It’s an ugly sight: you’ve opened your garage door early in the morning, only to find that all that heavy rain from last night has left behind a puddle on the garage floor.
Not only is it unsightly, but it’s hazardous, too – because anyone could slip and fall, and over time the puddle can cause mould, develop old musty smells and eventually damage your garage’s floor and walls.
Good news for all garage owners: stopping a water leak under your garage door can be relatively straightforward. Complete your garage organisation plan by getting your gear off the floor with Garage Storage Solutions’ smart shelving and basket storage.
How To Stop Water Leaking Through Your Garage Door
Using an adhesive, apply a threshold seal to your clean concrete garage floor. This will create a ramp that lets the water slide away and prevents it from entering your garage.
You can get a threshold kit from almost any DIY store such as B&Q or online.
Replace your garage door’s bottom seal with a larger one. However, please do keep in mind that there are several different seals out there, and you want to be sure you buy the right one. In addition, you will need to know what kind of channel you have; usually, this will be single or double.
If your garage floor has a slope, you will need to get yourself an adjustable aluminium retainer.
This item is u-shaped and will fit at the bottom of your garage door, so it can be adjusted to fit the slope of the floor.
If you have no luck with the solutions stated above, this could be because the rainwater is coming in from elsewhere, such as the roof, windows. If this is the case, you will need to install a drain inside your garage.
Wet Walls In The Garage: Finding And Fixing The Problem
You can’t see through them, so it takes a bit of handyman detective work. Water leaking into the garage under a wall or behind sheetrock is usually caused by one of these problems.
Old Joint Seams
Old joint seams on exterior walls are prone to leaking during stormy weather. Inspect wall seams, especially around doors and windows.
Save yourself from dealing with soaked sheetrock by sealing garage wall seams with caulk or waterproof foam.
Aging Sill Plates
Water in the garage might be a sign of leaking around old sill plates. Check horizontal sills at the bottom of framed walls where they meet the floor. Rotten sills should be replaced, but caulk or foam often stops leaks.
Faulty Plumbing
A water heater or washing machine can develop water line problems behind a wall. If you find puddles on the garage floor along the same border as an appliance, you may want to call in a plumber to find and fix the leak.
Roofing Problems
Loose flashing and rotten shingles let rain into exterior walls, where it travels along framing studs.
As water moves to the bottom of the wall, it seeps out onto the garage floor. Identify and fix roof problems, and check gutters too.
A Wet Garage Floor: Causes And Solutions
Water seeping up through a concrete garage floor is often the result of a seasonal rise in the water table. It’s hard to control deep soil moisture around the house, but you can address water on the garage floor by fixing these flaws.
Floor Cracks
Even when they’re small, they provide a direct route for ground moisture into the garage—repair floor cracks by cleaning them thoroughly and filling them in with a water-resistant concrete patching compound.
Surface Pitting
Older concrete floors eventually become pitted with tiny holes that become wells for moisture. Treat the entire floor by sealing it with a silicate-based product. Avoid regular floor paints that don’t lay down a moisture barrier.
Warm-weather Condensation
The warm air on excellent concrete creates a vapour that settles and turns into the water on the garage floor.
The solution to this spring and summer problem is simple. First, run a dehumidifier in the garage, but be sure to check its reservoir regularly.
Water Under Garage Doors: Keeping Out Rain And Snow
Sometimes, knowing how to stop water from coming into the garage starts at the door. Keeping it closed during bad weather isn’t enough when you have one of these problems.
Worn-out Weather Strips
The rubber strip along the bottom of a garage door eventually wears out and lets in the rain, melting snow, wind-driven debris and even bugs. So when you replace it, give it back up against stormy weather with raised rubber floor seals.
Driveway Grade
If the ground next to your driveway is slightly higher than the concrete, heavy rains can fill up the driveway and seep under the garage door. Make lowering the grade next to your driveway a priority landscaping project.
Driveway Pitch
Elevation counts again if the garage is built partially below your property’s grade line. Compensate the driveway’s slope down into the garage by installing a channel drain to redirect water away from the garage door.
Garage Water Leak Solutions
The good news is that depending on the garage location about the driveway (and the significance of the problem), there are a few simple and cost-effective ways to solve the problem.
Here are some of the most common problems and ways to prevent water from entering under the garage:
Door And Floor Seals
On the bottom of the garage door is a flexible seal that extends from one side of the entrance to the other.
