Water In Garage

[cobymedic]

I need some help!

I have water coming into my garage through the lower walls in a couple spots. You can see were the OSB is stained maybe about 2 inches up the wall. I have noticed this about 3 times now on mild days or during heavy rain.

Unfortunatly I am not able to dig for weeping tiles or even to see what the actually problem is because of the snow. I was wondering if it would be possible to pull down the interior walls and coat the inside of the exterior walls with some kind of membrane to stop or even slow down the water? I know this is far from the best method because the water will still be damaging the exterior walls but I just need something to buy me a little bit of time untill spring rolls around and I can do it up right.

 

[83trekker]

My garage which is just a floating slab. The walls are directly on the slab theres no pony walls at all. Well once the siding went on the slab wasnt exactly square so any where the siding landed on some of the walls with the slab sticking out a 1/4 of an or so.(Hopefully you know what I mean) SO when it rained lots the water would leak in. So i just coated in the gap with Solar Seal on the outside, not the best way to do this but it worked. I also have treated wood on the bottom plate also.

 

[cobymedic]

Yeah I am pretty sure that is what I am dealing with as well, from what I can see of the foundation it looks just like a slab.

Do you have a link to this solar seal stuff?

 

[kbs2244]

First thing is to get your gutters and down spouts aimed away from the house.
Graity is your friend.
Do your work onthe gutters and down spouts first.
And you will not need permits

 

[Kevin54]

If your walls are built on a slab foundation, the outer OSB and or whatever is over that should overlapped the slab by about an inch. This would have kept any water from directly running in. But you say that you have snow. It may be the case that snow is built up around that area and heat from the interior is melting it and letting it run through. It's hard to tell without a pic as to how it is built. I would dig any snow away from the foundation where you are getting water though. Also it could be that if you have any ice built up in the gutters and no ice guard on the roof, that it is running back and melting and running down the interior of the wall. Do you have any pipes running up through the roof in that area? also is there any house wrap between the siding and the outer OSB? Water can be a multitude of possibilities. Also you don't want any ground contact with the bottom of the siding. If it is, then things will need to be re-excavated in the Spring.

 

[cobymedic]

Thats the problem, I just purchased this house and I really have no idea of what the actually problem is. When we first moved in OCt31st we had some heavy rain and I noticed water on the floor but a few days later we got hit hard with snow and I never got a chance to take a look at the garage.

Thats why I am just looking for a quick "Duct tape" fix, untill I can get to the bottom of the problem and correct it properly. I am pretty sure that it is a combination of insufficent weeping tile or lack there of and the down spout coming of the house and into the ground as the garage is downhill of the house. But there is nothing I can do about that right now.

There are no pipes along the rough, well there is put it is just a water pipe to get water to front of the garage outside and it has been completely drained for the winter.

 

[83trekker]

Yeah I am pretty sure that is what I am dealing with as well, from what I can see of the foundation it looks just like a slab.

Do you have a link to this solar seal stuff?

I dont sorry freind is in construction and its only sold to Contractors, though if you look hard enough im sure you could buy it. The stuff is amazing, it claims you can lay a bead down come back 25-30 yeras later and it should still look the same.

 

[blkhonda1991]

i never got why people would build right on a slab on grade...its asking for water/moisture issues

 

[porschedude996TT]

You need to deal with the water on the outside of the structure. Either on the outside surface or the ground.

 

[Junkman]

i never got why people would build right on a slab on grade...its asking for water/moisture issues

I agree, but it was a common practice 20+ years ago. I own a piece of property that the garage is built on a slab, and the bottom plate of the walls are starting to rot in some places. I did fix it temporary, but the only solution is to raise the entire building and fix it properly using pressure treated lumber. This is an expense that I am not looking forward to doing. Since it is a rental property, not my home, it isn't high on the priority list

 

[cobymedic]

Would it be possible to dig around the slab and pour kind of a cirb type setup all around the garage? Be kind of way to protect the wood from the surroundings?

Basically the reverse of the way it is normally done.

 

[Technophobe]

...the garage is built on a slab, and the bottom plate of the walls are starting to rot in some places. ...the only solution is to raise the entire building and fix it properly using pressure treated lumber.

Should still set the walls on a couple courses of block to keep the plate and exterior suitably above ground level.