My crap garage's floor gets covered with water after a hard rain. I am trying to figure out something cheap and easy that will last about a year to a year and half when I tear down the garage to build a new one (hopefully).
I just put up gutters to help. But I am pretty sure it is from water flowing down the hill, over the old rotten retaining wall and into the garage.
don't pump the gas when you attempt to start your garage
Can you fill that up with just enough dirt to divert it along the bottom, under the spout drain? I'm not a water-landscaping-atologist-guy, though, so, ya know.. But thats' what I did around our foundation.
That's probably not a great idea due to the siding and such, what about a row of sandbags?
Dig a 10' wide area around your garage with a 1:10 slope going away from the garage. Divert the water.
WonkoTheSane said:Can you fill that up with just enough dirt to divert it along the bottom, under the spout drain? I'm not a water-landscaping-atologist-guy, though, so, ya know.. But thats' what I did around our foundation.
That's probably not a great idea due to the siding and such, what about a row of sandbags?
Just huck some sandbags down in that gap between the retaining wall and garage? Would that work? I don't really care too much about how it looks. Just as long as it is cheap and easy.
If you put anything up over that siding it is going to rot, and the bottoms of your studs to boot. It may not take a year. Ask me how I know.
Your best bet, like the Good Doctor said, is to divert the water with a swale before it gets there. You can do that for free with a shovel assuming the existing grade give you a place to divert to. Or you can rent a small tractor for a half day.
Failing those options I would pull the rotten ties out, dig back a little, and build a small dike out of concrete blocks, running bond (overlapped). Retaining wall blocks would be best, but if it only has to last 18 months, you can get away with regular blocks. Put some heavy black poly on the outside face and backfill to hold it against the wall, making sure the poly makes it to 8" above grade on the yard side. lay the poly over the top of the wall and add 1 more course to hold it in place.
If you're not using retaining blocks, buy a half dozen chunks of rebar a little longer than the proposed height of your wall. Drive them down through the overlapping block courses and into the ground a foot or two. Backfill the cores with tamped dirt to hold the rebar in place. Normally you would use concrete there but you're only trying to get a year or two out of it.
Duke said:If you put anything up over that siding it is going to rot, and the bottoms of your studs to boot. It may not take a year. Ask me how I know.
Your best bet, like the Good Doctor said, is to divert the water with a swale before it gets there. You can do that for free with a shovel assuming the existing grade give you a place to divert to. Or you can rent a small tractor for a half day.
Failing those options I would pull the rotten ties out, dig back a little, and build a small dike out of concrete blocks, running bond (overlapped). Retaining wall blocks would be best, but if it only has to last 18 months, you can get away with regular blocks. Put some heavy black poly on the outside face and backfill to hold it against the wall, making sure the poly makes it to 8" above grade on the yard side. lay the poly over the top of the wall and add 1 more course to hold it in place.
If you're not using retaining blocks, buy a half dozen chunks of rebar a little longer than the proposed height of your wall. Drive them down through the overlapping block courses and into the ground a foot or two. Backfill the cores with tamped dirt to hold the rebar in place. Normally you would use concrete there but you're only trying to get a year or two out of it.
The bottom of the studs are already rotten to be fair.
I'll think about those options.
A picture of the hill above the garage helps. I would dig a swale, a rolling sort of ditch uphill of the garage and pitch it down and around the back of the garage. fill it with round rocks.
914Driver said:A picture of the hill above the garage helps. I would dig a swale, a rolling sort of ditch uphill of the garage and pitch it down and around the back of the garage. fill it with round rocks.
i thought i had uploaded that. Guess it didn't get through.
How wide and deep should the ditch be?
Does starting at 6 in deep near the fence and going down to 12in deep near the end by the down pipe with it being 3 feet wide about a foot away from the "retaining" wall make sense?
That seems like it's in the right ballpark. Depending on if you are trying to get the water to make a sharp turn or just deflect it a little, you may want to move it a little farther away from the wall.
You don't need much, you can also use the dug up dirt to build side height. I wouldn't go too narrow in case you have to mow it someday.
I wonder if a layer of plastic sheet rolled into the bottom would help move the water.
