Garage floor drain

[Ken Bartz]

I am about to pour a cement floor in my shop/garage and I would like to put in a floor drain. I assume there should be a catch basin or something like that installed. Then I would just run it outside on to the ground . What should I do? Do you all have any experience with this?

[Plymouthy Adams]

What you need to make is similar to the ole kitchen grease traps...

[oldmopar]

Its been a while since I have done any drain work but as I to recall the pipe should pitch (drop) 1" for every 10' of pipe. Depending on where you live and what is coming out of the drain pipe you may need to keep it below ground or at least out of sight to avoid any EPA problems.

ed

[jimwheeldon]

When they did mine they just made a 14''x14'' frame out of 2x6's and a strip of

1x2's at the top. It formed a lip so I could put a metal grate in. Works good...it just migrates into the ground..fine as long as you don't have much volume of water.

[Norm's Coupe]

I would run a ditch type drain covered by a grate across the front of the garage. Then pitch the floor to the front (overhead door) so all the water would drain out the door into the ditch. That way the ditch/drain is outside the garage and you wouldn't need a catch basin. The water would run off to one side of the garage. Should extend the ditch a few feet past the side of the garage/concrete surface at entrance though to keep any water migrating back to and under the floor. Also doing it that way if ever questioned by the DNR, you ran the ditch to keep the water out of the garage, not draining the water from the garage, so it's surface water from rain, etc. you were trying to keep out. If it fills with snow and ice in the winter just dump some ice melter into the channel ditch.

You can pick up preformed drain/ditch channels with the grates from places like Menards.

[55 Fargo]

Norm, would this work in front of my garage, I would imagine this could work for me most of the year except those few months of real cold...................Fred

[Norm's Coupe]

Norm, would this work in front of my garage, I would imagine this could work for me most of the year except those few months of real cold...................Fred

Fred,

If your garage floor is pitched to the overhead door like its supposed to be it should. Also, it will help keep water from coming into the garage from the outside.

Actually, the ditch type drain is and has been used for years in a lot of factories where you have a lot of water and chemicals running on the floor all the time. They are easier to keep clean than a pipe running under the floor. To clean out the ditch, just lift up the grate and clean it out, then put the grate back. If you stop up a pipe type drain under the floor, you'd have to snake it out.

[Normspeed]

Norm, would this work in front of my garage, I would imagine this could work for me most of the year except those few months of real cold...................Fred

Sorry for pirating the thread for a second, but Fred, you gotta define those "few months of real cold":D Is that when you throw a bucket of water in the air and it freezes before it lands?

I plan to build a steel shed with a concrete floor so I'm all ears when it comes to this subject.

[mackster]

What you need to make is similar to the ole kitchen grease traps...

You will need a P-trap like in the kitchen if you are worry about smells and critters back washing their way from the yard out thru the pipe. I would do a P-trap if it was my drain...

[greg g]

Most garages around here have a or pit drain. Basically a lined hole or a precast concrete piece with about 3inches of sand in the bottom covered by about the same amount of crushed or washed stone with a grate.

[Norm's Coupe]

I like the drain outside myself. If the drain is inside, what happens if you drop a small part and it rolls into the drain? Also, if you use a creeper or a stool with wheels on it, you couldn't use them over the drain without getting the wheels stuck in the grate. And, if you don't have some sort of check valve in the drain inside, as someone mentioned you have a ready made critter tunnel right into the garage. Just a trap in a pipe won't keep the critters out because they can swim.

[eric wissing]

I always thought that a pit 2 feet wide by 4 feet long and maybe even 3 feet deep would be great for working on a car. It wouldn't cost much. A heavy grate could be welded up. Eric

[Plymouthy Adams]

the old floor pit for working under a car..real nice to have around..my friend across the way has one at his house. Excellent for anyone who does not have the room to expand and place a lift. I just located a set of drive on metal ramps and am going to see about getting them if possible..

[55 Fargo]

Yes Norm, it is aslo when I go to the back of the property for a nature call and it freezes before it hits the ground..............LOL

[Young Ed]

I've got a feeling these items would be against code here. I know the floor pit is.

[PatS....]

I've got a feeling these items would be against code here. I know the floor pit is.

