First Weekend in New Home, Garage Floods! Need drains?

KevinEF7 · Sep 30, 2015

Hey guys, Let me introduce myself as a first time home buyer, just took ownership of my first home this weekend 4 days ago, ofcourse being a young DIYer I needed a garage, I got a 2 car garage but it is rough, has holes in the walls from wood stoves and oil heaters, needs to be completely rewired and shelfs and workbenches made, I can handle that. But just today it rained for the first time, I opened the garage door in disbelief when I saw a quarters of the garage had 1.5" of water in the front corner. Here are a few pics while it was still lightly raining

And a picture of the dry side

The water stayed in the front left corner, but was quite deep, after I noticed obviously it happened because the nose of the driveway slightly slopes towards the garage, and that corner of the garage seems to be lower than the rest inside the doors. The water was gone when I came back after work, completely dried off.

There is a spot about 3 feet back from the left door where there is a 3" hole in the concrete, which I think at one time may have been a drain, but seems silly as why would the drain be inside the garage and not outside the door? The hole goes about 1" deep but was blocked or even filled with concrete, it was no longer clear anyways, Ill have to take a better look at it after work. Maybe a best bet is to have that cleared if it is indeed a drain and any water that came in under the door would make its way down that drain before becoming a puddle like in the pictures

Im just looking for some advice on how to handle this and any options I have, Im glad it rained hard while I had only some empty boxes in the garage and hadnt loaded a skid of drywall in there yet

MagKarl · Sep 30, 2015

I would probably cut the driveway back a couple feet, dig a trench, install a French drain that drains out by those trees.

Strouty · Sep 30, 2015

That is what I did, then get some heavy duty weather strips for the bottom of the doors. The local door place had them, they had a u channel made of aluminum that went around the bottom of the door, the weather strip was attached to that and it is replaceable.

ratdoggy · Sep 30, 2015

MagKarl said:
I would probably cut the driveway back a couple feet, dig a trench, install a French drain that drains out by those trees.

Put the drain channel right in front of the doors

KevinEF7 · Sep 30, 2015

Is this a job that would be DIY friendly? Im handy, and dont mind getting dirty and digging right in, but I would imagine the saw to cut through the driveway may be slightly better than the sawzall/chopsaw etc saws I have laying around.

i agree the area to the right is a good place to drain, as there is a edge of property there and it drops about 2 feet right at the side of the garage, but there is also a retaining wall there of sort, that "whiter" piece of cement showing above driway level off on the right side, might make the cutting part a bit difficult.

As you can tell the driveway is many years old, as is the garage floor, I dont need it showroom new house perfect, just something to get the water away and to not have chunks of the new concrete over the drain would be great in my books, this is my first house after all, many projects over the next year or so

AnthonyJ124 · Sep 30, 2015

I agree with the guys above, a drain is needed. You could probably get away with a simple channel drain in front of the garage. Most box stores sell a non-sloped 1-3" channel drain you could use there.

Would be a fun DIY project, rent an asphalt saw and make your parallel cuts 6-12" from the door, then slope and set your channel. You could backfill the sides of the channel with DIY mix concrete if you wanted (you could also oversize your cut a couple inches either way and use concrete to slope into the channel), or you could use driveway patch. Connect the channel to a 4" solid drain pipe (PVC or black corrugated pipe would work) and run it to the right. Set the pipe in some gravel and get it over to your wall. Dig out the back side of the wall to your needed elevation, then rent a core drill and hole saw for concrete and go right through the wall. Fit the pipe through and patch any gap with a hydraulic cement product to keep any other water from the wall from finding its way out.

What is on the lower elevation of the retaining wall? Is it your property? If it's just grass, you might get away with a gravel pad for the water to run into.

I'm not a professional though, only sold trench drain products for a few years. Whatever trench product you buy should have recommended installation instructions. There are probably professionals here that would have a stronger background with this. And of course, if the water is coming from the garage walls or roof- address that first!

Congrats on the house! Got any more pics of the CRX?

jives · Sep 30, 2015

AnthonyJ124 said:
I agree with the guys above, a drain is needed. You could probably get away with a simple channel drain in front of the garage. Most box stores sell a non-sloped 1-3" channel drain you could use there.

Would be a fun DIY project, rent an asphalt saw and make your parallel cuts 6-12" from the door, then slope and set your channel. You could backfill the sides of the channel with DIY mix concrete if you wanted (you could also oversize your cut a couple inches either way and use concrete to slope into the channel), or you could use driveway patch. Connect the channel to a 4" solid drain pipe (PVC or black corrugated pipe would work) and run it to the right. Set the pipe in some gravel and get it over to your wall. Dig out the back side of the wall to your needed elevation, then rent a core drill and hole saw for concrete and go right through the wall. Fit the pipe through and patch any gap with a hydraulic cement product to keep any other water from the wall from finding its way out.

