Floor drains or sloped floor better?

[rocket6delta]

I will be building a garage in the fall of '08 and wanted to hear opinions of which would be better, floor drains or a sloped floor toward the door. I have no special use in mind for the garage other then general maintenance on my vehicles. Thanks.

 

[sixty4]

Always slope the floor! If washing cars inside the garage just rinse the floor off when done. This works for me.... Another thought, you could put a zipper drain outside the door if need be?

 

[Red Green]

Sloped floor that way if you spill antifreeze or oil it won't run into the drain

 

[rsanter]

if you have a drain in the floor you have to slope the floor to the drain for it to work. most people would prefer a flat floor that has a slope to the door if they will have shop tools and equipment in there. a floor with a center drain will have a compound slope floor.

bob

 

[tigmusky]

sloped floor are nice as mention above ,but if you live in a cold area the door freeze in the winter. I think floor drains with a squegee are the way to go.

 

[lilcuda]

How much slope are we talking about? Do you plan to jack up cars in the garage? If so, make the slope minimal.

My garage floor is sloped about .3" per foot except for 14' at the back of the garage where my workbenches are. The slope was drawn as 1/4" per foot but the concrete guy made it .3" per foot. It ***** for jacking cars up, let me tell you.

The worst part about it is that I was told by the architect that it is code. I found out after the fact that it is not. Here you can make the floor flat, which is what I wanted.

In my opinion, shoot for 1/16" per foot max.

Lee

 

[6768rogues]

My 36x48 has the back 16 feet flat and the front 20 feet sloped to an interior drain. I did not want to slope it to the doors, because I would have a patch of ice in front of the doors for half of the year.
If it is simply a parking garage (hint, tell the code people that) you can probably get away without an oil separator. I like trench drains, but they are expensive.

 

[Bencrx91]

My garage has a drain floor in the middle with sloped floor toward the drain.
The garage door itself as a small portion of the slab along the door (1ft) that slope to the exterior. Door never freezed in the last 3 years and all the water on the floor always go in the drain. The drain itself consist of a "catch" bassin that catch the sand and debries that get carries in the drain.

Drawback of sloped floor toward the drain : lift installation, non-levelled surface to work on.

If you can build 1 portion of the garage with a floor drain, and a levelled surface to install the lift ;o)

I wish I was that rich

 

[nu guy ky]

I went with the slight slope as well Just a month or so ago

 

[TNToy]

I would LOVE to build a shop with a perfectly level floor, and manually squeege it. Hell, I mop my garage periodically anway, so why not a squeege?

I'd love a perfectly level floor for welding/fabrication reasons. Then put a small step upward just inside the door to keep water from squeezing in. But it's probably impossible to find a place where a level floor is permissible under the building code. Not to mention pouring it prefectly level, and keeping it that way as the building settles...

 

[mister honey]

I've done exactly what TNToy suggested...

I told my concrete guy "flat as a pool table, smooth as a baby's behind" and that is what he gave me!

I also have a 1-1/2" step or recess at the overhead door opening, so that the bottom of the door and it's seal sit 1-1/2" lower than my shop floor. There is no way for any water to blow or creep under the door seal!

Mike

 

[rocket6delta]

I live in S.C. so I'm not concerned about freezing around the door. Someone made the point about having a level floor for a lift which is what I plan to do eventually so I think I'll be better off with the sloped floor. Thanks to everyone for their input. Very helpful.

 

[5wndwcpe]

Having a level floor for the lift is not really a big deal as a good installer will shim the lift plumb anyway. The only problem you'll run into with the lift is the rear arms will be off of the floor whereas the front arms will be on the floor. How much depends on the pitch of your floor but in most cases, unless you have a very low profile car, it won't much matter.

 

[6768rogues]

I put my lift in the back portion of my garage where the floor is flat. I try not to put snow covered cars on it in the winter, by letting them melt off before moving them back to the lift.

 

[boiler7904]

Depends on your actual uses. Floor drains will be great for washing your car in the winter until you drop a nut or bolt in it while you're doing mechanical work. Flat will be great if you plan to use the garage for woodworking or metal fabrication.

Talk to the local building department. A lot of cities and counties have outlawed floor drains in garages because of the threat of water pollution. Of those municipalitiesthat haven't outlawed floor drains (yet), they will likely require a oil / grease seperator which will get pricey.

 

[lilcuda]

Having a level floor for the lift is not really a big deal as a good installer will shim the lift plumb anyway. The only problem you'll run into with the lift is the rear arms will be off of the floor whereas the front arms will be on the floor. How much depends on the pitch of your floor but in most cases, unless you have a very low profile car, it won't much matter.

I checked out the photos of your car in your photo album listed in your sig. Without a level floor, you can't safely put a car on 4 jackstands like you did to do your bodywork. I wouldn't trust it, personally. Having a floor sloped more than 1/16" per foot is ridiculous in my opinion.

Lee

 

[1991Syclone]

Would code restrictions come into play when getting approval to install a drain in the garage floor? Don't quote me on it, but I think some areas may not allow a floor drain in a garage.

