Floor Drain or Sloped?

[suprasteve]

Hi GJ,

I need some advice from those with experience.

My wife and I are building our first new home. It's actually framed right now, and I need to make a decision on the concrete floor.

Install a center floor drain, or slope it?

My builder suggests a drain...no added cost to me- that I'll like it for our Canadian winters and containing general dirt. The collection of salt/slush around the garage doors is a pet peeve of his and he also mentioned because the garage is so deep, if we just do a consistent slope, there will be a pretty big height difference from the back of the garage to the front.

A drain means the floor will be sloped towards the center from all sides slightly.

I work on cars often with jacks and jackstands....hopefully someday with a mid-rise lift. I am worried about safety on a floor that may have 4 sloped sides and a car resting properly but have no experience on anything but drain-free floors.

Any recommendations? flat, or drained?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Steve

 

[Baada]

I assume that since the contractor recommends it the code allows for floor drain or you don't have a governance limiting you?

If you do a slope do you really need to slope the whole thing or just the "parking" area portion? Not sure of your planned internal layout.

 

[Cyberbear]

Due to your location a sloped floor drain seems like the right thing to do. If you plan on adding a lift sometime in the future, that shouldn't be a problem as far as the set-up resting properly, if the slope is slight. Keeping a floor squeegy handy is a plus for quickly moving water into the drain.

 

[maxpower_hd]

I would like a drain if it were an option for me but it is not. They don't allow drains in a garage here.

What I can say is that mine is sloped and it is indeed a significant difference from one end to the other. Maybe 3" or so. But the slope isn't so much that it effects jack stands or even a floor jack under a car. My floor is polished smooth too and it still takes a lot of effort to move a vehicle even on wheel dollies. Same with the floor jack. You MIGHT bey able to get a car to move a bit on the jack if you try but I haven't had one move yet that I didn't want to move. And I work on cars and bikes on jacks and dollies regularly.

 

[ct03911]

Mine is sloped almost 4" over 28' deep. Nothing moves.
Lift install was fine.
No interior floor drains allowed here.
I put the long rectangular grated drains right outside the garage doors in the concrete pad there so when I do wash in the garage I can squeegy the floor out the doors into the drains.

 

[4 FN 27]

I have a trench drains inside every door of my building(s). They are set 1.5 inches below the finish grade of the floor sloping 3/16 inch per foot over 8 feet in each direction.

This allows for good drainage towards the drain and I can drive low cars in and out without scraping. I learned my lesson when I leased a building where the trench drains were set at 1/2 and inch per foot over 8 feet. I had to lay 2 x 10's down to get my Racecar in and out of the building.

If you can put a drain in do it. Nothing is harder on concrete than standing water freezing a thawing. Add salt in the mix in the winter like here in Minnesota and you will have delaminating concrete forever. Been there and done that on my first house. Not to mention the additional humidity and salt will eat you vehicles alive.

The trench drain work best for me. The dirt settles out in the bottom of the trench and about once a month I pull the grates up and use an old shop vac and **** up all the dirt.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Personally I hate floor drains. All they do is catch small items that I drop and the wheels of anything I roll over them.

 

[landlord30]

I put a floor drain in my 24' x 40' space. If I had to do it over I would leave it out. It has been more of a pain in the *** for me than it has been worth, mainly for reasons as mentioned on the post above.

 

[INSP380]

I always had a floor drain until I built this house. Not allowed. I fought and lost. Turns out, I actually like it better. Even 7 years later. Everything always runs out the door. No more squeegee to constantly push the **** to the drain and once the floors settle and the pitch is off, good luck hitting the drain. With the pitch in my floor now, everything drains tward the doors. No grates to clean, no stink, and no backing up. Out the door and down the drive!

Steve

 

[RVDan]

I want drains and a flat floor.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

IDK about Canada, but check you codes about floor drains. Most places around here do not allow them in garages.

Tommy

 

[BillK]

Mine is sloped almost 4" over 28' deep. Nothing moves.

I kind of find that hard to believe. My attached garage is only sloped about 3" over 23 ft and all I have to do is get in my Tahoe, put it in neutral and release the emergency brake and it will roll out of the garage on its own.

If I was the original poster I would want as flat as possible with maybe a VERY slight slope towards the drain.

 

[JimH]

When I built my house I had a center floor drain put in the garage and I would never do it again. When I park my truck on the right side of the garage it puts me stepping down to the lowest spot of the floor, and this a noticeable height difference than when parked anywhere else. Also all of the **** that drips off any vehicles in the garage ends up right next to the drivers door, so I walk through the water/salt/mud to get in or out of the truck. It doesn't help that I live on a dirt road.

And it does making jacking and working under cars a much bigger pain, luckily I have a separate shop for that.