When the garage door is closed, the seal should press snugly against the garage floor. Over time, seals can deteriorate and tear, letting water (as well as insects and other pests) get under the garage door.
Replacing the seal is beneficial, but heavy runoff can still seep in at the edges of the door. You can also install raised rubber floor seals that resemble mini speed bumps. For minor water problems, the floor seals can help, but they should be replaced every year.
The garage door should have a flexible seal that extends from one side of the entrance to the other end. The seal serves a purpose: it helps make sure the door fits snugly to the cement when it’s closed.
The problem with the door and floor seals is they deteriorate over time. When they decline, they no longer serve their primary function as water and insects penetrate the barrier.
The great news is that replacing a door or floor seal isn’t expensive, even if the problem is inevitable. As a result, if you notice water leaks in the garage, the first step is to check the seals.
We recommend replacing the seals with a brand new product. Then, check it after the next storm to see if the new door and floor seals caused the problem. Garage seals generally need to get replaced about once a year.
Landscaping
Another relatively cheap and quick solution is to examine the soil grade. The bottom line is if the perimeter of your driveway is higher than the actual driveway, water will build there instead of draining off the cement.
When rainwater collects in a single spot around a home, it’s bound to penetrate the structure within time.
You can alter the landscape of your home to redirect rainwater more naturally. Again, the goal is to drive it away from the foundation, in this case, close to the garage door.
Though it will take a hard day or two of sweat, rearranging the landscape to provide more natural drainage away from home is pretty cost-effective and straightforward.
Gutters
Adding guttering to your garage can solve the problem if the rainwater seeping under the door is coming from the garage roof. Install new gutters along the edges of the garage roof and attach downspout extensions that carry rainwater out and away from the garage door.
In addition to keeping rainwater out of the garage, diverting the water away from the garage will protect its foundation.
Even though gutters are constructed around most of the house’s perimeter, sometimes builders cut corners by not putting any up around the garage door.
Therefore, adding gutters to your garage can potentially solve the issue of rainwater that’s seeping under the door and appears to come in from the roof of the garage.
Though the solution is more expensive and time-consuming, it’s worthwhile to prevent significant water damage in the potential future.
We recommend installing new gutters along the edges of the garage roof with attached downspouts.
The downspouts will transfer water from your roof, where it’s bound to collect around the top of the garage door and to the sides of the unit. So the further you can redirect water away from the foundation, the better.
Trench Drains
If the driveway slopes downward toward the garage instead of away from it, the only way to keep the rainwater out is to channel it away before it can run under the door.
The best way to do this is to install a trench drain along the front of the garage. This entails cutting a narrow trench in the concrete from one side of the driveway to the other and inserting a steel or PVC U-shaped channel in the track.
Concrete is poured around the top of the channel, which is flush with the driveway. An iron grate fits in the top of the track, allowing water to enter the drain and flow through the channel to the side(s) of the driveway. Periodically, you should remove the grate and clear the track of debris.
Do you own a house with a driveway that slopes downward toward the garage and not away from it? It’s a problematic dilemma that homeowners with this type of design are forced to deal with.
As a result, sometimes, the best method to waterproof your garage is to build a trench drain. The trench drain essentially keeps rainwater from draining through the door and channels it elsewhere.
To build a trench drain, you need to cut a narrow trench in the concrete from one end to the other.
Then, you insert a steel or PVC U-shaped channel in the trench. After the concrete is poured around the top of the track, an iron gate is fitted to prevent certain things from falling into the drain while other things, like rainwater flow into it.
The only hassle with a trench drain is removing the grate once in a while and clearing it of debris.
If not, water will eventually build up over the trench and become ineffective if the channel gets too clogged. Garage Storage Solutions features an innovative wall storage system with heavy-duty sliding wall components such as hooks, garage shelving and stylish, durable steel cabinets designed to hold your gear securely and neatly in place.
Soil Grade
If the soil next to your driveway is higher, rainwater will run onto the driveway instead of draining away from the garage.
If this is occurring, you can lower the soil level by the driveway, but consider the water’s new path.
If you divert the water and it runs into your neighbours’ yard, you might have traded one problem for another.
Garage Floors
Though the most costly alternative on the list, some homeowners decide to redo their garage floor when it suffers from water damage.
The new floor can get raised to a height of individual preference, which will ideally wholly resolve the issue.
Unfortunately, raising a garage floor is not cheap and will require professional help, so we recommend it only as a last alternative.
