Backyard Pit

[osjb44]

Does anyone know (in general) the things I would need to put a pit in my backyard? I know I have enough space, and money isn't much of a problem (i would rather have a pit in my backyard for my 16nth birthday than a new car), as long as it's below $10,000

[Russ]

I have a roll-out runway. I put my pit on a bed of used automobile tires to help with drainage. I put moth balls in the tires to keep away mice. It probably would help to get extra homeowners insurance to help in the liability.

[FreightTrain]

I've had a backyard set-up for the past almost 3 years (since my jr year in h.s.) Since I'm away at college now I don't get to use it so much. While in high school I used it about 2 -3 times a week during the off-season and again on breaks. It was great. Most Sundays we'd have 3-5 area kids over to use it, too.

It didn't cost anywhere's near $10,000. The pit was a no-longer-regulation pit that had been poorly stored at a high school and for $1,000 I got it. Had to pick it up myself. And we spent another $500 repairing tears. I've seen even better deals since on this site but location is always a big deal. I got 3 sets of standards that another h.s. was throwing away. Again I had to pick them up. Funny, but one set was better than the set my school had.

The tough part was preparing the site. Our backyard has a slight swale to it. So a couple of loads of road "base" was trucked in and because my parents wouldn't let the trucks drive over the sprinkler system we had to move it all by wheel barrow after they dumped it. Some coaches might think that was good exercise, but it was a real b---buster. We put a road fabric down to keep weeds from growing up and layered chicken wire to keep the ever present gophers from tunneling under the runway. The runway is slightly over 100 feet and inspite of our best efforts, it has an ever so slight downhill run to it. We bought a 100 ' composite roll out runway (about $700 including shipping). The vault box cost about $100 and is set in concrete. The pit is on used pallets (about 25 of those) and topped with that masonite board with hundreds of holes (I can't remember the name for it, but the idea is to let mositure fall through) We staked the standards into the ground with foot long nail spikes. We keep the whole thing outside year around covered with several plastic tarps.

The set up has worked well. The problems we've had is not initially paying attention to the tell tale signs of rodents. In six month's time they had chewed through "hidden" parts of the skin and made nests inside the pit. After initally paying a lot of money and going to alot of trouble to repair all of the old rips now we have 6-8 holes. Now we keep rat poison all around the pit out of the way and not where kids can get to it but we haven't had anymore trouble. We also had a few rabbits take up residence under the pit. Rain and use cause the runway to get uneven so about twice a year we have to roll back the runway and make reapirs. The tarps only last a year and they are fairly expensive $50-70 each (it takes two to fully cover the pit)

All things considered its been great, but I'd consider doing some things differently. The raised wood runways probably would be better for several reasons (the work of initially getting the land level, the ongoing maintenace and I love the Reno runways). I'd recommend buying the canvas-type tarps up front.

Finally, take a look at a post under "The Masters" forum of this site and look at the one marked "Backyard Set-up Photos wanted". Some of those are really nice set-ups and can give you some good ideas.

Good luck and let the rest of us know how it went with a later post.

[rainbowgirl28]

See if you can find some converyor belt for the runway. I agree with Russ that tires are great for putting under the pit, and it is super easy to find free old tires.

[CrossBarHOpper]

what the best place to find converyours belts cause i ve called every concrete place in the region and they alll dont replace there but for like every three years any other ideas i am pretty desperate

[souleman]

OK, I went through everything that you are about to go through. Fortunately for you and others wanting to do the same thing, I had to talk about it. Where did I talk about it? Right here on PVP. So, if you want to know what you're about to do, look up my posts and chances are you'll find out how I got my set up done. It's still a work in progress. I just got a set of front buns from a guy who needed a place to store some extras that he had, and this year I plan to put in a roll out run way. My plans are to get a sod cutter and cut out the runway area. The sod is going to go in an area that has been damaged by road salt in my front yard. I'll then put in about a half inch to and inch of pea rock in the runway to level it and then roll the "roll out" over it. I'll have 85 feet of runway and a set up that should give me good service for many years. If you use tires or pallets, DO THE MOTH BALL THING that Russ suggests. I took 4 boxes of moth balls (on Russ' suggestion) and put them in pot pie tins and placed them in the spaces between the top and bottom of the pallets. We've got mice in Minnesota but none of them lived under my pit this winter. I'm sure the moth balls did the trick. So far I'm up to about $400 for my set up and when I put the runway in that will add about $900.So, if you don't need a hot rod (or an expensive car that you'll probably crunch anyway, but instead get a nice used small pick up....don't worry....members of the opposite sex still think pick ups are cool) you should be able to get the car (or small truck in this case) AND the pit. Good luck to you. If you have any further questions, feel free to PM me. Later...........Mike

[MillerTime]

Does anyone know (in general) the things I would need to put a pit in my backyard? I know I have enough space, and money isn't much of a problem (i would rather have a pit in my backyard for my 16nth birthday than a new car), as long as it's below $10,000

dang, i got a fishing rod for my 16th birthday.

[LPVG]

If you are looking for conveyor belt material, go to a large heavy civil construction company. Chances are they have a materials plant where they mine, then crush rock to meet different DOT requirements. They go through a lot of belting material. They will generally cut it into 20-30' lengths. it is about 2' wide or more. It is very heavy, so don't try to work with anything longer.
Don't know where you are located, but someone like Granite Construction (they are nationwide) or similar would have it. Ask for the plant/materials manager.
LPVG

[TheBigMastodon]

[/quote]dang, i got a fishing rod for my 16th birthday.[/quote]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. $10,000, damn they must be loaded.

[2-15-46]

i bought a pit from a local hs...cheap......they upgrade and sell thier old ones cause they don't fit regulation..... buil a runway out of treated 2x4s and 4x8 sections of plywood painted with oil base deck paint with non skid additive to it..... $40 a section maybe 10 sections 80 feet....put the box in the front section.... layed it out, leveled it and can stack it in the winter..for those of us who have winter!!!!!

Bob

www.buckeyelaketrackclub.com

[achtungpv]

See if you can find some converyor belt for the runway. I agree with Russ that tires are great for putting under the pit, and it is super easy to find free old tires.

Drill a bunch of 1" holes in the tires unless you like mosquitos. Even under the pit, water will find a way to fill up those tires.