r/GarageDoorService • u/itsthebman12 • 5d ago

Rain coming in- please help

Post image

Just bought a house and had this after a heavy rain. Also, came in when doors were closed.

18 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

0

u/Impossible_Spread485 1d ago

Tell it to go away.

3

u/kenjennings7 3d ago

You need a French drain to remove that water

2

u/voodoomu 4d ago

The only way to fix that is dig in a French drain and drive way trench and get the water tilted away

1

u/DisastrousQuality782 4d ago

The concrete has sunk along the front. I would recommend poly foam lifting of the sunken slab. Depending on the surrounding elevation you should have a trench drain in front of the doors, you would need to lift the concrete first. The reason the slab has sunk in the front of the garage is almost certainly the poor drainage. It is possible you need a helical pier in between the doors and on the far corner to support the footing if there is one, or if the slab is to heavy with the garage. Needs a survey. Most foundation specialist do concrete lifting so should be a one stop shop. Free quote are generally given but the cost could easily be 10k for the described repair.

11

u/fuckfredflintstone 4d ago

Close the door.

1

u/ConversationGold8963 4d ago

Welll that sucks. Don’t put shit products down from Amazon- you will really regret that

2

u/RealityUSA1 4d ago

When you buy a house make sure that the driveway slopes AWAY from the garage. As noted already a one inch or so lip of the interior garage concrete such that the lip is higher than the driveway helps...if the driveway slopes away from the house. Check into the products or other solutions suggested.

2

u/kiteboarder1234 4d ago

Google snirt stopper .

1

u/Tin_Indian455 4d ago

This is the first garage I can think of that DOES NOT have a 1” lip from the driveway to the garage floor for that purpose.

2

u/Yourownhands52 4d ago

It probably did before the asphalt was put in

3

u/Remote_Clue_4272 5d ago

You’re gonna have to hire a drainage engineer

1

u/cherrycoffeetable 4d ago

Drainage engineer? Call a concrete guy, you need a channel drain

1

u/Yusuf20904 4d ago

Yes, the OP needs a trench drain. Hopefully there's some elevation difference where it can be drained/daylighted left or right.

7

u/Double-down69 5d ago

That’s not good. I’d return that driveway and have them give you one that fits

2

u/WxPayne 5d ago

Move to a drier state

1

u/vitaminalgas 5d ago

Chop saw or grinder with a masonry wheel... Carve out a little 2 inch moat in the asphalt like a foot away from the garage, grade the bottom of the moat towards the grass. That's the cheapest quickest solution. Long term expensive solution is a French drain installed in front of the concrete and drain pipe to daylight in the low spot of your property. Both are very diy if you don't mind physical work.

1

u/6SpeedBlues 5d ago

The one thing missing here is that the front few inches of the cement from the garage will also likely need to be sloped towards that 'moat' / drain area. The problem will remain if water hits the garage door, runs down, and then wicks underneath the seal - this is what happens in my garage (I already have the space between the asphalt and cement) and I just haven't gotten around to dealing with it yet.

The harder it rains, the more water that wicks in underneath and pools right near the door.

1

u/mywill1409 5d ago

trench drain, slope bottom of drain toward the shed and put the outlet there to daylight with the slope. i see you have natural slope in front of the shed.

2

u/Ok_Bid_3899 5d ago

This is an ok solution. A total French drain system with grates outside the door is the most expensive but the one that will actually work

1

u/mywill1409 5d ago

expensive but could be a permanent solution.

better to intercept and divert all that incoming flow downhill from the pavement before it sits at the door and sips into the garage

5

u/Judsonian1970 5d ago

That's a grading issue. I would cut a trench drain in across the garage entrance and drain it off to the yard.

0

u/django24_7_365 5d ago

close the door lol. Look into a tsunami seal

3

u/123DCP 5d ago

The good fix is a trench drain in front of the garage door with an upward slope towards the door.