Same here, no drains of any kind in a residential garage and no pits because no drains are allowed.

We can't even wash our cars in our own garages!

[Norm's Coupe]

Same here, no drains of any kind in a residential garage and no pits because no drains are allowed.

We can't even wash our cars in our own garages!

That's why I said put the drain outside in front of the overhead door and pitch the floor toward the overhead door. Now, it's just a gutter to keep water out of the garage if someone ask the question and thats ok with codes because it's just rain/snow water.

[blueskies]

That's why I said put the drain outside in front of the overhead door and pitch the floor toward the overhead door. Now' date=' it's just a gutter to keep water out of the garage if someone ask the question and thats ok with codes because it's just rain/snow water.[/quote']

We spec interior drains for garages here all the time. They are required to have a grease seperator to keep contaminants out of the ground water. Most of them are piped under the slab to a drywell outside the garage.

The problem with sloping a garage slab to the door, especially in cold country, is that the water that comes off of the car from rain or melting snow will run to the door, and freeze. When you hit the button to open the door, if it will open at all, it rips the seal off of the bottom of the door. Interior drains are much better, as the water stays away from the cold door.

Pete

[Norm's Coupe]

We spec interior drains for garages here all the time. They are required to have a grease seperator to keep contaminants out of the ground water. Most of them are piped under the slab to a drywell outside the garage.

The problem with sloping a garage slab to the door, especially in cold country, is that the water that comes off of the car from rain or melting snow will run to the door, and freeze. When you hit the button to open the door, if it will open at all, it rips the seal off of the bottom of the door. Interior drains are much better, as the water stays away from the cold door.

Pete

Around here it's a common practice for contractors to pitch the garage floor to the overhead door. I wouldn't consider Wisconsin a warm climate, lots of freezing weather here. I've lived in my house since 1973 and the rubber door seal on the bottom of the overhead door has never frozen to the floor. Don't forget the water melting off the cars in the garage also has salt in it, so actually, even on a day when it's below zero outside the water on the floor in the garage is still wet due to the salt. Due to all that water and salt during the winter in the garage, it's a real mess on that floor.

[blueskies]

Around here it's a common practice for contractors to pitch the garage floor to the overhead door. I wouldn't consider Wisconsin a warm climate' date=' lots of freezing weather here. I've lived in my house since 1973 and the rubber door seal on the bottom of the overhead door has never frozen to the floor. Don't forget the water melting off the cars in the garage also has salt in it, so actually, even on a day when it's below zero outside the water on the floor in the garage is still wet due to the salt. Due to all that water and salt during the winter in the garage, it's a real mess on that floor.[/quote']

No salt on the roads here, we don't need no stinking salt! We drive like real men!

After a few snow storms in my new house, I went out to open the garage door, and it wouldn't budge. All of the snow from my snow blower had melted, run to the door, and then across the seal. I used a torch, screw driver, and hammer to whittle the ice away. Took about an hour to get the damn thing open. Went to the hardware store and got a new seal, which was torn off in the process, and sprayed it with silicone spray when I had it back on the door. Seems to be working, ice hasn't stuck to it yet...

Pete

[Norm's Coupe]

Pete,

Next time your door freezes pick up some ice melter and dump it along the edge of the door. Then the door should open up in a short time. You can also put some down under the door before it snows. Like I said, around here you don't have to worry about it because you've got plenty on the car when it goes in the garage. Then it drips off and makes a real mess on the floor. I do have a nice heavy duty 1/2 HP door opener on my door so I don't have to lift it up myself. However, about the first 8 or 9 years living here there was no door opener at all. Only reason I put one on was my wife started to drive and couldn't lift the heavy door. We have a nice heavy wooden door, not the light weight steel or vinyl ones. I do have a 50 lb. container of ice melter from about 10 years ago, but only use it to keep the gutters on the house clear and then very little. Have another pail of it from the same time frame with about 4 or 5 lbs left in it. Never use the stuff on the sidewalks or driveway.

We are supposed to get dumped on tonight through tomorrow noon with between 10 to 14 inches of new snow. That means more salt will be going down on the streets. Bummer, had to mix another gallon of gas for the snowblower.