Garage Door Water Sealing: How

[Bob]

Hello,

Have a sloping driveway, and, of course, heavy rain water always comes into the garage.

Was wondering if anyone makes a rubber strip, or something similar, that can be fastened to the area under the overhead garrage door to keep the water out ?

My guess is that 1.5" or so in height would be enough to do the job.

The real problem I would think is how to fasten it to the concrete floor rigidly and securely.

Any thoughts ? RTV ? Or,..."

Or might it be a better approach to just fasten as the bottom strip of the garage door so that when it comes down the rubber strip thereon would seal well.

Guess the door would need much more downward force than normal to effect a decent seal. Thoughts ?

How do yhou folks handle this ? Any products you can recommend ?

Thanks, bob

[Jim Elbrecht]

-snip-

My fix would involve digging and concrete work. How much digging, and how much concrete work depends on what part of the world I was in, and how much water I was trying to divert. If you really think 1

1/2" is necessary- I suspect a lot of digging and a lot of concrete.

Jim

[DerbyDad03]

Try here:

[Twayne]

They make a rubber door "gasket" that will accomplish a fairly good job, but it isn't watertight if the water is standing and doesn't run off and awy from the door somehow. There are two hardnesses; the softer seems to work the best. They're sold at most any home supplies store; Lowes, Tru Value, etc. etc.. Sometimes they're seasonal items though. It fastens to the bottom of the door, on the edge that comes in contact with the floor. It's abount an inch thick and 2 1/2" wide and sticks out a little beyond the door with a lip that presses down pretty well. Seal where it contacts the door to prevent water seepage into wood or corroding metal doors.

In my case the cement is nearly perfectly smooth where the rubber on the door comes in contact with the cement so I actually do get an almost perfect water seal. But there is no standing water there; it runs off to the side after collecting at the door itself.

HTH,

Twayne`

[Twayne]

I suppose another option might be to put in a "speed bump" just outside the door but you'd have to be juming it everytime you went in or out.

How about adding surfacing material, cement, asphalt, whatever, to bring it up to grade so the water runs off it before getting to the door?

HTH,

Twayne`

[Joe]

Try a seal as noted above, but don't be disappointed if it is only partially successful. Many of us have had the water fighting problem, and eventually wound up with a diversion scheme to keep it away from the garage. Solved my problem with a laser level and a shovel. Thankfully, no concrete involved.

Joe

[jamesgangnc]

You can't seal the bottom of a garage door. It'll never happen. If your driveway slopes all the way to the door then you need one of those strip drains about a foot from the front the outside of the door. Go all the way across.

[Roy]

=3D=3D Exactly...I used a trench across the width of the driveway filled with coarse gravel. Anywhere from 8 to 12 inch width trench should do and it doesn't need to be that deep either. Put a retainer at each end of the trench to keep the gravel from washing out but still allow the water to drain.

Sure saves cleaning up a soggy mess all of the time. =3D=3D

[Jules Richardson]

I used to see ones all the time overseas that had a trench about 4" wide and 4" deep with a lip to it, and silver metal grills laid on top. Each grille had lots of slits about 1/2 wide in it. Each was just a couple of feet long, and they just sat in there so they could be easily lifted (I suppose the trench fills with leaves and dirt and needs scraping every few years).

Problem is, I don't know where you buy them in the US (if that's where the OP is) - I've been looking out for them for a while.

cheers

Jules

[DerbyDad03]

Have you Googled "trench covers"?

One example...

or:

[Kate]

I had this problem in my last house, but it was not bad. If you type in "Home Improvements Catalog" in a search engine, and then type in, " Garage Door Threshold Seal" it will show you what I used. It worked like a charm, but please keep in mind that in nine years, I only got water in my garage twice.

Let us know what remedy you decided on. Good luck.

[sligoNoSPAMjoe]

I would not expect to seal it. Water had a habit of finding its way past seals. If the natural flow does not take the water away from where you don't want it, I doubt if you can seal it out. You need to provide drainage.

Good Luck

[Jules Richardson]

Those are them! I've never seen them in use anywhere around here, and none of the usual hardware/DIY places seem to carry them.

I like those Amazon ones - useful that they come with the channel too, to save on concrete casting headaches. Price for that three-pack isn't bad, either - although I'm not sure what shipping costs would be (I assume the covers are metal and heavy)

cheers

Jules

[willshak]

It says in the box on the upper right where the "Add to Cart" button is, that it is $8.66. The 3 pack at $91.96 is $17.53 shipping.

[jamesgangnc]

Our lowes has the plastic ones and channels for them.

[Jules Richardson]

Hmm, we're getting a Menards in town sometime soon - maybe they'll have them, too... (not sure where my nearest Lowes is)

(oh, and thanks to Bill for spotting the shipping cost - I'd glanced over all the numbers, but they'd put that one in gray on light blue and I missed it!)

cheers

Jules