Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Garage floors and melting snow/ice

We been shopping for a house in areas that have mostly septic systems. Just learned since about 2000 EPA doesn't allow floor drains in garage floors that are connected to septic tanks.
How do you guys handle the water mess in the winter?

Our home was built in 2010 we have a garage floor drain that goes to our septic tank.

Randy you can't have a garage drain connected to the Sanitary sewer in MOA to prevent gas and oil in the sewer system, don't think you can hook it into the stormwater either. Most older homes have them some just perk into the soil in good drainage hi water tables and a floor drain is a bad idea.

Most are cemented lightly to close house at sale then (wink wink) you talk to former owner remove cement and carry on.

I use snow to remove water from garage floor shovel several good scoops in garage move it around and floor is dry and clean.

Kirk,
I’m aware that you can’t connect in today’s world. I am just wondering how people deal with the water on the floor.
Squeegee? Dehumidifier? Fans?

Not supposed to put a drywell drain in the garage, either. I put one in anyway. My plan is to live here until I die, so DEC can kiss my lifeless back pocket after I croak.

Randy throw snow on it absorbs the melt off sweep it out, garage floor is dry and clean! Kurt

That’s a great idea. I’ll try it if we end up with a garage without a drain

The DEC states, residential dwellings are exempt from the EPAs underground injection control program. However garage floor drains are STRONGLY discouraged.

There is always the chance the inspector, banker, lender etc. could say otherwise.

This info is in the Onsite Wastewater Systems Installation Manual, you can download from the DEC site.


Sumps are ok and typical in a commercial setting, if its a large shop they will have tank and a separator, in a small shop a sump or drywell is ok and then just pump it outside...

The one in our shop holds about 100 gallons

Bottom line is the newer construction we looked at (that have their own septic tanks) do not have a garage drain. Something we have to live with.

In snow country that's a PITA, shoveling snow in and then out also sounds like a PITA, let it melt and then squeegee it out, then you will have a ice lens in front of the door, yet another PITA. If the floor is sloped you could have a sump cut in, wouldn't be too bad of a project.... unless there is radiant floor heat.

we just squeegee the floor.

My garage is so full of crap from my wife and me the only time a car comes in is to work on it. Thats why I have a 6 car driveway . Other than that I just throw down a large painters tarp when working on em in winter and pull it out after car is dry and hang it on the fence outside to dry. No drain in mine either when I bought it .

When we built, the contractor didn’t want to put drains in the garage. I insisted, they put the drain pipe just through the foundation and that’s it. I finished it to a dry sump or French drain I guess they call it.
Wouldn’t connect it to our septic system, which I was fine with.
We keep the garage warm enough to melt the snow off vehicles and I wasn’t going to be squeegeeing it out the door to freeze on the driveway.

yup, if sloped and no slab heat there is an answer by saw cut and drain it outside to some form of something, BUT freeze depth is probably an issue. Having another septic tank installed and short drain field if big enough property and its that important is probably how I would roll. While all garages SHOULD have a sloped and curbed finish floor it isn't always the case.

Rental house next door is a mess now with garage floor drain connected to the sewer system, clean out pipe frost jacked renters kept using toilets and water, filled sewer line with debris, cant snake or jet sewer line and basement is flooded. If your garage drain is connected to sewer system have a way of plugging it in a emergency.

Nothing like being the lowest house in the neighbor hood when a sewer main line backs up!

I dont want a fire hydrant next to my house in Northern climates if it frost jacks and breaks the water has no place to go in the frozen ground and often travels back up the house service line, most main line valves are frost jacked and very difficult to shut off in the winter.

Shudda put 2 in- one under each vehicle instead of one in between! With proper slopes. Fuggin unsupervised contractor while I was in Kotzebue- 500 miles away.

Don't do that.

I might try one of these :
https://www.amazon.com/AutoFloorGuard-AFG8520-Stay-Put-Telescoping-Squeegee/dp/B015OZ7ATO/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_0?pd_rd_w=hgTad&content-id=amzn1.sym.8b590b55-908d-4829-9f90-4c8752768e8b%3Aamzn1.symc.40e6a10e-cbc4-4fa5-81e3-4435ff64d03b&pf_rd_p=8b590b55-908d-4829-9f90-4c8752768e8b&pf_rd_r=7G0JB9PWXSPPGG3KYPT7&pd_rd_wg=SoOFz&pd_rd_r=cdab00c4-7634-4169-8ac2-41418a3075e3&pd_rd_i=B015OZ7ATO&th=1

Our house was built in 2014, and we do not have a drain, but neighbors do. We looked at houses this weekend under construction and they all had floor drains.

No floor drain in a garage or shop in which a snowy vehicle will be parked is a deal breaker for me.

I park my tractor in my heated garage in the winter. After plowing snow, there is a lot that can’t be removed mechanically that would freeze and cause problems. It turns into considerable liquid.

Interesting. Total opposite what we noticed on our house hunting trips in Wasilla and Palmer. Where are these newer construction houses located?