Floor Drain Placement ideas

[Pythong]

Been lurking for a very long time. About to start my garage build and have everything pretty much finalized.

I'm going to get my styrofoam this weekend for the underslab insulation. Then groundbreaking will occur!

I'm building a 40x42' garage with a 2 foot in jog. Front will have a 12' and 16' door with another 12' at the rear.

I'm pouring 2 pads that will be used for a hoist sometime in the future.

My biggest concern that i'm trying to figure out is placement of floor drains and looking for input. Below are some screenshots of the layout.

The red DOTS on the pex loop layout is where i'm thinking for rough layout estimates. One in the middle of where the hoist will go, middle of garage and then middle of the 2nd bay.

Anyone with experience for good drain layouts want to chime in!

Thank you.
Chris

 

[Showkey]

Do you have a building permit that approves floor drains in a residential garage ?

Many areas or regions ban floor drains or requires extensive drain trap systems to capture garage type fluids and gases.

 

[rkevins]

In most buildings the floor drains are in the highest place in the floor so most of the time they don't work.

 

[boobag]

what if you slope the whole floor towards the front doors?

 

[Rookie2]

I have a 4"x 96" trough drain in the center of the bay of the main door , with a 1" slope. Keep your work area floors flat and level ! No mater what you do you will need a good squeegee. Drains got to empty outside above ground.

Before I would pour pads I would just pour a 5" slab. the floor will most likely crack at the sharp (4) corners of the pads. The heating will expand the concrete a little in the winter.

create a step for the garage doors to sit in to keep the rain out.

 

[Pythong]

Hey guys!

Yes. I am able to get a permit for the drains. I just need to submit my plans to the city with locations of all drains which is what I'm trying to finalize.

I was originally planning on doing a trench drain across the whole front of the garage and have the garage slope to the front. After talking to some concrete guys they convinced me it was much more complicated to do with the size of the slab. I know anything is possible but I want to stay within budget.

I'm poring a 6" slab. I was told by many people to do a thicker pad for the 2 post hoist as added safety... although I was looking at many install instructions for the hoists and the bolts are only 4" deep...

Thanks for all input guys !

Chris



Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

 

[gnpenning]

If yoiu haven't thought about it already Make sure you have a thermo break between the perimater and the slab as well. Also have your garage doors come down on a thermo break.

You'll love the radiant heat.

You can thicken the slab under the hoist areas instead of doing the whole slab. Also you make want to mark out some spots where you may want to bolt down a vise or tools that you want to bolt to the floor. I didn't on my current place but the next place I will put some cans in the floor to pull to. Not for body but to pull dead vehicles or for anchors for other pulling.

 

[Rookie2]

Move the pex away from the drains or the water will evap out of the traps and you will smell sewage when the heat is on in the winter.

 

[blkhonda1991]

Move the pex away from the drains or the water will evap out of the traps and you will smell sewage when the heat is on in the winter.

or install a trap primer

 

[coljar]

Both of my garages have a lay out similar to yours. I would put the drains about where you have the red dots, but leave out the middle one. A friend of mine has one located in the middle of the stalls and it is always underneath a bench or cabinet.

 

[boobag]

Move the pex away from the drains or the water will evap out of the traps and you will smell sewage when the heat is on in the winter.

or put some vegetable oil in the drain. it floats on water and doesnt evaporate.

 

[wssix99]

1) This floor plan is a recipe for trouble.

2) If your concrete guys understand that you are putting in a lift, they don't know what they are doing and you should go get new concrete guys.

If you are using so much water in your garage that you need this much drainage, your lift equipment will probably not be in its intended/dry environment. Three drains seems like a bit of overkill to me...

The problem here is the penetration of the drains through the slab. Everywhere you have one of these, you'll get cracking - typically radiating outward in 4 directions. You can take control of this phenomena by aligning your control joints with the drains:

On your floor plan, this would put control joints right through were you have your lift, which won't work.

You could offset the drains away from where your lift posts are going to be, but at that point, I would think slot drains would be just as easy to put in. Your floor needs to slope to the garage doors for code, anyway. I don't understand what the big deal is with regard to putting in slot drains. You'd just need a high "ridge" in the floor between the two doors and then the area in the corners of the floor would need to be raised up, slightly, to funnel gasses and water towards the slot drains.

 

[Rookie2]

or put some vegetable oil in the drain. it floats on water and doesnt evaporate.

tried that, oil turns rancid

 

[DMaxRocks]

I'm building a shop, a bit smaller than yours, at 32x45. On my plans, the shop floor will finished to have a small fall towards the garage doors, eliminating the need for a drain. My reason for this is during the hot summer or cold winter months, I have a nice enclosed area to wash my vehicles. I have spoken in-depth to my concrete contractor about this and he assures me it is no problem. I've already told him I will put water on the slab to make sure it runs in the correct direction or I will not make a payment.

We will see!!!

Good luck on your shop...

-Mark

 

[Rookie2]

Pick one bay for car washing ! one drain, one squeegee and the floor heat will cook off what moisture is left and if you limit the water usage you may not get humidity working its way up to the attic area.

 

[boobag]

tried that, oil turns rancid

how about used motor oil?

 

[jroach321]

Sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Do put anchor points in the floor though! 6" is plenty for a lift.