Garage compensation update

[Bert Coules]

Following advice in an earlier thread about extreme condensation in a sectional concrete garage, I tried laying a plastic membrane sheet over the entire floor area. This reduced the problem almost to zero - and when I lifted the sheet I discovered a standing pool of water underneath it. Clearly the water is seeping up through the base.

So the next step is to dry everything out and then apply some sort of sealant or floor paint. And maybe increase the ventilation too, for good measure.

Thanks to everyone who chipped in with thoughts and suggestions.

Bert

[Tim Watts]

On Wednesday 16 January 2013 08:50 Bert Coules wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Epoxy paint or even a specific DPM like this:

be the best solution - not hugely cheap but very easy to apply, having done it myself.

[Brian Gaff]

Interesting, some people round here have had this for the first time ever recently as well as water coming up in the garden. It seems that the water table is so high, long dead springs are coming to life. I find this sort of thing weird. How does water run uphill in this fashion. Presumably there has to be a mechanism for this to happen but I don't know what it is, you would have thought that living on top of a hill would mean you never get water coming up unless all below you were under water!

Brian

[polygonum]

Any chance of digging a French Drain - or similar - even a simple trench round/near the garage? If you can lower the immediate water table before trying to attack the floor, I'd hold out a much higher chance of success.

[Dave Liquorice]

They do that, several of the durns around here are dry for most of the time (one is called Dry Burn) but once it rains they burst into life. They are on limestone though so I suspect the normal route is througha a cave system and the surafce route only gets used when the caves are full to capacity.

[Dave Liquorice]

Is this damp/wet a recent (last month or so) problem or long standing? If long standing I'd be a bit cautious about sealing so much water that it can form puddles. Partly because what ever you use to seal probably won't last long until the water pressure pushes it off and partly that much water isn't going to do things much good.

The french drain idea around the outside might be worth a try unless the garage floor is lower than the surrounding ground.

[polygonum]

flows in winter only. Observation shows that it failed to flow at all for what seemed like several years - maybe a bit of moisture creeping through slightly muddy lining. Last year, gushing all through the summer.

[Bert Coules]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. Yes, it has occurred to me that sealing in that much water might well give rise to other problems down the line. I'll pass on all the new thoughts to the owner (as I explained previously, it's not my garage) and see what decisions are made.

Bert

[ss]

I agree now that you know where it is entering I would try some preventative measures before sealing.

[Onetap]

An impervious floor paint will probably get blown off by the vapour pressure underneath it.