Fixed my garage water problems with new concrete apron

[reader2580]

My current detached garage has a huge apron in front of it. 24 feet long and 20 feet wide. The rest of driveway is gravel. Anyhow, I had water in the garage after most rainfalls and in the winter. I added gutters which helped somewhat. I finally checked and the concrete is sloped TOWARDS the garage. No wonder I had water issues.

I spent about $12,000 for a new larger concrete apron and all my water issues are fixed now. The contractor also replaced all of the blocks along the front of the garage that were falling apart. (Just a single row of block.) No water issues in the garage after about two inches of rain since Friday evening. The garage looks like new from the front since it has fairly new siding, new block, new concrete, and fairly new garage door.

 

[JimH74]

Great news!

 

[67CarGuy]

Nice fix!

 

[rayra]

Expensive fix, too. How did the first apron builder screw up the slope? I mean that's a pretty fundamental mistake.

 

[jack stand]

Something must have settled or heaved in the winter and not settled back, but I completely agree with you. That's pretty much step one when building forms.

 

[Jeff C]

Picture? My gravel comes all the way up to my garage. I want to add a big concrete pad like you have. It’s amazing how much gravel tracks in the garage from the gravel along with a long list of other inconveniences.

 

[reader2580]

Expensive fix, too. How did the first apron builder screw up the slope? I mean that's a pretty fundamental mistake.

No idea. The garage was built in the early 1980s long before I bought the house in 2014. The concrete was in pretty bad shape with lots of spalling. I suspect it might have been a homeowner job as homeowners often don't know how to finish concrete correctly leading to spalling down the road. I don't think it was frost heaving as the apron was still level with the garage floor.

 

[txvwnut]

 

[reader2580]

Picture I took this morning. I also had the slab poured for my 60x24 building to be framed next year. Of the course, the slab was extra cost.