What is on the lower elevation of the retaining wall? Is it your property? If it's just grass, you might get away with a gravel pad for the water to run into.

I'm not a professional though, only sold trench drain products for a few years. Whatever trench product you buy should have recommended installation instructions. There are probably professionals here that would have a stronger background with this. And of course, if the water is coming from the garage walls or roof- address that first!

^^^^^This. Don't forget to address downspouts on house and garage to flow away from house and garage and driveway.

Obviously the garage floor is not level where the water is pooling. That may need addressing later on, but for now drain the water and see how dry things stay.

KevinEF7 · Sep 30, 2015

Thanks for the tips so far guys, this definetely jumped to the top of the to do list. Ive never used a cement saw before, they actually will rent though out to any joe-blow?

Im curious how you would cut the trench so close to the garage though, id imagine Id want it quite close if not right against the front of the garage, how would the saw fit up against the wall to make the cut?

The area off the ledge to the right is my neighbours, he has a few acres and his driveway starts over there and there are some trees running the property line, I dont imagine any trouble with having water drain there on the grass/weeds, it doesnt look well kept but I can certainly run it by him, the roof gutters are old and have been dumping there for ages Im assuming

This garage also has its own breaker sub panel and also a FAT wire the previous owner left a note about, saying it was run seperate from the breaked feed wire from the house, so I suppose I will have to call the hydro company to do a survey of where the hydro lines exactly are ran?? Or is there noway they are under the front of the garage doors?

And yes the garage floor is definetely unlevel and deteriorating in some areas, I was hoping to use some sort of self leveling skim coat in areas, would proably be an inch thick up by the front left door, is there a good product that could be layed right over the existing floor to smooth it slightly and fill the dimples and level it out some?

Cheers guys! This may happen this weekend if I feel confident

gregtwojeeps · Sep 30, 2015

Yep, on the trench drain ... a sample linked of what could be used of many choices to choose from out here. ...

http://www.lowes.com/pd_508072-57991-003518___?productId=50089728&pl=1&Ntt=trench+drain

ishiboo · Sep 30, 2015

KevinEF7 said:
Is this a job that would be DIY friendly? Im handy, and dont mind getting dirty and digging right in, but I would imagine the saw to cut through the driveway may be slightly better than the sawzall/chopsaw etc saws I have laying around.

i agree the area to the right is a good place to drain, as there is a edge of property there and it drops about 2 feet right at the side of the garage, but there is also a retaining wall there of sort, that "whiter" piece of cement showing above driway level off on the right side, might make the cutting part a bit difficult.

As you can tell the driveway is many years old, as is the garage floor, I dont need it showroom new house perfect, just something to get the water away and to not have chunks of the new concrete over the drain would be great in my books, this is my first house after all, many projects over the next year or so

Yes. You can rent the saw locally. Buy the blade from http://www.diamondblade.com. I would probably plan on pouring a small area of concrete on one or both sides to correct the flow, that asphalt looks to be in pretty bad shape.

The garage looks really low, if there are drainage issues on the sides, that would be a good time to handle them as well.

Jo Diesel · Sep 30, 2015

If it were me I would come out 5-6' and put in a nice concrete pad with a trench drain in it. That would give you a little room to do a proper slope to the drain

bczygan · Sep 30, 2015

Rain hitting the garage door will flow down the door and puddle at the base. Unless you have areal good seal, it will flow under the door and flood that low portion of the garage.

There are seal systems that will work, but you will have a small bump to go over, on the garage floor.

In addition to that, you need the saw cut and new trench drain to be right there at the front face of the door. Otherwise, the pavement between the drain and the door will collect all the water hitting it and all the water coming down the face of the door.

Bill

pmiranda · Sep 30, 2015

First, go kick the seller in the nuts. Second, cut out at least 3 feet of asphalt so you can pour a new apron that drains away from the garage. To avoid a bump where it meets the rest of the driveway, you'll probably end up cutting out at least 6 feet, and putting a drain in the middle. If you can live with the bump a while, I'd save up my pennies to redo a big chunk of the driveway and the interior slab all at once to get a nicer surface for crawling under cars.

Colin Len · Sep 30, 2015

Can't help with the drainage, but I spy a CRX in your first pic. As one Honda guy to another - Welcome to Garage Journal!

