Water Drainage Issues :(

[freewillyb]

I moved into my current house last year and my dad and I started building a new 30x30 garage with a 12' covered patio. It went very well, but I quickly realized some mistakes that concrete guy (one of the few things we actually contracted out) had made. The current one I'm dealing with is that the garage door openings aren't sloping away from the garage to drain water away. In fact, in some places it has a slight slope back INTO the garage! On top of that, he also poured a piece to tie the garage into the existing driveway and it connects to the garage foundation at the same elevation, if not slightly HIGHER than the foundation. Needless to say, we are having some water infiltration issues...

We have caulked the expansion groove in the concrete so that water shouldn't be coming in through it, caulked around the framing of the garage door and weather stripping, and now have installed the rubber dam that goes along the bottom of the garage door to keep water out.

Unfortunately, we are still having issues whenever it rains and the wind is blowing the water into the garage doors because all the water that hits the doors just runs down and pools up until it finally makes its way inside. Does anyone have any ideas on some fixes? One thing I'm thinking about is grinding the opening and the driveway down to a proper slope but I dont know how to make it look good. The other would be to cut out that section of concrete and install a channel drain, I'm just unsure of how to actually drain the water away if we were to do that.

 

[Mr. D]

If I read al that correctly the slab was poured to low. A channel drain would work if you have the distance and slope to drain to.

 

[freewillyb]

It's not that the foundation is too low, per se. It's more like when they formed the concrete for this "tie-in" piece that went between the existing driveway and garage, they had the finished edge at pretty much the exact elevation of the foundation, and some parts the edge just a touch higher.

But what I'm having trouble figuring out with the drains is how to get the water out. Because of the specific area of the issue, I would have to cut out the 5.5" or so section between the driveway and garage door spanning the 10' and 12' between the frame of the door. That means I wouldn't be able to stretch it out to the edges of the concrete to drain out, but instead, I would need to cut back into the driveway. And I'm trying to go with as natural looking of a solution as possible lol

 

[6768rogues]

If it were mine, I would saw cut it, jackhammer it and remove it. Then either install a trench drain or install new concrete that is sloped properly. Everything else is a temporary fix.

 

[ard]

this "tie-in" piece

How many SQUARE FEET is this 'tie in' piece?????

 

[freewillyb]

How many SQUARE FEET is this 'tie in' piece?????

450 sq ft. It's 15' long, 30' wide (the width of the garage) and has a valley running across it in the middle with 4 channel drains that catch all the water coming down the driveway. These drains are about 7-8 feet away and downhill from the garage door.

 

[freewillyb]

If it were mine, I would saw cut it, jackhammer it and remove it. Then either install a trench drain or install new concrete that is sloped properly. Everything else is a temporary fix.

If we had the money, that's what I would I do. Unfortunately I don't have the budget or the time for a fix that involved, especially if something as simple as grinding a gentle slope would fix it.

 

[58Yeoman]

It would probably help if you could post some pix.

 

[freewillyb]

It would probably help if you could post some pix.

Sorry, it wouldn't let me when I tried earlier. Had to get my post count up before it would allow me to post pics or links. But here is the front of the garage. I don't have any close-ups of the area I'm talking, but this should give you a better idea of what I'm working with.

If the wind isn't actually blowing the wind up against the door, I don't really have any issues. It's just when the rain hits the door, runs down and pulls up in that little area that I highlighted.

 

[Mr. D]

I don't know, that's looks like it slopes down pretty good to me.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Looks like a HUGE slope away from the garage to me, too. And I see drains...

Tommy

 

[freewillyb]

Ya'll are looking at the approach into the garage, which is currently doing it's job and keep water runoff from the driveway from entering the garage. The issue I'm having is actually at the garage door.

After I got home last night, I tried to take a couple more pictures to show what I'm talking about. You can see from the close up that the finished edge of foundation and the driveway are the same, and the driveway is actually a little higher in several spots. It's not much, but it's enough for water to pool up. Now when that water finally gets high enough to crest that lip, it will absolutely run down that slope and into the drain. BUT, before that ever happens, it pools up and comes into the garage.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I see. Looks like they poured just a little too much. I'm surprised they didn't screed it more to make it at least a couple of degrees of pitch...

Tommy

 

[finn]

Same issue in my shop. I bought a diamond grinding wheel for the 4 1/2" grinder... It's on the to do list. I plan to grind a shallow swale about three feet long from the low spot to the sloped threshold. In my case, I think driven rain slides down the door and runs inside, past the seal.

 

[ForceFed70]

That was going to be my advice - rent a grinder.

 

[manwithtools]

I'd get a diamond cup wheel for the 4-1/2" grinder and bust that edge down below the garage slab. I would be tempted to tapper from the garage door sealing surface out about a foot (meaning the garage slab and the approach). Remove the dam and create a path for the water to run off.

