hey guys - poured a slab almost nine years ago and just now built a building. the original plan did not call for a garage door and the slab was not designed for it.

the outer edges were made of concrete cinder block and the interior is red clay and reinforcement wire topped with cement.

the problem: rain is hitting the door and then falling onto the concrete lip in front of the door, then it is flowing under the garage door to the interior slab.

inside garage:


side view where water is entering:


this was after a light rain:


exterior view showing lip of concrete slab where water is running back under door:


think there is about 8 inches or so of concrete in front of the door:


the front of the building is 50 feet wide and the garage door is 16 feet wide. i'm going to have a gutter and downspouts installed on the front of the building.

if the gutter does not work, can the cinder block be cut lower so that water hitting the garage door will not run back under the door?

to clarify - can i cut the cinder block a few inches low and then refill with cement so that the cement slab is lower than the threshold of the garage door?

we have yet to pour an inclined cement slab to drive into the building. i'm sure doing this without some attempt to drain the water will be made worse if we bring the new slab flush with the existing.

here is a link to the building process if you're interested:
http://www.acfafish.com/cms/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12102

thanks, in advance, for your ideas - brenda

I'm no concrete guy, but could you cut out 6" or so of foundation in front of the door and fill it with a French drain and something like crushed granite?

Grind away some concrete.Make a slope to the door.How much slope depends on the wind you get blowing water under the door.

This guy has the idea. You have to tip the concrete that is just in front of the weather stripping DOWNWARD so water can run away. I'm assuming the door passes the safety test an is as tight to the concrete as possible. Its not going to be easy or quick.Another option is to cut the concrete along the outside of the door, remove those red patio blocks and put a wider apron from the door outward. You probably don't get much if any freezing down there? you might get by without some expansion strips between the old and new concrete.

Been building for 50 years.You a pencil pusher.,

look up garage door rain barrier. Depending on the slope of the drive and wind speed, this may be a simple, inexpensive fix to run the water to the sides of the driveway. You will have to determine if the amount of water requires some trenching and drains but way easier to add in dirt than under the drive.

Had to do the exact same thing at my grandpas house. Water collected in front of his garage. A French Drain down the front and around the side of the house was an easy fix...

Dont believe he has the drive poured yet.Built to many car dealerships to not have concrete guys miss where the doors are.Grinding the slope is easy.1/4 per foot should take care of rain.From the picture its less than a foot.

do you not have any over hang on your rooof or gutters

This would be my first choice, assuming you've already checked to see that the door is going down all the way to the concrete and it isn't just a problem with the weather stripping on the bottof the door.

Second choice for me would be to install a curb-like strip on the slab where the door seal hits to create a dam to keep the water out. Do a search on this, I don't know what they are called, but I've seen such a product.

Head to the rental store for a concrete angle grinder. Don't forget the goggles and dust masks. Make sure you have the better part of a day set aside for the task.

Its the angle of the apron that has to be tilted down and away.
Gutters will help yes, but driving wind/rain against the garage door will still put water inside the garage.

I'd do what this guy says.

here is another picture of the front and what looks like red concrete pavers is actually a piece of home-made scaffolding (osb board and 2x4) that is being used as a step:


the garage door faces north so i don't know if there will be a large amount of rain hitting it? doesn't matter though because i can't have water inside. had severe thunderstorms in alabama last night and the water was fifteen feet behind the door ,,, not good!

the cinder blocks are 8" wide so i guess it is about 10 inches to the door.

no, i haven't installed a gutter yet. will make the call tomorrow. don't think that will help much.

my main question is: is it okay to cut the cinder block? will it crumble and compromise the entrance to the garage?

couple more pictures:




oh, i remember the apron has to extend sixteen feet out from the building so i guess the slope would be good.

Why not just try something like this first? http://www.homedepot.com/buy/doors-...ge-door-threshold-kit-in-gray-83230.html

Go to the nearest Home Depot, Menards etc etc and get a garage door sealer to fit under the bottom edge of the door. It is glued to the concrete so you will have to wait until the floor is dry to install it.

I had the same problem on our new addition. Rain would hit the door and run under or snow would build up and then melt. I installed the door sealers and no more problem. They have been there for about 8-9years and still work.

Good Luck!!


Johnny $

I had the same problem, instead of one of those kits I split a piece of unistrut on the bandsaw and expoxied it to the floor and bolted it down. Door fit right down into the channel it made and only stuck up about 1/2" or less and the water quit coming in. Took 15 minutes tops.

Did a lot of insurance investigations in an earlier life. Many, many were because of water damage in a house or garage. I came to the conclusion that 90% + of those problems are caused by poor drainage, either from off a roof or grading or just plain 'ol slope. By looking at your picture of the exterior, I would suggest first thing to do would be to put on a gutter and put the downspouts at the far left and right ends, making sure you discharge as far away from the bulding as is feasible. Next "fix" to try would be the grinding of the approach in front of the door (1/8" slope in 12" will be adequate to drain water away). Try to seal the bottom of the door per one of the methods above. I try to get folks to adhere to the old FHA "rule" of 1 foot drop in 10 foot horizontal minimum around a house or garage. That will "cure" most problems such as yours. Another thing I try to do is get 2" of slope in the garage floor slab from the back to the door(s).

Had a neighbor who was dealing with water problems in one particular area of his home. Knowing my background and what I did/do for a living, he still decided not to ask for any suggestions from me. So, over the course of several years, he hand dug and put in a French drain all along one side of the house and installed a sump pump. Didn't solve the problem and actually made it worse. Then he built up the flower/shrubbery beds all around the house. That didn't solve the problem either. Then he tore up the sidewalk along the front of the house, raised it and replaced it, hoping to re-direct the flow of water. That didn't work either. Then, in desperation, he called me and asked if I had any suggestions. I told him to go to the hardware store and get some downspout extensions on his downspouts that were discharging into the flower/shrubbery beds and get the water discharge out into the yard. He did that and the next weekend we got over 5 inches of rain. He was amazed that he didn't have any water in the house.

Sometimes the solution isn't expensive or labor intensive, just simple. Not necessarily in your case, but think about the simple solution, too.

Garage floors are supposed to slope to the front whoever poured that floor did a poor job.

Hubie, in the op he said the building was not originally supposed to have a big door. Kind of hard to slope it for no reason.

oops ,I will have to pay more tension.

Well if I'd a poured it, it would have had a slope! Don't know which way...but it would have sloped somewhere...cos I pour like crap!

Call me stupid, but why can't he just build a "speed bump" that the door sits on when closed? Woubn't this be easier than grinding?

The tsunami seal kit or one of the like will fix your problem for sure. Just make sure the floor is dry and install/align it per the directions and you'll be happy.

Have had ours done for going on 8+ years. It gets run over by the lawn tractor , farm tractor, 1 ton diesels trucks and has yet to lift or fail.

Don't try that where it freezes. The water in the channel will freeze and you won't get the door open until May. My father in law bought a house that had a groove cut in the concrete for the door to drop into. We assumed it was to prevent leaves, etc, from blowing under it. It would get water in it and freeze the door shut.

thank you for the replies everyone! we are installing a 50' gutter and downspouts on the eave. also installing the tsunami seal.

if that doesn't do the trick, we'll grind some concrete.

-brenda