My garage door is downhill of a slope and water is leaking in at the bottom even though the door has a rubbery gasket all along the bottom and it appears closed.
Do you know if this is a common problem and what the normal remedy might be?
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normally there's either a slope, or a french drain, to remove the water. the seal isn't supposed to be waterproof, but just to keep the bugs out.
The gasket may be just for "weather proofing" and not intended to be water proof.
There are "garage door threshold" kits that have a piece that goes on the door and a piece that goes on the door which claim to stop water infiltration. Google "garage door threshold" for options.
That said, depending on how steep the incline is, combined with how much water comes down, even the garage door threshold kit might not work.
You may need a drain or diversion system to fix the problem.
I see options from 30 dollars to 800 dollars! :)
The price range for a ten-foot length is huge! Is there a consensus on what kinds are best?
I'm looking, for starters, at this one from Amazon, in the middle range at $109 for 16 feet.
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You can try one of those but as others have already said the solution is to either cut a drain or re-profile the drive so there is not a downhill slope directly into the garage from the drive.
This should not have been done initially; if the house is new I'd go back to the contractor for the fix.
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re: "a piece that goes on the door and a piece that goes on the door"
My bad... I meant to say "a piece that goes on the *floor* and a piece that goes on the door", not door and door.
re: "30 dollars to 800 dollars"
I guess it depends on the traffic, the amount of water, the condition of the floor, the uneveness of the gap, etc. etc. etc.
Far too many variables for us to make the decision for you.
Why not call/visit a couple of local garage door repair places and ask their opinion? Bring along some pictures, maybe showing some water, but definitely showing the condition of the floor where the door closes and the steepness of the incline, etc.
Good luck!
There is not going to be any real satisfactory solution to sealing the bottom of the door. The intent of the gasket is just to keep out occasional water that splashes against it. The water needs to drain away from the door. If the drive in front of the door does not slope away that needs to be fixed. If just too much water is splashing against the door then a gutter on the roof above is probably needed.
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Exactly. Even if you could block the water, instead of running into the garage, it's going to pool just outside the door. Either the outside grading needs to be changed, or you could install a channel drain that goes across the apron in front of the door. The water in the channel then gets drained away, preferly by gravity to a lower discharge area or if not via sump pump. The later obviously has it's own pitfalls.
Your problem is grading, not gaskets. The terraine should slope away from the structure. As long as the elevation decreases as it approaches the garage, water will find a way in, and the band aides you are looking at will not work.
Joe G
How deep does the water get outside the door when it gets inside the garage. if it just seeps into the garage, the thresholding idea will help. If it gets more than 1/2 inch deep, it will just come in over the threshold every time you open the door. If you have a caulking gun, no need to buy a kit, just buy the threshold and suggest edhesive locally.
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