TommyK · Sep 30, 2015

You can rent a gas cut off saw from the local rental place or Home Depot. It works like a chain saw. Diamond blades are expensive to buy. Some places will rent them and charge you for the wear. You can use abrasive blades for the little bit of cutting you will be doing. Its probably the cheapest way out.

You can buy prefabricated trench drain that has slope built into it and comes with steel grates. It isn't cheap but you don't need a lot. You need to set the grate slightly lower (3/4"-1"?) than the floor at the door opening. I would hold the edge of the drain about 1 foot off the edge of the slab. You will need to cut the asphalt back on the other side whatever distance is needed to get a reasonable transition to the drain. My guess would be about 3 feet. You could get by with cold patch for now to patch the driveway until you have the time/funds/weather to do a permanent patch or replace the driveway.

Good luck.

Hopefully you can just punch the outlet pipe through the little retaining wall to the right of the garage without creating another drainage issue for you or your neighbor.

I think there is some rot repair on that garage in your future.

KevinEF7 · Oct 1, 2015

Do you think a saw could get right to the garage opening though?

Is there any drains that don't require concrete to be poured? I figured there may be some where you dig a straight, say 6 inch wide parallel trench, place the gravel and drain pipe in, then just place a metal grate cover ontop

I'm a little lost on why I would need to cut as much as 6 feet of the driveway aswell, just don't understand why quite honestly

I love that some of you noticed my car in the back, she's my baby, right hand drive, turbo... She's sad about being put on hold for the new house project lol

Kpaige · Oct 1, 2015

first thing did they disclose the water issue in the paper work?

Second
it appears on both sides of your driveway it is higher then the garage I would tear that out so the water can drain. Try that and see if it helps.

pmiranda · Oct 1, 2015

KevinEF7 said:
Do you think a saw could get right to the garage opening though?

Is there any drains that don't require concrete to be poured? I figured there may be some where you dig a straight, say 6 inch wide parallel trench, place the gravel and drain pipe in, then just place a metal grate cover ontop

I'm a little lost on why I would need to cut as much as 6 feet of the driveway as well, just don't understand why quite honestly

You can just cut a slot, but you'll still get some water into the garage if you don't have a slope away from it to the drain, and it could be an illusion but it looks like the driveway is sloping down to the garage so if you correct that you'll need a fair distance to keep any low cars from dragging.

The concrete saws I've seen can get within an inch of anything on the cutting side, and you can score and remove the remaining edge and corners with a good cold chisel. Needless to say, you're gonna want good safety glasses for this one.

pstnbly · Oct 2, 2015

I'll go against the grain here on the trench drain. Being in Canada the drain will only work in warm months. It will freeze in the cold months and during thaw periods the garage will flood. Regrading the driveway is the best approach.

BRIANBB · Oct 2, 2015

Where was Mike Holmes during the inspection!!

KevinEF7 · Oct 2, 2015

The water issue was definetely not mentionned during purchase, I noticed the garage door wouldnt open, but did not realize it was literally screwed shut and had a bead of spray foam to seal it. I thought it was odd when I moved in and un-did that so I could open that door, and realized why it was done on first rainfall...

I am definetely in canada so it is going to snow and freeze for sure, if that is an issue.

The garage does slope to that corner on the left side, on the right there it slightly drains away from the garage, no water at all was coming in from the right side

Do I have any other options other than to spend 5k+ on a tearout/regrade/repour of this driveway. Its over 100 feet long, and thats a cost as a first time home buyer that would drain my account more than I expected. I do agree the whole driveway needs a pave job, but thats a bullet I dont think my girlfriend is ready to swallow... I havent even told her it floods yet she gets overwhelmed easy. Maybe, just maybe we have a few temp/cheaper options that would last a few years until where ready to possibly go full blown new garage/new slab/new driveway

Not positive what to do here, the garage slab is in rough shape, the roof itself is in good condition but I need to do some repairs to the main beam to get rid of a sag. I cant do any of my workbenches and storage cupboards/drywall/ wiring until I get this water issue solved though

christopher7390 · Oct 2, 2015

weather strip on the bottom for sure! and I agree with everyone else, def. will need a drain right before those doors

KevinEF7 · Oct 2, 2015

freezing weather wont be an issue?

KevinEF7 · Oct 2, 2015

the weather strips are a good idea aswell, im sure they sell ones that mount right on the ground aswell hopefully that can take a few light passenger vehicles, I really dont drive cars in and out alot, one of my cars gets stored in the garage for half the year and the other 2 stay outside, there wont be constant in and out traffic at all. Maybe during brake jobs/engine swaps, very rarely though, once a month max

theoldwizard1 · Oct 2, 2015

KevinEF7 said:
... after I noticed obviously it happened because the nose of the driveway slightly slopes towards the garage, and that corner of the garage seems to be lower than the rest inside the doors.

