Garage / shop slab issues

[Roadsign]

We'll take a good look at the inspection report this weekend and see what is in there about their liability.

The sellers specifically checked "no" on any flooding/water infiltration in both the house and the garage. Not sure what that gets me but we'll find out.

We will definitely explore some of these options for the fix. Keep the info coming lol.

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[DansFLHTI]

Might be a stupid question. But any chance there is a drain in the middle of the floor,covered up by skim coat of concrete ?

 

[Inthehighdesert]

Need more information. A garage floor can be flat, doesn’t have to be sloped out. Obviously shouldn’t be sloped toward the interior. Is the foundation a monolithic pour, or stem with a slab. Is the garage floor and the driveway on the same plane? My spec homes the garage door closes 1” below the garage floor elevation so water can’t run back in regardless. A pic would go along way. Also, how big is the garage.

 

[Roadsign]

I don't know if there's a drain that may be covered. I've been trying to get the original plans for the house but haven't had any luck.

The slab is monolithic I believe. It's approximately 30x22. The portion of the slab where the door closes is 1/4 - 1/2 lower than the slab. The driveway slopes away from the garage, has a dip and then slopes back up.

 

[Roadsign]

Having trouble uploading pics from my phone but will get them posted

 

[Inthehighdesert]

Depending on how the permitting is done where you are, they should have a copy of the plans. The permitting jurisdiction. Floor drains aren’t very common and generally all four sides would be sloped to the drain location, if there was one. Most jurisdictions won’t allow them in a residential setting. Chances are they simply poured the floor slightly off. If it’s a mono pour you don‘t want to cut that to try and repour it. Chances are you’d end up with a bigger issue. It would look like …. unless whoever did it really knew what they were doing. You’d have to pin the slab as well to maintain the integrity. I’ve used channel drains for years in situations like yours. They work well and aren’t difficult nor expensive to install in most cases. Easier install on a new pour for sure but saw cutting and doing a retro isn’t a difficult installation. I’ve installed them in situations with transfer pumps as well where the drainage was less then ideal and needed to move the water further away from the home. Just a thought.

I don't know if there's a drain that may be covered. I've been trying to get the original plans for the house but haven't had any luck.

The slab is monolithic I believe. It's approximately 30x22. The portion of the slab where the door closes is 1/4 - 1/2 lower than the slab. The driveway slopes away from the garage, has a dip and then slopes back up.

 

[1 old racer]

What he said. I had a home in Flordia that when it raided heavenly water would find its in for the first foot of the garage floor. I cut the ddrive way slab, (not the garage floor slab) and installed a drain Channel Drain across the drive way and route the water to where it will drain away. I think it was a 4" drain. It was very easy to do, because the soil was all sand.

 

[Roadsign]

Great! Sounds like the channel drain may be a good solution. I'll be making appointments to get some estimates.
Thanks everyone!
I'll have more questions through this process so will continue to post here.

 

[SnowFox]

Mud jacking is usually the cheapest and most available. Poly injection is better, But some areas can be hard to find a provider still. (Same idea as mud jacking but more permanent)

If your the DIY type. And depending on the void, of any, below the slab you can use a 2 part expanding foam. It's the Same/similar to the foam used in Boat hulls.

 

[sk47]

The sellers are going to be an issue. They are not cooperating.

Yes, did have an inspection done. The report indicated there were no foundation issues or evidence there had previously been.

She told us to state "Unsure" for EVERYTHING so that a buyer could not go back on us. She cited a lady she knew who sold a house to an attorney, who sued the lady years later because she said yes for a category which subsequently failed.

I cut the ddrive way slab, (not the garage floor slab) and installed a drain Channel Drain across the drive way and route the water to where it will drain away.

Hello; You may have a legal recourse depending on state or area laws. The way I understand it is if the sellers lived in the home they have to disclose such issues. If they did not reside in the place they may have a legal out.

To your problem. I moved into my home 15 years ago. Had a similar problem. A thing is I was made aware before buying. A previous owner, not the seller I bought from, had built up a low speed bump type barrier to keep the water out. Made a puddle in a heavy rain but kept the water out of the basement garage.
I did three things over a couple of summers. I dug a trench and ran two 4 inch PVC pipes to a ditch. One to drain the driveway. The other to drain the gutter downspouts away from the house.
I next made drain trench with covers along the side of the driveway and in front of one garage door. Thes fed into the four inch PVC pipe.
When I had the trench drains finished I removed the speed bump type dam to have a smooth entry to the garage.

