Floor drain yes/no?

[fflintstone]

I am getting ready to level the dirt in my barn for cement for the new shop (finally got everything out) I have been going back and forth on weather or not to put in a floor drain. Its no big deal money wise but I really don’t want the hassle of putting a slope in the floor. I already took the backhoe off the tractor. I never plan to wash anything in the shop, I really don’t see the need.

 

[jabberwoki]

I put one in then built a paint booth around it. In this app it`s invaluable

 

[Red Green]

I went with no drain. I was concrened about oil and ****** fluid getting spilled.

 

[nate379]

Septic or town sewer?

Septic here and garage drain is a no go for that reason.

You can put a drain and not slope the floor, would be almost the best of both worlds.

 

[jimchris]

Put in the drain. I never wash out in the sun any more. I wash inside to avoid water spots.

 

[fflintstone]

Septic or town sewer?

Septic here and garage drain is a no go for that reason.

You can put a drain and not slope the floor, would be almost the best of both worlds.

neither, it would just be a drain to daylight. I live in a rural area on acerage.

I dont see myself washing cars inside, and It will be a SHOP not a garage, so I wont be bringing in slush covered cars on a daily basis. if I spill oil I would still use cat litter to soak it up, as I wouldnt want to polute my own ecosystem.

 

[APEowner]

In my experience drains in shops serve only to catch wheels on equipment and collect every fastener you ever drop.

 

[fflintstone]

In my experience drains in shops serve only to catch wheels on equipment and collect every fastener you ever drop.

I guess that meens no.

I had not really thought of that. compared to the grand canyon sized crackes in my old garage, I am looking forward to smooth rolling with my new floor.

 

[RaceDeck1]

If done properly they are great, but the least problematic solution is a even floor with a nice slight pitch that allow all liquids to flow out the door

 

[fflintstone]

If done properly they are great, but the least problematic solution is a even floor with a nice slight pitch that allow all liquids to flow out the door

what do you consider proper?

my plan is to put the drain dead center about 1" below the outside level marks and pitch it to the center.

I will NOT pitch the whole floor to the door (right now the door opening is the high spot)

 

[jimchris]

I have center drains in my 48x72 shop and my 24x26 garage. The only garage I don't have a drain in is where my Viper is parked but that floor never gets dirty or wet.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Drain with a small pit.
The oil will get caught in the pit, water moves through.

 

[tatra]

french drain that can double as an exhaust manifold with steel plates with holes cut out.............

 

[trbomax]

In most munisipalities you cannot connect a floor drain to a sanitary sewer unless it first goes thru an approved oil separator. These are real expensive,ours was around 10k at the marina. You also cannot drain floor water outside the foundation either.My solution here was to run my trench drain into a250 gal,3 panel septic tank,then onward to a series of 6 -40' long 4" drain pipes buried in 3'x3' trenches of drain rock.Covered the whole thing w/landscape cloth,then 8" yellow sand. Compacted the snot out of it,re leveled a couple times,added sand,compacted more,and puored the shop floor. Presto!!! its all within the footer just like mr code inforcement geek wants!!!

 

[mustangmccance]

I wish I had put a drain in my shop. I do bring in slush covered trucks in the winter however. but also no matter how I try I still get a little water leaking around the garage door. and if you ever have to open the door in the winter or when raining it is useful. the main thing for me is this. you have your nice garage which can be heated. your daily driver needs the tire aired up or needs vaccuumed or the oil changed or whatever. it is so much nicer to be able to bring it inside to do whatever it is you need to do when it is snowing outside. what I would do and wish I had done is to place a trench drain across the floor about a foot in from the garage door. you can then squeegee all of the water into the drain, not worry about stuff getting stuck in it much and not care too much about bringing in a mud or snow covered vehicle to work on if you need to. minimal cost now, much more headache later.

 

[fflintstone]

Drain with a small pit.
The oil will get caught in the pit, water moves through.

?????
WTF?
Unless there has been some recent change in physics, oil “floats” on water. Seams to me there is a lot of it “floating” in the gulf right now.

 

[APEowner]

I've worked in a lot of shops over the years and the least obtrusive location for a drain in a working shop is across the doorway. Even then I'd rather not have one. I don't have one in my shop. I just squeegee water out the door.

If you're parking a vehicle in there it's nice to have a drain so you can park and forget about it while water, slush and snow runs off. If you're working in there you'll want to squeegee stuff out as soon as it hits the floor anyway so it's not a problem to shove it out the door.

 

[mustangmccance]

I've worked in a lot of shops over the years and the least obtrusive location for a drain in a working shop is across the doorway. Even then I'd rather not have one. I don't have one in my shop. I just squeegee water out the door.

If you're parking a vehicle in there it's nice to have a drain so you can park and forget about it while water, slush and snow runs off. If you're working in there you'll want to squeegee stuff out as soon as it hits the floor anyway so it's not a problem to shove it out the door.

my garage had a gravel drive right up to the door until this summer. last winter I had Ice built up to a level higher than my garage floor. I had to take a pick out to dig a trench so that I could squeegee the water out and then I would lose all the heat in the shop. so I ended up getting a parksmart mat and used a shopvac to **** up the water what a pita. that is why I poured a concrete pad 18 x 22 in front of the door so hopefully I can keep the ice cleared away from the door this winter. but a drain would have been nice. especially so that you can squeegee it into the drain without having to open the door. at least that is my long term plan. I will do that before I pour the slab in front of my other door, and run the drain out into a french drain.

 

[fflintstone]

My wife knows me pretty well and knows how I work. She thinks is a hassle. Right now I am leaning against it still. Friday I will be leveling the dirt. Depending on how that goes, then I will make my decision.