MagKarl said:

I would probably cut the driveway back a couple feet, dig a trench, install a French drain that drains out by those trees.

Click to expand...

A French drain is covered. You want an open trench drain. Of course this needs to be connected to drain pipe and directed to a an area that is lower than the drive.

KevinEF7 said:

The water was gone when I came back after work, completely dried off.

Click to expand...

Check the bottom plate under the wall studs. It is likely rotten (mine was). It us possible to take the weight off the wall enough to cut the studs off and knock out the old bottom plate. Use a powdered actuated nailer to attach a pressure treated plate to the floor again (use stainless steel nails). Toe nail each stud.

MagKarl · Oct 2, 2015

theoldwizard1 said:
A French drain is covered. You want an open trench drain. Of course this needs to be connected to drain pipe and directed to a an area that is lower than the drive.

Wrong! What good would a covered trench do this man? French drains are backfilled with drain rock up to grade.

gregtwojeeps · Oct 2, 2015

KevinEF7 said:
The water issue was definetely not mentionned during purchase, I noticed the garage door wouldnt open, but did not realize it was literally screwed shut and had a bead of spray foam to seal it. I thought it was odd when I moved in and un-did that so I could open that door, and realized why it was done on first rainfall...

I am definetely in canada so it is going to snow and freeze for sure, if that is an issue.

The garage does slope to that corner on the left side, on the right there it slightly drains away from the garage, no water at all was coming in from the right side

Do I have any other options other than to spend 5k+ on a tearout/regrade/repour of this driveway. Its over 100 feet long, and thats a cost as a first time home buyer that would drain my account more than I expected. I do agree the whole driveway needs a pave job, but thats a bullet I dont think my girlfriend is ready to swallow... I havent even told her it floods yet she gets overwhelmed easy. Maybe, just maybe we have a few temp/cheaper options that would last a few years until where ready to possibly go full blown new garage/new slab/new driveway

Not positive what to do here, the garage slab is in rough shape, the roof itself is in good condition but I need to do some repairs to the main beam to get rid of a sag. I cant do any of my workbenches and storage cupboards/drywall/ wiring until I get this water issue solved though

Knowing you are short of time and money with just moving in, how about something temporary until better times ? Rent a 7 in. side grinder with a diamond tip cutting "cup" disc and a 1/2 " SDS hammer drill with a 1.5 dia. x 6 in. long percussion bit . Use the cup grinder to cut in the asphalt a small indented elongated "V" ditch about 4 in. wide or so in front of the garage door concrete (to the concrete ) all the way across. Should not need to be over one half inch deep at the highest point and maybe one inch + deep at the exit point. Grind it to where it will drain to the concretr wall to the right. Then drill a 1.5 in. hole through the conrcete wall for the trench to drain though. You will have to keep an eye on the hole and trench to keep it clear of debris...

Then one day, when time and money is better for you, put in the proper trench drain as the guys above said. JMO

My Old Tools · Oct 2, 2015

Looks like it needs a slab poured under the garage to raise the floor. Might be easier to do a tear down rebuild next spring. Tear down the old one, salvaged the good material, pour a proper slab, and rebuild.

Andybull · Oct 2, 2015

I would tear out the old concrete and pour a new slab, with a slope towards the doors. I would definitely pour it 1.5" above the driveway height.

kgordon · Oct 2, 2015

I would saw cut and put in a trench drain if your short on time and money. If you can, get a metal trench drain and then put the heat tape (cable) made for roofs in it for the winter. That way you can turn it on and melt out the ice ahead of a big thaw.

KevinEF7 · Oct 2, 2015

The drain route definitely sounds like the route I will have to end up going, its just what method and system is right for me and the budget.

I still wonder why there is a drain the garage right in the stop it is flooded, but is filled with concrete an inch below its opening, maybe it callapsed

Kevin54 · Oct 2, 2015

I'm going to take the other road. Not how to fix it, but when you signed the contract on the house, was it discussed in the Disclosure that the garage floods? If not, then you may have some recourse. The reason I say this is that if it wasn't disclosed, the PO's may be responsible for fixing it.

When we bought out house, we used to have a 3/4 acre pond. It was the selling point. But it was never disclosed that the previous owners kept the pond filled with a garden hose. I ended up getting $6,000 back from the homeowners, or they would have had to buy the house back. Seeing that they were building a new home, they decided to pay.

KevinEF7 · Oct 3, 2015

I will have to speak to my lawyer about it I suppose, its definitely a **** situation that I didnt know, and ofcourse all 3 visits were on nice summer sunny days, I just had the impression the garage door was broken, not that it was screwed and sealed shut.