 

[matt_i]

Agree with others, a good dust mask and a segmented diamond wheel for the angle grinder.

I would even go as far as to suggest a 1/8" undercut where the door gasket goes that's lower than the garage slab. Blend that all the way into the large downslope.

 

[BillK]

I would call the concrete guy and have him grind it.

 

[rarebreed]

freewillyb, you can rent a Diamond Grinder to do that. I work for Sunbelt and we have a location in Spartanburg and another in Greenville that you should be able to get one from.

Let me know if you need help with a contact number for the location.

 

[freewillyb]

I would call the concrete guy and have him grind it.

I called him and he said "I'll come and look at it" and I haven't heard from him since... but I had more than this one issue with some of his (or more likely, his helpers) so I think I'd rather just fix it myself... lol


Based on all of ya'lls comments, I'm thinking grinding will be the way to go. I'm gonna try out a diamond cup on my angle grinder. If that doesn't work, I'll probably shoot you a PM, rarebreed.

The next question would be how do I dress it up after I'm done. I'm assuming I would need to reseal it, but I have no idea how to do that.

 

[Lassen Forge]

You need to install a slot drain to collect the water just outside of where the door is and divert it away from the garage door. Pretty common where we used to live, where the driveway slopes down TOWARD the garage door. If you do the work it won't be that expensive -

The drain channel and grate cover, the drainage pipe to send the water away (lower elevation or french drain), sackrete to anchor the drain in place, Rental of a concrete saw to cut the slot, and a hammer to break the cutout section out. Maybe rebar to anchor it all in place.

You MAY need a permit (since we're talking drainage), but all in all, it's about a weekend project. You still may get some water intrusion, but that will cut out 90+ % of it.

This is REALLY common back when we lived in the Oakland Hills, and a lot of driveways were sloped TOWARD the garage.

 

[Lynden]

It appears from the first picture in reply #12 that the area of the garage floor between the rubber threshold and the driveway slab slopes toward the threshold. Is this an optical illusion?

 

[rarebreed]

Based on all of ya'lls comments, I'm thinking grinding will be the way to go. I'm gonna try out a diamond cup on my angle grinder. If that doesn't work, I'll probably shoot you a PM, rarebreed.

Sounds good. Let me know if you need help.

 

[penright]

Couple of thoughts by asking some questions.

1. Does it run under you door threshold or does it sweep around the edges?
2. If it is an edge, does run toward one side or the other?

I had the same issue with my old house. It one two car door and it ran to one side. All I had to do was chisel a grove from that edge to an expansion joint that ran in front of the door. You will be surprise how much water will go down a expansion joint.

In your situation you have one running down from the 2 car door. If you cut another one across the door from edge to edge, then water running back would be channeled into the one running down the approach. If that would work then you could do the same thing for the one car side. The one car for the "up/down" cut you could go down the center. To balance out the two car you may want cut a second one same distance in.

Also, you cutting an expansion joint may be cheaper than grinding. Since you don't want the guy who did back, you might see how much someone else would charge you. Then see what the delta is from renting.
I do see an issue with the side to side one. You can only get so close with a circular saw without hitting the wall. If they use a push to do most of the work you will have to follow it you with a smaller one and finally chisel to the wall. Cut as much as possible as you can imaged the chisel will be jagged.

 

[freewillyb]

It appears from the first picture in reply #12 that the area of the garage floor between the rubber threshold and the driveway slab slopes toward the threshold. Is this an optical illusion?

It's a little exaggerated, I think, but it DOES slope slightly back towards the threshold. It's hard to notice until you have a level on it, but there are definitely places that slope back inwards.

Couple of thoughts by asking some questions.

1. Does it run under you door threshold or does it sweep around the edges?
2. If it is an edge, does run toward one side or the other?

It's mostly around both edges of both doors, though I believe there is SOME water that's getting underneath the threshold. But it's hard to tell if it's coming underneath or the water I'm seeing is coming around and tracking on the threshold back to the center of the door.

 

[penright]

It's mostly around both edges of both doors, though I believe there is SOME water that's getting underneath the threshold. But it's hard to tell if it's coming underneath or the water I'm seeing is coming around and tracking on the threshold back to the center of the door.

You might have someone spray water across the face of the door and let it run down, not at the bottom, while you are on the inside watching. I bet what is happening, is the water is running down the front pooling, then going around the edges. Is the threshold sealed? Even if it is, it would be temporary.

Did you install the threshold for the water issue?

I don't know what would be easier grinding or cutting a grove the length of the doors and then a grove down to the drain area.

 

[freewillyb]

Penright, that's my guess too. The threshold WAS installed for the water, hoping it would act like a dam. But it appears to just pool up and come around the edges like you are talking about. I've actually placed some plumbers putty (per suggestion by my father-in-law) to see if that helps. Even so, this would be temporary until I can get around to grinding down the lip.