Garage Drain

[Ian S.]

My parents live in a house (built in 1961) where the garage is basement level. The floor is approx. 3 feet below grade. They had their driveway repaved about 10 years ago and at the same time, the paving company made a new drain at the bottom of the driveway as well as a square hole in the garage slab. The outside drain drains into the hole in the garage floor.

The drain is a 12"x12" hole in the slab that drains all the water under the garage floor. The original 2" floor drain is still there so no sewer gasses come in, but it is only used to drain the AC.

Is this a legal drain? It has worked great for 10 years and since the house is more than 50 years old, no vapor barrier is under there. Also, I guess the house has settled as much at it will, so uneven settling probably isn't a problem either. I also clean out the hole in the floor once a year or so.

I was just curious if this is done elsewhere, or only by people who cut corners.

Thank you,
Ian

 

[matt_i]

Its just a low-point collection pit so in my opinon it probably functionally works just fine.

If you are on city sewer it probably would not be legal these days. Its a straight conduit for nasty stuff like oils and coolant, etc etc to get into the return water to the treatment plant.

If you are on a septic its proceed at your own peril, the oils you happen to discharge in there, if large enough quantity, will put you in financial hurt later on when the drainfield needs to be rebuilt.

 

[tinmanwpk]

Probably not legal if it were built today, but it should be legal when it was built in the 60's. It is grandfathered.

 

[Ian S.]

Here is a pic with things labeled.
The water comes in from the driveway and drains in the gravel under the slab.

 

[Jay H 237]

I just don't see wanting to drain all that water into the house and under the slab. Id rather have it drain out into the yard and away from directly adding moisture into the dwelling.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Garage floor drains are a no-go in NJ...

Tommy

 

[Ian S.]

Garage floor drains are a no-go in NJ...

Tommy

Here in Montreal, they are a necessity. The garage is 36" below grade and when 4" - 6" of snow fell and then 1\2" of rain, all in 24 hours, there is a lot of water coming down the driveway.

Ian