Garage floor not sloped enough to drain...

[davepl]

Now that I have two other kids parking in my garage alongside me and and it's winter, I'm getting a lot of water in my garage.

Unfortunately, that causes puddles because there's not enough slope to get rid of it.

I could move all the vehicles and sweep it out. I could run the heat and dry it out. Both of those are temporary at best though.

I've considered drilling holes in the concrete, but I don't know how well it'd drain.

Anyone have any bright ideas?

[61_FL_Apache]

How is the water getting in?

[arks]

I'm guessing snow melt. I have the same problem and just use a big squeegee to move it to the doors.

[davepl]

Yup, primarily snow melt, though I get a certain amount just from rain being dragged in by wet vehicles too.

I moved vehicles, swept it out, opened all the doors, but it's a pain!

['63GENIII]

How bout using a blower?

[LockDoc]

-
I use my wet/dry vac and dump it outside....

LockDoc

[463]

DITO what LockDoc said.
Drilling holes is asking for bigger problems.
big squeegee to move it out the door is the quickest.
One more is to tap the mud flaps and knock as much snow off as you can. then park in the shop.
1 more thing https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.1...FQ-QaQodXHEP4A

[El Dorado Jim]

Originally Posted by davepl

Now that I have two other kids parking in my garage alongside me and and it's winter, I'm getting a lot of water in my garage.

Unfortunately, that causes puddles because there's not enough slope to get rid of it.

I could move all the vehicles and sweep it out. I could run the heat and dry it out. Both of those are temporary at best though.

I've considered drilling holes in the concrete, but I don't know how well it'd drain.

Anyone have any bright ideas?

have the kids squeegee the water out for you....

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by davepl

Now that I have two other kids parking in my garage alongside me and and it's winter, I'm getting a lot of water in my garage.

Unfortunately, that causes puddles because there's not enough slope to get rid of it.

I could move all the vehicles and sweep it out. I could run the heat and dry it out. Both of those are temporary at best though.

I've considered drilling holes in the concrete, but I don't know how well it'd drain.

Anyone have any bright ideas?

It's 70* here so I'm no help!

Kids getting it up sounds like the best answer to me though.
Remind them it's a privilege to drive. They need to keep the garage cleaned out.

[special-K]

Don't drill holes in concrete. You don't want to trap water under your slab

[69-72]

I was fighting water in my heated garage for years. My problem is cars come in loaded with snow on them and it melts. I can't have a drain because of heated floor. I tired buying an industrial sized dehumidifier, $1000 later that didn't do the job. Tried a commercial floor scrubber machine to suck up the water, that was another waste of $1000 it didn't suck the water up very well. Then I had the bright idea to just use a shop vac and it works great. Duh!

I found this wall mount one, keeps things neat and tidy, long hose and has a place to hang when not in use.

https://www.shopvac.com/product/shop...catnum:3942300

[abig84]

The most recent garage I had built I had them slope the floors for this reason as I used to have the same problem. One of the most annoying mistakes I ever made. anything on wheels rolls out the door, drop a socket or anything round it rolls away.

I'd have rather delt with the puddles. I used to just squeege it out and be done with it

[midniteblues]

Originally Posted by abig84

The most recent garage I had built I had them slope the floors for this reason as I used to have the same problem. One of the most annoying mistakes I ever made. anything on wheels rolls out the door, drop a socket or anything round it rolls away.

I'd have rather delt with the puddles. I used to just squeege it out and be done with it

This does become a problem when you have too tether your engine loaded cherry picker too keep it from rolling away.

Dave I know it sounds obvious but just be carefull with the electricity.

This reminds me of a post I wanted too make on the cheap tricks thread.

[100%Chevy]

No snow down here,but it does rain hard and a lot!
Blows under my shop doors,under the cars and everywhere near the doors.
Wet/dry shop vac with a long,hard tube on hose reaches under things.
Mike.

[Coley]

How far do you want to take this Dave?...any quick pics of the problem area?
If its just a little bit of 'bad season' water then it might be liveable.
That said, if you want it to permanently go away then the following come into play:
1) Identify where the water is coming from? ie: sloped yard, side or back?
2) Outside drainage problem? ie: gutters not present or plugged, or no perimeter drain?

Is it possible and are you willing to dig up the outer part around the foundation? This is big time/heavy duty...larger labor and cost option and it can be tough on any landscaping around the outside.

