Garage Floor Slope............

[Ketzer]

A true effective slope to the drain could be a wonderful thing if indeed you do plan to do a lot of car washing, wet sanding, whatever. But like others have said, if it is not what you wanted and you plan to be in the shop a lot...

Every fire station I've ever worked at has pitched floors and at least four large drains... the low spot in the floor is never at the drain. It's always a foot away and you end up pushing water up into the drain. When I had my shop done, like you, I wanted a place to wash my car inside during nasty weather. I asked the concrete contractor if they could simply trowel an area about 20x20 to pitch down an inch or so into a drain. They tried and damned if it isn't just like the fire station, the low spot is a foot away from the drain!



Jeff-

[onevoice]

It is shocking how incompetent most construction workers are. In many years and many home renovation projects, I have yet to meet a true craftsman. My garage almost had the same issue, but I knew from experience to be there when ANY major activity was being done. My garage is about the same size, and I caught the concrete guys laying out about 1/2 of a concrete block's height of slope towards the door. I didn't know the spanish word for "flat", and it took some convincing to make them understand what I wanted.

I would have been very upset also, and the problem is that tearing out the floor and redoing will eat up more than the entire profit your contractor has in the job. He will do everything he can to avoid a re-pour.

The garage attached to my house was here when I moved in, and has so much slope a car will roll out if given a nudge. It is actually dangerous because the driveway is sloped away from the house, and the yard also. If a car rolled out it would end up 100ft away in a fence.

[Vegas69]

With pretty much anything in life, if you fail to manage, it doesn't get done or turn out quite right. If it was in the contract or you called to remind him, I'd say it's his bad. If you were to busy, it falls on your lap.

[wiedemab]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

With pretty much anything in life, if you fail to manage, it doesn't get done or turn out quite right. If it was in the contract or you called to remind him, I'd say it's his bad. If you were to busy, it falls on your lap.

I know. ........

[Bad Bowtie]

Hey Brandon,
Just thought i'd share... I had a similiar issue when they poured my floor, I wasn't able to be home to oversee the work being done and ended up with a very level floor but the crew forgot to put a 1/2 drop at all 3 roll up door openings, so the concrete is flat all the way to the edge so now when the doors are shut and the rain blows against the door the water runs under the garage door bottom seal and lets water in (thankful it doesn't let much in). Just something i learned to live with but still dissapointing.
BB

[wiedemab]

Originally Posted by onevoice

It is shocking how incompetent most construction workers are. In many years and many home renovation projects, I have yet to meet a true craftsman. My garage almost had the same issue, but I knew from experience to be there when ANY major activity was being done. My garage is about the same size, and I caught the concrete guys laying out about 1/2 of a concrete block's height of slope towards the door. I didn't know the spanish word for "flat", and it took some convincing to make them understand what I wanted.

I would have been very upset also, and the problem is that tearing out the floor and redoing will eat up more than the entire profit your contractor has in the job. He will do everything he can to avoid a re-pour.

The garage attached to my house was here when I moved in, and has so much slope a car will roll out if given a nudge. It is actually dangerous because the driveway is sloped away from the house, and the yard also. If a car rolled out it would end up 100ft away in a fence.

The work quality is fantastic. They are local guys and have been great to deal with. I will probably have no choice but to live with it. My budget probably won't allow a redo.

[wiedemab]

Originally Posted by Bad Bowtie

Hey Brandon,
Just thought i'd share... I had a similiar issue when they poured my floor, I wasn't able to be home to oversee the work being done and ended up with a very level floor but the crew forgot to put a 1/2 drop at all 3 roll up door openings, so the concrete is flat all the way to the edge so now when the doors are shut and the rain blows against the door the water runs under the garage door bottom seal and lets water in (thankful it doesn't let much in). Just something i learned to live with but still dissapointing.
BB

I got the door openings done that way!

[wiedemab]

Originally Posted by ratman67

flat = plano level = nivel

Thanks for future reference...... These guys are local boys, and based on the last names....I'm guessing of German Catholic descent, like most around our area.

I was hoping that at least one person would chime in and say -- " my shop has a sloped floor and it really hasn't been a big issue". I guess most car people think like I do and want a level floor. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't there when they poured it to check to make sure it was done that way, which it appears may bite me in the ass.

I'm going to go to Dad's shop and check his floor. He has drains in the center of the building. I know his floor isn't level, but I'm not sure how much fall there is. It's harder to see when it slopes to the middle. If his is even close to what mine is, I'm probably going to just go with it. In the years that we've worked in his shop, I've never bitched about the floor slope........sooooo.

The other thing is, that even if his has the 1/8 per foot over 1/2 the building (sloping to the middle) it will be 1/2 the overall elevation change that I'm seeing since it slopes the entire 30 feet in mine.

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those frustrating and/or expensive life lessons. I know better too, is the part that makes me mad.

[glassman]

It's technically the difference between a shop and a garage, one with slope one without. I've worked on the1/8 per ft for years, don't even notice it. Shim the lift with ONLY steel shims, you probably already know that. IMO, the number one problem in the construction world is communication (how many of us grew up wanting to build/service).

[Track Junky]

It's the norm for a contractor to slope a garage floor towards the garage door so that when it is being washed out the water heads in the correct direction. If he wasn't told before hand to make it flat he was just following typical building procedures.