Water in my garage!!!

[KORE]

So i rebuilt my garage a few years back, its in great shape still except!, i have water coming in from the outside, whether its rain, or melting snow it comes in under the bottom plate along the walls. The garage is a new poured slab which does not funnel to the middle and out the big door and is poorly graded! Nice finish but not level. Ive tried different sealants along the sill plate but the water keeps coming!! im lost should i recover it entirely with an epoxy, or should i lift it and poor a footing? anybody have any expereince with a solution for this? please help im drowning!!

 

[john s]

You could use blue skin to seal it then cover it with siding or regrade it.

 

[DaveB]

Grade the ground around it to slope away....and/or cut in a weeping tile system with washed rock

 

[sled-fiend]

Is water coming in on the plate above grade?

 

[X-it]

There are several self adhesive membranes out there that are excellent as water seals including roofing membranes. You have to get the fill high enough on your stucture to have sufficient slope for water to drain away from your building.

 

[ferniesnow]

Grade the ground around it to slope away....and/or cut in a weeping tile system with washed rock

Without having more information regarding your slope(s), elevation, is it rain water, is it spring melt, etc.. Dave has hit the nail on the head.

Your slab should be at a minimum of 3" above the ground. Higher would obviously be better! All soil around the garage should be sloped away and there should be a swale surrounding the garage to take the water somewhere (alley, other part of yard, etc.).

It is good to doo something as the plate (I would assume it isn't treated) and eventually the bottoms of the studs will start to rot.

 

[X-it]

I have had to lift a few buildings up over the years, yours would be pretty easy to do. A mechanic's floor jack will be sufficient, these building are heavy though. After 6 inches of raising it it gets pretty unstable and if you get some strong winds coming in there will be trouble. So work fast and have your concrete ordered, 4 hours of lifting 2 hours to form it and pour the same day. But for you i think the membrane up on the plywood and just back fill would be good enough

 

[imdoo'n]

as dave b stated unless ya grade the ground away from the pad, no matter what ya do you'll always have problems, do it right the first time,

 

[SLEDBUNNYRACING]

Don't forget to look for other places it may be coming in, water is tricky. Could be from windows, tips of doors etc. Make sure you rule that out as well.

 

[KORE]

Thanks guys! The grass is graded away with a sidewalk on one side and washed rock on the other. I'm quite sure it's coming off the sidewalk under the bottom plate (pressure treated). The other side the water weeps in from the snow banks against the wall. I was hoping to either pour on the inside or lift and reseal the bottom plate!

 

[Mike270412]

Get some goldfish

 

[imdoo'n]

Thanks guys! The grass is graded away with a sidewalk on one side and washed rock on the other. I'm quite sure it's coming off the sidewalk under the bottom plate (pressure treated). The other side the water weeps in from the snow banks against the wall. I was hoping to either pour on the inside or lift and reseal the bottom plate!

you could try a french drain at least i think that is what they call. routes water to the lane or low area.

 

[storm1972]

Without having more information regarding your slope(s), elevation, is it rain water, is it spring melt, etc.. Dave has hit the nail on the head.

Your slab should be at a minimum of 3" above the ground. Higher would obviously be better! All soil around the garage should be sloped away and there should be a swale surrounding the garage to take the water somewhere (alley, other part of yard, etc.).

It is good to doo something as the plate (I would assume it isn't treated) and eventually the bottoms of the studs will start to rot.

as per NBC, your foundation should be a min of 6inches above grade, all lower framing plates to be constructed using pwf , as well as a plate gasket, however i personally dont use the foam gasket anymore. I prefer to use PL premium and directing glue my lower plates down, effectively gauranteeing a seal every time, after my walls are standing on the glue , I hilti the walls down into the foundation , never once had a leak yet, even on poorly graded areas. As Fernie said, it should be graded away from the structure,a key thing to remember is that moisture can a will travel uphill (wicking) as the ground or base gets saturated, the moisture can and will travel upwards behind your wall coverings, and will continue until the problem is rectified.

 

[bigz64]

i have the same issue but i know the water in my garage is coming from the main overhead door. its a double wide and i have changed the buttom uchannel rubber seal. still didnt work, noticed the concrete pad wasnt flat... meaning there were waves in it so no matter how i adjusted the door either one side was lifted up with a gap or completedly squished down and that does not form a seal

 

[DaveB]

i have the same issue but i know the water in my garage is coming from the main overhead door. its a double wide and i have changed the buttom uchannel rubber seal. still didnt work, noticed the concrete pad wasnt flat... meaning there were waves in it so no matter how i adjusted the door either one side was lifted up with a gap or completedly squished down and that does not form a seal

Wood door or metal door? A wood door can be scribed and cut to match the floor waves. A metal door....not so much, but a bulb seal should be able to compensate for 3/4 of and inch concrete deformities.

Problem with double wide doors is they are heavy and the cables pulling on the ends tends to make them "smile"....cracks at each side.

 

[bigz64]

Wood door or metal door? A wood door can be scribed and cut to match the floor waves. A metal door....not so much, but a bulb seal should be able to compensate for 3/4 of and inch concrete deformities.

Problem with double wide doors is they are heavy and the cables pulling on the ends tends to make them "smile"....cracks at each side.

its a metal door, it could be the "smile" effect too

 

[puddle]

Easiest solution is to check your down spouts and make sure they are down, running away from the garage and everything has a positive slope. Its spring time. Assume big run-offs with a frozen ground.

 

[srxhair]

Here is a link to a form which has some illustrations of how your grading should look. If the link does not work you can get it from the City of Edmonton website. Just like others have said "it is all about grading". I had a similar problem on the garage of the first house I bought. It snowed on May long and all the melt water from the side yard ran through my garage. After the ground thawed it was time to regrade everything around the garage. The soil next to your slab should be the highest point of land within about 8 feet (if you have enough space). The top of the slab should be 6 inches above that.

 

[OnlyPolaris]

lift up the walls and seal the bottom plate to the concrete.

 

[imdoo'n]

may only be a temporay fix, have no idea, water always seeks the lowest point, he'll be finding out about that in a month or so for sure. watching where the water puddles tells a big story. go from there.