Garage drainage problem

[Mike]

Well, I don't get much snow where I live but we somehow got surprised with 14 inches last week. After pulling the car into the garage the snow that built up in the wheel wells seemed to form a small pond which ran to the wall that separates the garage from the downstairs living room. I noticed there was a silicone seal along the wall trim in the garage but thought nothing of it when we purchased. Well, apparently there was a crack in the seal and water went under the trim and got the living room carpet wet on the other side.

The contractor that poured this concrete didn't grade this one right I guess. Is there anything I can do to get it to drain out the entrance of the garage? For now, I am parking outside in the drive and knocking the snow off before I pull in. Inconvenient but I would like to enjoy the benefits of having a garage.

Any suggestions?

[Frank]

Most of the track houses I've seen (California) the living space it about 12 or so inches above the garage floor. There are houses here hanging on top of a hill where the garage is above the living space - you pay more for this great view but too adventurous for me. I suppose the garage floor is treated like a flat roof.

If I were you I would open up the wall and carpet and let everything dry, clean it with bleach, wash down and treat with a termite/carpenter ant product before I close it up, reseal and waterproof. Temporarily you could place a large sheet of plastic and curb up the wall and place an old carpet on top of the parking area to absorb the water.

[Camilo]

It sounds like this is an intermittant problem and a cheap and dirty solution might do as opposed to a major rehabilitation. I had a similar problem and just used some material like this to control where the water pooled -

I glued / sealed it with a healthy amount of silicone and it worked perfectly and lasted all season. Then you can just take a cheap small wet vac to remove the water, or get a big floor squeegie to move the water out like using a floor broom.

Or you might use something like this with a good silicone bead to just seal the wall/floor joint better.

Good luck.

By the way, the floor could have shifted as opposed to improper grade from the beginning. Sometimes garages are separate slabs from the house foundation and it happens.

Cam

[Erma1ina]

What about something like this?

Maybe your garage floor grade is such that you could leave off one of the four 1" sides to allow the water to drain out the entrance. If not, you could clean up the trapped water with a Shopvac.