Install garage drain with sump

[killramos]

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Is there frost under a heated garage? Serious question. It would likely freeze around the perimeter but how far does it extend under the pad? For my scenario, the water on the floor hasn't frozen and the holes don't clog with ice so it hasn't really mattered in my garages.


To clarify my simple holes in the pad, by no means is this a "drain" in a plumbing sense, you can't have a sink or shower with flowing water running under your foundation. This is strictly for melt water from a car.

When I first did this in my 4 car garage, water was pooling at the dividing wall between the two sides of the garage. The alternative to drilling holes was pooled water under a 2x4 wall which would eventually rot the wood and ruin the drywall. The holes have been there for 10 years, zero issues, no pooling of water.

I think we are advocating for the same thing

[TomcoPDR]

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No trolling. I drilled through the ~4" of concrete with a hammer drill to allow the pooling water to drain. This was a garage that I built new.

At my current house, garage was built ~40-50 years ago, the previous owner did the same thing. He drilled a few random holes in the floor to allow the pooled water from melted snow to drain through the concrete.

Any photos for visual... I'm trying to picture this

[cyra1ax]

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Never mind me OP, apparently I just dreamt up that restriction (likely to dial back my scope creep at the time)

Not just you, I heard of the same thing.
In fact, I even knew of a guy that put in a little sump pit under his pad and a drain to feed it. Got the concrete guys to cover it. After the City cleared it, he jackhammered the drain out and put the cover on

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Not just you, I heard of the same thing.
In fact, I even knew of a guy that put in a little sump pit under his pad and a drain to feed it. Got the concrete guys to cover it. After the City cleared it, he jackhammered the drain out and put the cover on

x3. I'm confident I've heard there is some dumb regulatory issue with this.

[benyl]

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When I was building last year, I asked our architect and builder about this. They said City doesn't allow such connections due to potential for contamination to enter sewer system / waste water outflows (e.g. oil spills, etc.). Presence of such a thing would not pass pre-possession city inspection.

I'm sure code/requirements have evolved over time. Not surprised to hear of existing homes with this, but was told new-build was a strict no-go.

I don't know why this keeps coming up.

The house we built in 2010 had garage drains connected to the house sewer system. Basically anything in the garage coming off the cars would go down the same drain as my shower and my toilets.

We are just about to finish a house and I have the same setup. The line drain pictured below goes into the house and out the regular line.

Attachment 101793

[88CRX]

We have 2 drains in our garage. 2018 build. It was on the building permit drawings and constructed that way.

[Sentry]

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Any photos for visual... I'm trying to picture this

[90_Shelby]

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I think we are advocating for the same thing

I understand that, I'm curious how frost depth is impacted by a heated building.

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Any photos for visual... I'm trying to picture this

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I thought that was you again!!!!! Your contributions have covered the fuel cost for the Trackhawk for 1 week!

[jutes]

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Squeegee solution is a lot of cold work on my part... plus north driveway means I just end up with ice everywhere outside

Install a heated driveway?

[bjstare]

It drives me crazy that those holes are seemingly randomly placed. I’d have measured out some type of pattern.

[TomcoPDR]

Ahhh. That’s a good quick solution

[ExtraSlow]

Looks like something I would do. Honestly something I SHOULD do.

[The_Penguin]

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Looks like something I would do. Honestly something I SHOULD do.

We have a high spot in the swale right in the middle of our backyard. The city won't fix it, the developer won't fix it. Maybe I should drill some holes, just to keep the nasty water from sitting there...

[schurchill39]

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We have a high spot in the swale right in the middle of our backyard. The city won't fix it, the developer won't fix it. Maybe I should drill some holes, just to keep the nasty water from sitting there...

Grinder with a diamond disk

[g-m]

Will those spall because of salt I wonder? I really should drill some if that works

[The_Penguin]

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We have a high spot in the swale right in the middle of our backyard. The city won't fix it, the developer won't fix it. Maybe I should drill some holes, just to keep the nasty water from sitting there...

Brain fart. Meant LOW spot.

[cyra1ax]

Bump. Did you happen to get a cost @jwslam ? Debating getting one put in for mine.

[Ekliptix]

Interested. My 3 car garage doesn't have a drain, and I've already had the garage door frozen to the floor from water melted off the car.
I'd love a french drain with a catch bin like this (https://concreteinnovations.ca/pages...e+Solutions/52), but I'm guessing it'd be upwards of $5k all in.

My cheap solution is gluing some flexible rubber trim down to catch the melting water and divert it all to a corner near the garage door. From there, I can either a) drill a ~8" hole in the concrete to catch the water which I'd manually empty, often, or b) allow the water to escape under the garage door to the driveway via a small piece of PCV pipe cut in 1/2, potentially with a piece of heat tape/cable to prevent icing shut.


I like the suggested ease of just drilling holes in the floor and letting it drain, but my gut tells me I don't want a bunch of water under my garage concrete.

[GT.....O?]

Bought one of these, and ran a drain out to the apron. I was able to get my concrete guy to slope the entire garage to the drain which is centered on the door.

Works awesome, and i think the drain was only 350 bucks??

If you have an area where the water is consistently pooling it might make sense, otherwise a line drain. I would suggest just capping the outlet if you cant slope out the drain anywhere though.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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Interested. My 3 car garage doesn't have a drain, and I've already had the garage door frozen to the floor from water melted off the car.
I'd love a french drain with a catch bin like this (https://concreteinnovations.ca/pages...e+Solutions/52), but I'm guessing it'd be upwards of $5k all in.

My cheap solution is gluing some flexible rubber trim down to catch the melting water and divert it all to a corner near the garage door. From there, I can either a) drill a ~8" hole in the concrete to catch the water which I'd manually empty, often, or b) allow the water to escape under the garage door to the driveway via a small piece of PCV pipe cut in 1/2, potentially with a piece of heat tape/cable to prevent icing shut.


I like the suggested ease of just drilling holes in the floor and letting it drain, but my gut tells me I don't want a bunch of water under my garage concrete.

You could also place a big absorbent mop in the corner that you've diverted to.
A thick bead of silicone seal also works well to divert.