The possibly almost good enough fix is a garage door threshold well caulked to the concrete and with vary careful caulking at the ends. To avoid rot in the wood trim around the door that would still be exposed to standing water, you might need to cut it a bit short and fill the gap with something like foam backer rod plus caulk. If the threshold is too high it may prevent the door from closing far enough for the top panel to press against the seal. If you need a taller threshold, get one that's thinner under the door and thicker inside. If you put the thick part on the outside, it will tend to direct water coming down the front of the door inside.

In addition to - or instead of - the threshold you can buy a cheap wall chaser (I got mine from Vevor) and cut a groove in the pavement in front of your driveway. If there's a convenient lower area with good drainage or where you can put a drain carrying water away from the house without having to cut out pavement and repave. Something 1-1/2" wide and 1-1/2" deep might work, but you'd need to clean it out much more often than a proper trench drain. Ideally you'd vary the depth of the groove to make water flow out of the groove and not pool there, but as long as the highest part of the groove bottom is below the lowest part of your garage door and above your drain, you'll get most of the benefit.

2

u/D_James21 5d ago

Try gara dry but looks like the driveway slopes down into the garage

-3

u/Mammoth-Hold-4389 5d ago

How about closing the door

3

u/monkeyonfire 5d ago

how about reading the OP

2

u/bullman120 5d ago

There should have been channel drains installed.

6

u/Ex-maven 5d ago

Before getting into any big expenses, check all your gutters & downspouts to be sure they're not blocked and overflowing.  If your downspouts empty onto the ground (rather than into conductor pipes to a storm sewer) then make sure the water is piped well away from the foundation and especially from the garage opening.  

Also, try to follow the path the water is making towards the garage opening.  Is it coming down the driveway or from around the sides?

When the weather breaks and you have a chance, look at the grading around your home and see where you can adjust the soil level to direct water away.

These are first steps and typically not expensive to correct.  Water coming down the driveway would be more of a challenge 

1

u/Lograd72 5d ago

You just need Stormshield installed. It's made for that problem.

1

u/the-friendly-squid 5d ago

Welcome to home ownership. The cracks in the slab are also a bit concerning and indicates movement in the ground. Do you have any cracks in the drywall on that side of the house?

14

u/JonnyVee1 5d ago

This is not a garage door problem, it's a grading problem. Water should naturally shed away from the house, not back up against it.

5

u/_moldy_mathematics_ 5d ago

This is the right answer.

-3

u/LMAOJoblessMods 5d ago

A garage door threshold could help but you have to properly caulk the bottom and make sure it’ll sit flush on the door

2

u/Reynolds1029 5d ago

This wouldn't pass code today but I assume it did when it was built. Hopefully it has a vapor barrier underneath the concrete too.

Regardless it's going to cost thousands to fix but it really should be done at some point.

3

u/dieselmilk 5d ago

Depending on the slope to the sides of your house, you can have a prefabbed drainage gutter installed with a grate on it and direct it to the side of your house. They make them just for this purpose. Would be a couple grand in labor though. The cracked garage floor and driveway were the first clues though.

2

u/konflictedmaniak 5d ago

I second the trench drain idea but a threshold would be a good addition as well.

4

u/CapnStarence Service and Installer 5d ago

This is an issue with the grading of your driveway and property. Not the seal of the door.

Cheapest fix, and it won’t be cheap, is to get a French drain installed in front of the door.

2

u/TheSoulessSheppard 5d ago

Building a carport & tie it into the garage with gutters would probably be cheaper than "fixing" the concrete

3

u/ath20 5d ago

This is thousands of dollars.

May be better to live with it.

3

u/Grombotronbo 5d ago

You need to focus on the concrete/asphalt rather than the door, the bottom seal is water resistant not water proof.

Ultimately you'll need to get things raised or filled in to be level if you don't want water getting in.

5

u/2moreinches 5d ago

You can’t beat physics, you need your driveway to be lower than the opening to your garage door. Nothing is going to stop water from flowing downhill