Id really like to get a trench in there asap though, just fixed the eavetrough of the garage and got a nice locking door on the shed today, so garage is my next main focus here, need to get my tools setup and life back to normal

CJ7VFR · Oct 3, 2015

KevinEF7 said:
I will have to speak to my lawyer about it I suppose, its definitely a **** situation that I didnt know, and ofcourse all 3 visits were on nice summer sunny days, I just had the impression the garage door was broken, not that it was screwed and sealed shut.

I have to ask. Did you have any inspections done to the house before you bought it?

An Inspector, as part of his whole house inspection process, should have tried to open both garage doors to see if they function correctly, or if they may have required any repairs. These repairs can range from loose connections of the garage door tracks and stuck doors, to whether or not any door openers function properly.

If one of the doors was actually screwed shut, and had some type of foam sealant applied to the base of the door to keep water out, then the inspector should have fond that almost right away.

Now that you own the house, and this has come to light, I wonder what other things are lurking around the house for you to find. If the previous homeowners went to the trouble of screwing the garage door shut, then what other crazy things did they do to keep water out of the rest of the house!

I wish you good luck on getting this taken care of. As others have said, if you install some type of drainage system in the front of the garage, that might take care of the water problem. It would be a relatively cheap fix to see if that is indeed your problem before you go spending thousands of dollars on regrading everything.

Jim

cdestuck · Oct 3, 2015

I would string a level line from inside the garage to put into the drive a ways. It looks like your garage floor sits below grade of your drive. If that's the case you're going to need one heck of a drywell. Or perhaps you might have to think about jacking up the garage a few inches and pour a new floor.

KevinEF7 · Oct 4, 2015

What is a drywell?

Yes we did have an inspection done, he was actually ridiculously thorough with the house inspection, but the garage was so full of **** from the people (1000L oil tank, old furnace, washer , dryer, piles of renovation garbage/insulation that he really only checked out the roof and electrical panel of the garage

The doors we assumed wouldnt open because of the old garage door openers that are installed but look completely unfunctional, the garage doors open funny, from the outside I have to push the top part of the door back to start it on its track, then the door lifts easily, and when you close the door, the top panel doesnt go flat, you have to do it manually. I havent really looked into it yet but I believe it needs the "spring" placed on the front section of the door, where it is now currently at the end of the track where the garage door openors are...

Richard Cranium · Oct 4, 2015

You can buy a blade that will fit on your circular saw for cutting concrete, Instead of renting a big saw. The rental saw would be quicker, but the blade on your circular saw would most likely be cheaper. (The places here sell you the blade to go on the rental saw)
Good luck, Keep us informed on what you do and how it turns out.
Oh by the way, Welcome to Garage Journal.
Dry Well is a whole that is filled with large to small rocks to allow the water to leach into the ground and not to be a puddle on top of the ground.

NUTTSGT · Oct 4, 2015

Kevin, welcome to GJ.

My garage used to flood when we bought our place and the concrete floor was 70 plus years old. I went the other direction and poured a new floor in the garage. I raised the lowest spot (leveling the floor) in the front corner where the water would come in about 6".

Of course, pouring a new floor will open up the garage to few other projects like reframing garage door openings and possibly raising the entire structure. Don't lose faith or feel overwhelmed, you are in good hands with the members here. There are some very knowledgeable members here willing to share their vast array of brain matter. One than one member has taken on a huge project with little knowledge or money but with advice of their fellow members, determination and sweat equity has ended up having a nice place they are quite proud of.

KevinEF7 · Oct 4, 2015

Sweat equity is literally my biggest asset Ive got going for me, I work until I cant work no more, love doing everything I possibly can on my own

theoldwizard1 · Oct 4, 2015

KevinEF7 said:
What is a drywell?

A drywell is an underground temporary water storage/dispersement containers. In simplest form it is a whole in the ground filled with 3/4-1" size rock/gravel. You would connect your trench drain to it.

Depending on the volume of water it has to deal with, it could be quite large (mine is 6'x6'x4'). Typically the are lined with landscape fabric (to prevent soil from migrating in), bottom, sides and top. With the top covered you can plant grass on it, but you need an overflow built in. Or you can leave it exposed as a "rock garden".

I had almost the exact same problem as you except my water was coming in the back (and rotted out the bottom plate). I did a French drain (buried) over to a dry well. I does overflow (vent through the top) a couple of time a year, but I have a small pump that send the excess down the driveway to the street.

First Weekend in New Home, Garage Floods! Need drains?

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