Water in garage from cars/snow and no drain.

[theedudenator]

My garage was built in 1942. It never had a floor drain in it.

Is there a standard way to add a drain?

[Robert Neville]

Cut the slab with a diamond saw, dig a trench, lay the PVC, backfill, repour the concrete. Tis a lot of work, especially if the slab doesn't have the proper slope to bring the water to the drain.

If that's the case, you break up the entire slab with a jackhammer and repour after the drain is installed.

The other question is where the drain empties. You'll need to find a storm drain or sanitary line...

[SteveBell]

[e-mail] wrote in :

I lived in Michigan for a few years. My garage had a drain that was just a hole in the concrete--the water drained into the soil below.

If you have soil that drains, you could have a concrete coring company drill an appropriately-sized hole, then put a slatted cover on it.

Good luck getting the water to run to the hole.

[theedudenator]

I have already noticed the water pools in a certain spot, that is where I would drill the hole.

I am in the country and only have septic. So there are really no drains to use.

[Jerry - OHIO]

If the water just goes under the slab it might wash out the soil.I had my 150 Truck fall through the floor.Builder didn't use wire and half the pour was only three inches and never hooked up drain,pea gravel settled two foot because they poured on frozen ground.I now have a new condo cause part of the kitchen flour dropped three inches. Jerry

[SteveBell]

Jerry - OHIO wrote in :

Hence the "if you have soil that drains" in the part you snipped. That would be a very important consideration.

I always assumed that my garage drain was hooked up to some plumbing. After a couple of weeks of daily snow, the drain backed up. I used my hose to wash out the "pipe", to no avail. After it finally drained on its own, I stuck my hand down and found sand. Lots of sand. I later dug some holes in my back yard and discovered that 10 inches of topsoil covers a prehistoric sand dune.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Very simplistic approach. What if soil condition is not good for that? My son is a civil engineer specializing in water management. Not long ago he went out to an acerage where every thing was soaking wet around house. The soil was too much clay which never drained water. He could see water collected during the flood 4 years ago. The owner needed a big work to install drain net work and holding pond.