Does that gutter flow, or does the water just spill over the edge? It really looks like it is pitched the wrong way (and the downspout has 5 elbows on it- which could easily clog). I would add a 2nd downspout at the rear end dropping into a non-perforated pipe extending to the front (because the distance is too long for 1 downspout)
For a year and a half? Put a straight drop on the old downspout, and extend the bottom about 5'. Then buy a squeegee.
The grade work is a lot of effort for a year and a half, and your future garage will have proper footing drains and a higher foundation.
SVreX said:Does that gutter flow, or does the water just spill over the edge? It really looks like it is pitched the wrong way (and the downspout has 5 elbows on it- which could easily clog). I would add a 2nd downspout at the rear end dropping into a non-perforated pipe extending to the front (because the distance is too long for 1 downspout)
For a year and a half? Put a straight drop on the old downspout, and extend the bottom about 5'. Then buy a squeegee.
The grade work is a lot of effort for a year and a half, and your future garage will have proper footing drains and a higher foundation.
I don't actually know. I will have a look next time it rains. I just kind of threw some guttering up and assumed it would work.
I made a French drain in my yard to cure this. You dig a hole, put a pvc pipe in with holes drilled in it for the length you need, run a pvc pipe where you want it to drain to, it will need to run down hill somewhere, and drain the water off. I ran mine into the curb at the street. In fact I put in two. They cured almost all of my drainage issues. If you plan on staying in the house its an elegant solution.
93EXCivic said:SVreX said:Does that gutter flow, or does the water just spill over the edge? It really looks like it is pitched the wrong way (and the downspout has 5 elbows on it- which could easily clog). I would add a 2nd downspout at the rear end dropping into a non-perforated pipe extending to the front (because the distance is too long for 1 downspout)
For a year and a half? Put a straight drop on the old downspout, and extend the bottom about 5'. Then buy a squeegee.
The grade work is a lot of effort for a year and a half, and your future garage will have proper footing drains and a higher foundation.
I don't actually know. I will have a look next time it rains. I just kind of threw some guttering up and assumed it would work.
Well, don’t worry about the pitch. Fixing it is a little annoying. Just add a 2nd downspout at the rear, run a pipe with no perforations, and throw it all away when you build a new garage.
You can do the pipe in a couple hours. Without sweating too much. Digging the ditch is several weekends of back breaking work, and you’re gonna throw it away when you build your new garage.
racerdave600 said:I made a French drain in my yard to cure this. You dig a hole, put a pvc pipe in with holes drilled in it for the length you need, run a pvc pipe where you want it to drain to, it will need to run down hill somewhere, and drain the water off. I ran mine into the curb at the street. In fact I put in two. They cured almost all of my drainage issues. If you plan on staying in the house its an elegant solution.
I admit, when it comes to house stuff, I'm know nothing compared to guys like Paul (SVreX) but my first though was french drain as well.
I've been thinking about this lately as well. My house is on a corner lot, at the bottom of this particular block. So you can see where when it rains a ton (like it has been doing this spring here in OK) there is a defined path on the east side of the house in the backyard, and another defined path on the west side in the front yard.
IE, so much drainage and water flow it's hard to get grass to grow there.
If you are diverting the water in any substantial way be sure you are not diverting it into a neighbors structure. That can get you sued and make for bad neighbor relations....
First Make big hole on back side of garage at ground level. Make big hole on opposite wall. Water runs in garage and out the other side. Lol.
Sorry! Couldn't resist.
SVreX said:93EXCivic said:SVreX said:Does that gutter flow, or does the water just spill over the edge? It really looks like it is pitched the wrong way (and the downspout has 5 elbows on it- which could easily clog). I would add a 2nd downspout at the rear end dropping into a non-perforated pipe extending to the front (because the distance is too long for 1 downspout)
For a year and a half? Put a straight drop on the old downspout, and extend the bottom about 5'. Then buy a squeegee.
The grade work is a lot of effort for a year and a half, and your future garage will have proper footing drains and a higher foundation.
I don't actually know. I will have a look next time it rains. I just kind of threw some guttering up and assumed it would work.
Well, don’t worry about the pitch. Fixing it is a little annoying. Just add a 2nd downspout at the rear, run a pipe with no perforations, and throw it all away when you build a new garage.
Ok I am adding a second downspout and see if that fixes it. Looking at it I think it will.
If not I will try the fench drain.
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