 

[Kevin54]

Around this area almost every floor that does not have a floor drain is sloped from the back to the door opening about 2". In cold weather climates it would be better to have a floor drain so all the water runs to the middle and out the drain. With a sloped floor that goes towards the opening, any slush. snow, water runs to the door and with the weather we are having at the moment will freeze a door down and create ice outside of the door. In a warm climate I guess it really doesn't matter on the floor and would be a personal preference depending on how you use the space.

Kevin

 

[Splinter]

I should have started this topic a few weeks back

Mine is getting poured this weekend, and I'm still undecided. I'd like to have a drain in the middle of the work area for washing cars, etc., but at the same time, I don't want to have problems if I'm jacking cars up or any issues if I ever put a lift in... grrrrr.

 

[5wndwcpe]

I checked out the photos of your car in your photo album listed in your sig. Without a level floor, you can't safely put a car on 4 jackstands like you did to do your bodywork. I wouldn't trust it, personally. Having a floor sloped more than 1/16" per foot is ridiculous in my opinion.

Lee

Actually, my floor is sloped 1/10" per foot and isn't a problem when using jackstands in a human manner. True, the photos of the Mustang build in my sig. show the car in a less than ideal situation, but was necessary to gain the working room to sandblast the bottom of the car. When the blasting was done, the car was returned to a normal position.

 

[lilcuda]

Actually, my floor is sloped 1/10" per foot and isn't a problem when using jackstands in a human manner. True, the photos of the Mustang build in my sig. show the car in a less than ideal situation, but was necessary to gain the working room to sandblast the bottom of the car. When the blasting was done, the car was returned to a normal position.

I hope you don't think I was being critical of the way you had your car on jackstands. That wasn't my intention. I was trying to make a point about sloped floors being problematic in situations like that.

With a 1/4" per foot slope like mine, it's not very safe to put a car on jackstands. I had to pull my Barracuda forward so that the jackstands were placed on the flat part of the floor in order to feel comfortable lying under the car. I have the room, so it's not a big deal, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having a big garage if only certain parts of it are useful.

Lee

 

[bobss396]

The correct terminology for masons to pitch a floor for drainage is called "fall". A 1/4" in a foot is extreme, an 1/8" should do it.

I knew of a stock car racer that had his new garage all formed out for a dead level floor, when he came home, the mason contractor told him that he was lucky to have caught the level floor "mistake" in time and corrected it for him. There was nothing that could be done.

A lever floor makes it easier for serious chassis set up and a base for fabricating. Mine is 55 years old and is pitched towards the center, not what I'd do if I were building one from scratch.

 

[5wndwcpe]

I hope you don't think I was being critical of the way you had your car on jackstands. That wasn't my intention. I was trying to make a point about sloped floors being problematic in situations like that.

With a 1/4" per foot slope like mine, it's not very safe to put a car on jackstands. I had to pull my Barracuda forward so that the jackstands were placed on the flat part of the floor in order to feel comfortable lying under the car. I have the room, so it's not a big deal, but that kinda defeats the purpose of having a big garage if only certain parts of it are useful.

Lee

No dude, we're cool. Truth be told, I wasn't too keen on that setup myself.

 

[SRS]

Rocket, last year I had a 30 X 45 Morton building built. I installed a 16' long drain in the center of the building and had the concrete sloped toward it. I used a 2 X 4 piece of lumber as a guide to make the drain 1 1/2 inches lower than the outside walls. You can barely tell that there is a slope. The good part is that all the melting snow and ice from my truck or tractor run right into the drain then out onto the grass. You can wash the truck, tractor, dog in the middle of the winter and not worry about water freezing up if it was sloped toward the garage door. The bad part, none, other than there is a metal grate in the middle of the floor. And for those who are concerned about running it out onto the grass I have no intentions of dumping oil, grease, radiator fluid, etc. onto my property. The drain was installed only for washing the vehicles and possibly the concrete floor itself.

 

[400excracer]

I agree with SRS. I have a floor drain and I love it. I had it put in witht the intention of washing cars during the winter and having a place for the snow and ice to drain to. I washed my cars for the first time on my garage last weekend and it worked out great.

 

[Kevin54]

With a 1/4" per foot slope like mine, it's not very safe to put a car on jackstands.

1/4" per foot is way excessive. House drains don't have that much fall. And if I remember anything from plumbing from helping my FIL i think house drain, gutters, etc, is something like 1/4" fall per 10' of run. For a typical auto with water running off or even a hose running, as long as there is slope to a drain, the water will run that way. So from all four sides of a garage, as long as you have a 1/4" -1/2" fall, you should be more than fine. And that would not be enough slope to worry about a lift or jackstand problems. Just finding a contractor to get it right is the largest issue. Some are good enough that they can eyeball the fall, some will set grade pins, and then others will tell you what you want to hear until they have your money and are out of sight. LOL!!!

 

[PhantomEB]

I've done exactly what TNToy suggested...

I told my concrete guy "flat as a pool table, smooth as a baby's behind" and that is what he gave me!

I also have a 1-1/2" step or recess at the overhead door opening, so that the bottom of the door and it's seal sit 1-1/2" lower than my shop floor. There is no way for any water to blow or creep under the door seal!

Mike

Times 2!!!!! I love the idea of puttin a step under the door opening but I wont go that tall, I think 3/4" would be plenty enough.