Solving Garage Door Leaks
It is wise, to begin with, the most simple repairs and progress toward more costly and time-consuming solutions if the original repairs don’t make much of a difference.
If you’re currently experiencing water leaks in the garage, it helps to try and make sure you’re home during the next storm. In addition, it may help you find out exactly where the water is penetrating the garage.
Sometimes a garage experiences water leaks from multiple spots, so more than one of the solutions mentioned above is necessary.
Regardless, the repairs mentioned in this article will solve most garage leaks and avoid you having to do something drastic like replace the entire roof or garage.
Why Should I Care About Keeping Moisture From Leaking Under My Garage Door?
Your garage is an extension of your home, and you should therefore treat it as such! The issue comes in that many garages do not keep the elements out properly.
But the good news is that we have a handful of tips and ideas on how to seal your garage door from the rain.
It’s never pleasant to enter your garage and find the unpleasant surprise that rainwater has pooled on the floor.
Not only can this lead to cracks in your garage structure and water damage to your possessions stored in the garage, but it can also cause health issues.
For example, constant dampness can lead to the formation of mould. This, in turn, could lead to diseases and just a foul smell filling your garage. Not to mention that someone could get injured if they slip on a wet garage floor!
First Things First: Are You Sure The Moisture Is Rain?
If there is constant moisture in your garage, it could be due to condensation. This ‘sweat’ occurs when warm air is in contact with cold temperatures.
And because garage floors and walls are often made from concrete, this is a frequent occurrence.
Sometimes referred to as ‘sweating slab syndrome’, you can diagnose it by looking at the floor. Does it look darker due to moisture absorbed in the concrete?
Another tell-tale that your garage floor is sweating is that it leaves white minerals behind. Alternatively, you can tape a piece of plastic to the area and compare the covered concrete to the rest after a day or two.
What Should I Do If My Floor Is Sweating?
If your floor is sweating, you should consider decreasing the humidity with a dehumidifier or switch up the garage floor with something other than concrete.
Good options to look at include garage floor tiles or vinyl mats, as they will adapt to the rest of the garage’s temperature. If all else fails, you have to consider that your garage door not sealing could be the culprit for rainwater running under it.
A Quick Hack: How Can I Tell That My Garage Door Is Not Sealed Properly?
A surefire way to know that your garage door does not seal is to check if daylight is seeping through at the bottom and around your garage door.
Several things can damage a garage door’s seals, including general wear and tear over time or changes to the driveway’s construction itself.
Troubleshooting: Possible Causes And Solutions For Rainwater Running Under Your Garage Door
Roof Problems
When your roof has no gutters around your garage area, it could be the cause of rainwater accumulating and going under your garage door.
Solution: Install Gutters
This might be a bit more of a pricey solution, but you will be thankful that you decided to install gutters around your garage. It will, therefore, transfer instead of collecting the rainwater.
Your Driveway Pitch
If you drive down your driveway instead of up, the decline can cause rainwater to pool around your garage building.
Solution: Trench Drains
Although you have to clear these trench drains from time to time, they can be a real lifesaver in waterproofing your garage door.
You install these drains right in front of your garage doors, allowing rainwater to drain instead of collect.
The Garage Is Drafty, Or Door Is Leaking
If you notice that your garage door is leaking water or it’s drafty even when the garage door is closed, you might need new weatherstrips.
These strips are usually made from vinyl or rubber and fill the gaps between your garage roller door panels, acting as a garage door water barrier.
Solution: Replace Worn-out Weatherstrips
The weatherstrips or weather seals act as a garage door wind and water barrier. Self-adhesive strips, you can easily stick them on yourself to either the bottom or the top of each garage door panel.
Rainwater Is Pooling On The Floor
A faulty or missing threshold seal could be blamed, causing the water to come through from under the garage door.
Solution: Install Or Replace Garage Door Threshold Seals
Consider replacing or installing garage threshold seals to seal your garage door further.
This acts as a garage door bottom seal and is made of hard rubber or aluminium, and you can stick it straight onto the floor where it meets your garage floor.
It acts as a kind of ‘speedbump’ to prevent water from entering under your door.
It will also help with regulating the indoor temperature to avoid condensation. This door sealing solution is not too expensive and is quick and easy to install.
Conclusion
The end of summer is approaching, and you may be dreading the rain. Whether it’s coming in through your garage door or a crack in the concrete floor, many things can cause water to leak into your garage. Are you getting frustrated by your clutter and garage organisation? Here at Garage Storage Solutions, we offer extensive professional organising and declutter service.