If not, then getting a concrete saw and cutting an 8" wide trough along the problem wall is an option in order to put in an
inside 'french drain' with a sump pump tank. (google 'french drain inner' and you'll get an idea...some are outside the foundation and some are inside, which is what I'm talking about)
These are a perforated pipe drain 'WITHIN' the problem area (basement, garage, etc)
These systems were perfectly and keep from digging up the outside of the house.
I did this along a basement wall in our house and in short order it wiped out
water coming in along a steep wall from yard run-off.
Pretty simple, using either 4" or 6" perforated pipe, landscape fabric and gravel. The buy 6-8 bags of pre-mix concrete and concrete the trough over.
They take a little elbow grease to do, but you can them done in a weekend if you apply the time to it.

My two bits.
Coley

[Low Elco]

Lucky you- Mine's like a damn skate bowl.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I didn't think you guys got a ton of snow in WA? Are were talking a couple/few weeks of annoyance or months on end?

I used to see these in shops all the time in NY, not so much down here, but it was a matt about 1" high that was perforated with circles and it was strong enough to drive on. I googled for a few minutes and didn't find it, but maybe it will ring a bell with someone else. I think the idea was the snow/water drained below the mat and by the time the water got high enough to be in issue it drained to the outside through the door, so you were never walking through puddles or worried about snow coming off cars you brought into the shop.

FOUND IT!

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail...w&gclsrc=aw.ds

I don't know if that particular one is strong enough to drive on, but that's what it looked like.

[A1971Blazer]

I've seen a few that were grooved to drain out....use a diamond blade on a circular saw and cut some shallow grooves toward the door...

[Steelheader]

If you are speaking of high spots impeding the water from draining you could also grind the high spots off your floor with a floor grinder , in my area there are many rental companies that will rent you one . There are different videos on youtube showing all the different styles and there are also companies that will do it also , most big box stores have there floors ground flat due to discrepancies when installed , but not knowing your exact situation I'm not sure if this would work for you . Good luck.

[CG]

Call a concrete finisher and see if they can "sand" a slope in to it. Then have it polished. Of course I have absolutely no idea if this is even a thing =)

[saxart]

This thread cracks me up! You can tell who's never lived in a snowy climate. (Not judging at all, but it's just funny from our perspective) We deal with this a lot around here most winters. Here's the deal...

You drive your car all day on moderately snowy roads, and the entire bottom of the car has giant snow/salt globs hanging from it at the back of all four wheels. The running boards on my Suburban will usually have snow clinging to them. It's not snow stuck to the top of the car, it's up under the car where you can't get it off. If I pull into the garage like that, all of that snow/salt will melt off and drop on the garage floor over night turning to a giant puddle of water. If you've never seen this before, we're talking let the garden hose run for 10 minutes sized puddle, not just a small puddle of water in one localized area. Another issue is that, around here, it's got a heavy salt content, so it's tough on the concrete floor.

Our house was built in the early 1980's. (By the previous owner) I'm not sure if the concrete contractor screwed up, or if the builder pissed him off, but our garage floor slopes right toward the entry door of the house. If we pull in the garage with two snow-packed cars, there will be 3" of standing water right where you walk out of the house the next morning. It's a mess! Any shoes left there will be ruined. We have a small version of one of those rubber mats mentioned earlier. You quickly learn to leave your shoes on that mat or they will be ruined with salt-water.

Here are some things I've done to combat the issue. (The best thing we could do would be to tear out the entire floor and repour it, but I'm NOT going there.)

1) Don't park in the garage on nights that it's been snowy on the roads that day. (Seriously, if it snows, just park outside for one night. Around here the roads are cleared the next day, so we get very little water in the garage on the 2nd night)
2) Use a large floor squeegee to push the water right out of the garage. You can pick one of these up at HD for about $15
3) This one is going to sound crazy, but I do it all of the time and it's awesome. Grab a snow shovel, go outside and scoop up a nice full sized scoop of fresh snow from a snowbank. Bring it in the garage and dump it at the front of the garage in your water puddle, then use your shovel the push the snow outside through the rest of the water nearest the door. The snow is dry and wants to soak up water. You may have to do it 2 or 3 times, but this will dry your floor perfectly. The key is that the snow must be clean, and dry, so don't try to use any of that brown slushy stuff that you were too lazy to shovel away. Get the clean white stuff from the snowbank.

The bottom line is that my family is now trained that if we have a fresh snow-event, they know better than to pull into the garage until the next day. It's just too much of a mess. Once the roads are cleared, then we can keep after it, but initially, any snow we can keep out of the garage is that much LESS clean up later.

I hope this helps. Try the snow on the shovel trick, it works!

[68c10airstream]

I do the same as saxart, use snow to absorb the slop and 5 minutes later shovel it up and throw it outside.

How about a system called "the beaver system"?? It is like a base board moulding that draws water into it and pumps it out automatically! This system is used in wet basements.

[Willie Makeit]

buy everyone in the family their own squeegee. teach them how to use it.

[Coley]

...I love renovation threads.

C.