I learned a lot about making concrete forms those two summers.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Yes, did have an inspection done. The report indicated there were no foundation issues or evidence there had previously been.

While a Home Inspection is a good protocol, the Home Inspector isn’t going to sit outside with a hose spraying the driveway or other areas to determine if there’s an drainage issue - nor do they break out measuring devices and measure degrees, angles, etc.

Not trying to be offensive, but Home Inspectors run through the home checking for necessities and anything that is an obvious standout for what they need to answer in their report (OR what is required by the town/state)::
- damages to roof tiles
- leaking pipes under sinks
- is any exhaust duct work venting properly from the home to the outside
- checking fireplace for any problems
- leaking faucets (inside and outside)
- making sure hot water heater heats to temp
-toilets flush
-interior drains drain (no clogs)
- A/C and Heat works (cycles or gets to temp)
- Check circuit box to make sure it’s to code
- Check home electrics to make sure lights/sockets work
- looks for any interior leaks through attics and if crawl space or basement, they’re checking for water/French drains/sump pump functionality, HVAC venting, electrical down there, the overall structure (foundation) and the systems if they are in those locations.

Etc etc etc

They won’t do formulas, calculations or “water down” anything to make sure slopes are correct. Some of the higher techy Home Inspectors may have infrared devices for seeing if there were leaks behind walls etc… but most just do the “visual” and the “hands on” minimal testing of the home’s guts.

It’s like buying a convertible and the seller says it doesn’t leak - how many people ask the seller to break out a hose and drown the top to see if it really leaks?

If you had an Attorney to help with the sale of the home (some realtors do recommend an attorney and some states may require it) - then hopefully the Attorney can work to help you out.

If the seller knew there was a water issue with garage - and answered “no” on the doc, sure that’s an issue right there. But they couid also turn around and say they weren’t aware of any issues and answered to the best of their ability.

Not giving the seller an out at all - just saying I don’t think the Home Inspector is at fault for the “visual” and if inspected on a dry day, there was no issue to be found or faulted.

 

[Roadsign]

Here's a couple pics. The lip looks higher in the pic, it's around 0.5".
Working on getting some quotes to have the drains that were suggested put in.

 

[pinksurfer]

assume this is a townhouse row and pics don't tell the whole story but my .02..
-your real estate agent should be able to tell you if there's any recourse from the sellers but my gut would say you are on your own no matter what they checked. bought and sold a TON of houses in my life and that disclosure really only helps in houses with prior flood damage or unlicensed work done not to code.
-if there's a noticeable difference in concrete to asphalt height a good inspector should have seen it(half inch in my book should have been seen), noticed rot on the trim around the garage indicating further inspections or if the trim wood is newer compared to front door trim, another flag.
-before spending a bunch of monies on drains, I'd first figure out how the water is getting in. is it coming from street runoff further up, off the roof without gutters, etc. if you are getting standing water across the whole garage, that's a lot and should be easy to pinpoint and maybe there's a different/better solution. a puddle in the middle and maybe a simple edge would suffice: https://us.garadry.com/products/garage-door-seal-1-and-1-4inch?currency=USD&variant=31563402674253&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&stkn=25b18ebdaa93&tw_source=google&tw_adid=&tw_campaign=17457591077&tw_kwdid=&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17457613640&gbraid=0AAAAADfmRz_lCeAFzei7toLMm3xFO-lMW&gclid=CjwKCAjwq9rFBhAIEiwAGVAZP11Pu_dHXzLP5022s_EweNUXjrRvcmxVciicTVqA9fzBvEb6wly8JxoCcakQAvD_BwE
-do your neighbors have the same issue or only yours.
-what does your hoa manage and control before you go start digging up stuff.

 

[Roadsign]

It's a house. We're in the county but outside city limits. There is an hoa but have talked to several neighbors one of which is on the hoa board. They are pretty lenient, have to submit forms for this type of thing but that's about it.

 

[Roadsign]

Update: to be thorough, we had a complete foundation survey performed. As suspected there are no issues with the foundation. As some of you had suggested this is a result of a bad pour. Now on to estimates for the channel drain.

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