A Very Tight Squeeze

"Why is nothing ever simple?!!?!"

These were the first words to come from my mouth when I got the Splitty home, and first tried to put it in my garage. Now my house was built in 1963, and the garage (or garden wall with a roof as it actually is) was added in 1964. This date is contemporary with the Splitty so I expected it to fit in with room to spare, given how low it is. However as you can see from the pic, the actual distance between the top of the van and my garage is very minimal. If the door wasn't there, I was pretty sure it would fit. This was very frustrating.

Now, having measured the length of my garage and the length of the bus, I knew that I was ok in that respect, so in true kamikaze style, I whipped the garage door off to:

a) Measure the height of the opening
b) See if there was any way to turn the door into some sort of side opening unit

It turns out that:

a) The opening, including the kerb on the way in, is just big enough for the bus, having measured both
b) That there is no way any sort of side opening is going to happen

and:

c) I'm an idiot for not actually trying to drive the van in there as a actual physical test whilst I already had the door off

Once that was all done, I tried to get the door back on - This ended up requiring getting my sister's boyfriend Matt involved as the door is far heavier than it looks.

So a few months have passed since I first tried this and with winter closing in I thought it best to start investigating how this was going to happen again. My plan is to make the garage door removable, this involves taking the door off the hinge mechanism, and then mounting the door using 4 large lockable garden gate style bolts and rear mounted brackets, with a couple of handles on the front to pick it up with.

I also think I might also need to to utilise my new found welding skills in order to mount some strengthening plates on the back of door to spread some of the weight. If I do this, it means I need to weld mild steel to galvanised steel, so I did some investigation. This article on welding galvanised products proved very helpful - looks like I'm going to need to wear a breathing mask just to be on the safe side as some of those zinc fumes can cause temporary flu like symptoms.

With all this in mind I invited my friends Rich, Matt and Stu round to give me a hand testing whether the van would fit before I go about buying all the bolts, locks and brackets.

I'll let the pictures do the talking as to what happened next:

Rich holding the door up before removal

1 garage door

Garage door off, Splitty ready for entry (nb. the sheet you can see is for draft exclusion in the winter, this may be removed due to it's moisture retaining properties)



Looking promising...



Let's give it a go then...



Much better clearance with the door off



In further than before



Still lots of clearance



Almost in...



A few bits to clear around the front on the van and there was now enough room



And it's in! Wohoo!!

So, the Splitty fits, very good news. I backed it back out of the garage and we bolted the door back on. Now I just need to get the bits to make this work. So far I've been to the very convenient and cheap hardware store near the IPC office in Southwark - I've bought one shiny gate bolt and tested on the door, looks like it will fit. Just need to buy the rest of the bits now and get it sorted.

Sadly, there is a downside to this, it is a very tight fit, and I'm yet to work out exactly how I can get any of the jobs I wanted to do on the winter whilst it is in there, other than some interior work. Still, I'm sure I'll work something out, and it's far better than leaving it outside.

Previous Blogs From Jon Ladley:


Split Screen Desire - The road to true love is never easy


Vans in the News and 19 Windows


My 27th Birthday and an AA Recovery "Low" Loader


Pushing the button...


Too low?


Welding woes