 

[jwillis]

what do you consider proper?

my plan is to put the drain dead center about 1" below the outside level marks and pitch it to the center.

I will NOT pitch the whole floor to the door (right now the door opening is the high spot)

A floor drain in the center would be nice, but if the high spot in your garage is at the door and runs back away from the door, you'd better put the backhoe back on and regrade it. You don't want water to get inside with no drain and not be able to run out. And you surely don't want a heavy rain to force water around and under the door and then have it run toward the back of the garage either. If you put a cement pad outside the door you had better be sure to have it run away from the house. So, having the floor run uphill toward the door doesn't make a lot of sense. Why don't you want a slight slope toward the door if you don't put in a drain? Or even with one?

 

[jwillis]

The two problems I had with the metal building I just put up this spring was that the slab I put it on was poured back in the late fifties as a 44' by 24' basketball court. I put a metal garage on 1/2 of it. The slab had a slight slope toward one side so that the water would run off and that wasn't too bad. It did make the water run under the one side until I sealed it. But the cement was so rough from being old, that the rubber on the bottom of the doors would not seal and keep the rain out from under the door. So it would run under the doors and across the floor. I ended up going to Lowes and buying 2" wide by 1/4" thick PVC strips and I glued them down with construction cement/glue under the doors. Now they seal really great. A hard rain directly against the doors still lets a little rain in on the sides of the doors because the doors are lamenated roll up doors. But it still is a lot better than it was at the begining.

 

[fflintstone]

A floor drain in the center would be nice, but if the high spot in your garage is at the door and runs back away from the door, you'd better put the backhoe back on and regrade it. You don't want water to get inside with no drain and not be able to run out. And you surely don't want a heavy rain to force water around and under the door and then have it run toward the back of the garage either. If you put a cement pad outside the door you had better be sure to have it run away from the house. So, having the floor run uphill toward the door doesn't make a lot of sense. Why don't you want a slight slope toward the door if you don't put in a drain? Or even with one?

FYI you do not use a backhoe for grading, just for digging. or having a **** load of fun.

You use the loader bucket (or a back blade (don’t have)) to grade.

Right now the center is the highest point INSIDE the garage. Outside the ground is highest right at the front door. I am hoping to there is enough dirt to knock down in the center to bring up the remaining 3 corners to the level of the ground at the door opening. Then my floor will be 4” above the highest point of the outside grade.
If this situation were opposite and I had a natural slope to the center then I would be more inclined to put in a floor drain.

At some later point I will be putting an apron in front of the door. At that time I will be excavating a slope away from the building

 

[Tommydogg]

my garage had a gravel drive right up to the door until this summer. last winter I had Ice built up to a level higher than my garage floor. I had to take a pick out to dig a trench so that I could squeegee the water out and then I would lose all the heat in the shop.

Dang, when that happenes to me, I just use a hair dryer!

 

[boiler7904]

If you ever bring in a snow / slush covered vehicle or plan to wash a car in the building, I'd go for a sediment bucket. It's basically a round/square floor drain that has a removable basket to allow you to collect any fasteners and misc parts that fall in. Depending on where you located it, you may have to still deal with small cart or creeper wheels hanging up on it though.

 

[jwillis]

FYI you do not use a backhoe for grading, just for digging. or having a **** load of fun.

You use the loader bucket (or a back blade (don’t have)) to grade.

Right now the center is the highest point INSIDE the garage. Outside the ground is highest right at the front door. I am hoping to there is enough dirt to knock down in the center to bring up the remaining 3 corners to the level of the ground at the door opening. Then my floor will be 4” above the highest point of the outside grade.
If this situation were opposite and I had a natural slope to the center then I would be more inclined to put in a floor drain.

At some later point I will be putting an apron in front of the door. At that time I will be excavating a slope away from the building

OK. Now I understand. Although you did say in your original post that you didn't want the hassle of puting a slope in your floor, and you had taken the backhoe off of your tractor. So, if you don't bring wet cars in the garage, you aren't going to wash cars in the garage and you don't need a drain, I wouldn't mess with it. Just an added expense and more labor. Good luck...............j willis

 

[rasit]

I never plan to wash anything in the shop, I really don’t see the need.

You answered your own question. It all depends what you are planning on doing in your shop. If you are building a car wash, put in a drain but if you want a shop, pour a level floor. It makes it so much easier install work benches, cabinets, lifts and any kind of carts on wheels won't roll away from you. The occasional wet spots can be squeeged out. I never regretted going this route.

 

[fflintstone]

You answered your own question. It all depends what you are planning on doing in your shop. If you are building a car wash, put in a drain but if you want a shop, pour a level floor. It makes it so much easier install work benches, cabinets, lifts and any kind of carts on wheels won't roll away from you. The occasional wet spots can be squeeged out. I never regretted going this route.

I like the reply. I am 90% for no drain and a dead flat level floor. Today I was visitin an old farmer neighbor of mine (he is OLD! like 2-3 years older than me) we were sitting in his barn and he said his floor slopes 2 ½” from the rear to the door and he wish it sloped more. I respect this guys opinion, he is my go to man when I have a problem. He is the townships bigger hammer guy. Its just that most people are telling me drain or slope. I am still not 100% ARRGGHH!

 

[NUTTSGT]

My garage currently has a floor drain. I will be pouring the new floor right over the old floor, covering up the drain.

I'm not washing vehicles in my garage and I want it flat and smooth. I am sick of the old spalled floor with the creeper catching every bump, including the floor drain.