On the ground floor, there is a garage with an inspection pit. It is to be renovated into a bedroom. Below the inspection pit is a storage room in the basement. How do I close the inspection pit so that we can lay flooring etc. on top?
Seen from below, from the storage room:
Here you can see the hatch that currently protects the hole:
Seen from above, from the garage and the future bedroom:
It should be easier to build a wooden framework. Attach joist hangers to the concrete slab with expanders or other strong fasteners, then lay wooden joists and suitable sheet material on them. You could also insulate and install a ceiling from underneath.
Your thoughts on making something of this space were, of course, exciting.. That's the kind of thing that gets you going...
I've made two floor plans of the garage as it is today and how we envision the bedroom.
On the sides to the left, down, and right, the inspection pit is covered by the bed. So there is definitely an opportunity to do something there.
My idea is to seal the inspection pit in line with the basement ceiling. Since the inspection pit is 24 cm deep, you could then create a hidden hatch there with maybe 15 cm of storage space. Could be useful for valuables, passports, etc.
Does that sound reasonable? Ideas on how to make it from the bedroom so that it becomes part of the floor and really becomes a hidden hatch?
Of course, you can fill the hole with concrete, but you would still need reinforcement anchored into the existing concrete. I wouldn't do it myself without having a structural engineer look at it. However, if you know how to do it, it's not that hard to do yourself. But sealing it with a wood framework is certainly much easier and cheaper, and if the bed is over the hatch, it's not like you can hear that the hatch is there if you walk over it (because you won't, after all).
A mini-fritzl basement like this must increase the value of the house by a couple of 100,000 SEK if the opening can be concealed. I would have built a wooden structure with a hatch and ladder there.
