. Hanging little bells like a budgerigar wears on the rope helps in the dark, but if you have a properly loud car is useless.
Down a side access you might need to construct an archway to hang the ropes from.
I suppose a modern alternative would be to site small laser lights on the ground to mark the limits you mustn’t pass. The laser would shine straight up until the car went over them and cut the beam.
Again driving into the garage, the laser dot is on the ceiling and you can see the beam. When the car is too close the dot and beam disappear.
The trick is to keep an eye on several ropes or beams simultaneously. I suppose that with a laser it would be easy to rig a light sensor on the roof aligned with the beam. When the car cuts the beam it sounds an audible alarm.
No need for all that nonsense! Our garage is big (just under double size but only one door) but there isnt much room for the car For example you hang a length an inch from the back wall and drive slowly in. When the car touches the rope it twitches and you stop parked an inch from the wall. Other ropes to the side keep you from touching the side walls. Hanging little bells like a budgerigar wears on the rope helps in the dark, but if you have a properly loud car is useless.
Down a side access you might need to construct an archway to hang the ropes from.
I suppose a modern alternative would be to site small laser lights on the ground to mark the limits you mustn’t pass. The laser would shine straight up until the car went over them and cut the beam.
Again driving into the garage, the laser dot is on the ceiling and you can see the beam. When the car is too close the dot and beam disappear.
The trick is to keep an eye on several ropes or beams simultaneously. I suppose that with a laser it would be easy to rig a light sensor on the roof aligned with the beam. When the car cuts the beam it sounds an audible alarm.
Ive got a bit of 2x2 wood stuck to the floor with no nails for the front left wheel, soon as I touch that I know its time to stop, then the front of the car is 2" from the shelving and about 12" behind it
dave_s13 said:
'kin ell man! You need to use that audi for a few tip runs. You'll have enough space there for at least 2 motorbikes.
Thats nothing!When my gf inherited the house we moved in with it fully furnished, which meant our house was put in the garage!
Literally stacked floor to roof, front to back! You couldnt even walk in the door when it was opened
So to get it to this state and fit the car in is quite a feat
I've done the "strip of 2x2 screwed to the floor" to set the length I have in the garage. As the garage is semi-integral, halfway in it loses 4.5" where the cavity wall starts. I have to reverse the car in until the front wheels are over the small step, when I can still get out, then get out and push it until it hits the 2x2. Another bit under the front wheel, and the garage door will close!
Luckily the car in the garage isn't the daily.
Luckily the car in the garage isn't the daily.
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