Stopping water from getting into garage

[cgrutt]

My MIL's house has a 2-1/2 car garage that was added to a high ranch about five years ago. Front is at grade back is probably 2, 2-1/2 feet below grade. There is a rear door out to back yard with pad and 2 steps up to sidewalk. The bottom of pad has a drain with a pipe that I'm not sure where it goes to.

Heavy rain last night and about 1" of water made it's way into garage. Fortunately floor slopes away from house but there is still about 1" of standing water on floor after about 10 hours. It looks like water came in at the bottom of door opening. There were leaves stuck on drain in pad.

What can I do (besides keeping drain clear) to prevent water from getting into garage? I'm thinking about epoxying a 1" PVC pipe in front of threshold with some holes drilled into it and capped at both ends. Attaching pump to pipe that will pump any water out to the back?

I know she really needs a trench in front of the sidewalk/pad with better drain, but looking for temporary solution to get through winter...

 

[DGersic]

The only thing that stops water is giving it somewhere else to go. Drains, pipes, drain tile, French drains, whatever you do, it’s to get the water to go somewhere else.



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[James-W]

Pictures of the area would help. If you can, take a few pictures and post them.

 

[cgrutt]

Yeah, I understand the basic physics of it. I'll post some pics tomorrow.

 

[finn]

This thread is a good counterpoint to the thread from a year or so ago from the guy in Minnesota who was bitching that the local authorities wouldn’t let him build a garage because most of his property was on a flood plain. He spent weeks carrying on about how it was his property and the authorities had no right to limit where he could build.... I think they relented and finally signed off, but only for a garage.

Wonder how that worked out for him, or, more importantly, for the next ans subsequent owners.

It the case of this thread, the only option I see is to raise the garage, fill, and repour the slab.

The problem with that, though, is that it will increase the risk of flooding the house, as the water currently inundating the back yard and garage has to go somewhere.

The real problem is that it looks like the neighborhood in a totality was never engineered as a development with a storm water retention and drainage plan. The op refers to repairs done, but if it was a half assed patchwork system to begin with......

This type of short sighted suburban development keeps initial housing construction costs down, but often leaves the owners on their own to deal with messes like this.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The only thing that stops water is giving it somewhere else to go. Drains, pipes, drain tile, French drains, whatever you do, it’s to get the water to go somewhere else.

Absolutely !

 

[Bondo]

There is a rear door out to back yard with pad and 2 steps up to sidewalk. The bottom of pad has a drain with a pipe that I'm not sure where it goes to.

Ayuh,.... Frame it up, 'n enclose the steps,....