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I plan on building a house with a 3 car garage, I want to put a trench drain the full length of the garage just inside the garage door.
I have been told that the Inspectors dont like these because there affraid your going to put toxic chemicals down the drain.
is it posible to put one in?? and does anybody know of any companys that sell them??
thanks alot
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Replies
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You could install it outside the doors.
*Years ago, I've gotten traffic rated ones from Shields & Harper in Oakland, California. They sell stuff for service stations. I don't think the concern is that you will intentional put stuff down the drain - you can already do that through any toilet, sink or laundry basin. Rather that the 10-30 gallons in your car might leak out one night.My state department of environmental conservation doesn't want to see garage drains connected to septic (gasoline might kill your bugs), sewer (might kill the sewer workers), nor to a dry well (would be untreated). But the city inspector doesn't mind it going to septic and he is the only one on site. I think it beats freezing the garage door to the slab. -David
*Seems to be regional; garage drains are common in PA and OH
*Regional...My county inspector inspects by phone....I phone him for an inspection...and somehow a signature appears!That said...I run them out separate from all...to a little drywell....Mostly we just slope the slab though. Sloped slab might be enviromentally the safest solution cause and pollutant would be seen and easily taken care of...verses put into the ground.near the crystal clear stream, understanding pollution concerns,aj
*thanks guysI want to put a trench drain on the inside so that the water that drains off the cars doesent cause the garage door to freeze down. This has happiened to me many times, in the winter, i drive my car in the garage, the snow melts off, drains to the edge of the garage and then freezes there.ill see if i can find a company on-line that sells themjon
*Jon,If you're building a new 3 car garage, complete with new floor slab, can't you just incorporate a trench drain into the floor's formwork. Build the formwork out of plywood and drywall screws. Leave at least a 2inch wide curb that is recessed in the floor the same thickness as the steel grating that you will place overtop. The 2 inch curbing at the top of the drain wall is plenty wide to house the grating.Install your drain lines and have them route through the formwork. Spray poly foam around the openings in the formwork around the drain lines to keep the forms from leaking.Your only cost by going this route is the cost of the grating (Any weld shop or machine shop can locate this stuff and cut it to size for you), the plumbing lines (which if PVC or ABS, is minimal), the plywood, and the labor cost if you contract this out. Any respectable carpenter who does concrete formwork, can easily build and install such form work in a day or 2; depending on what all is involved.Davo.
*Another source of supply for cast iron trench drains and trench drain grates is the Neenah Foundry (Neenah, WI, 414-725-7000). Check out model R-4990 or R-4991. They make several grating styles, some of which are bicycle safe and they can apply a skid resistant surface if you like. Casting the trench is probably easier if you make it a 2-step process. cast the trench floor first, then form up the sides of the trench when you cast the main floor. You can leave the joint as-is, or if you are worried about leakage, caulk it later, or use some kind of keyway in the trench floor pour and water stop if you want to be really fancy. If you build a box form for the trench, you are going to fight the thing floating on you during the pour and also have a good chance of having voids under the form when you strip it unless you have some vent holes in the form that you plug up when the concrete starts to come through (you have to surround the form with concrete, if you stack it on one side, it has a good chance of shifting on you). The slopes are important here and if the thing is shifting around on you, it will not properly slope. The Neenah catalog has some great instructions on forming and pouring the trench when using their trench grating and frame - those would be applicable no matter what system you use. Around the perimeter of the drain, you will either need to cast an angle iron grating frame into your concrete, cast a block-out for the grating to sit on (what Davo said), or bolt or tapocon angle iron to the sides of the concrete later. The problem with bolting on later is that this is near the top of the concrete and spalling can be a problem (especially if those holes may experience moisture and freeze/thaw cycles), so casting in a ledge for the grating or casting in a piece of angle iron or pre-made grate frame would be better. The reason for the angle iron is to keep that edge of the concrete from wearing down or chipping off in the long run (maybe not a concern with just light vehicles). On industrial jobs, they weld what are called nelson studs (a 4" long piece of steel rod with a head on it that looks like a bolt with no threads) to the back of the angle iron at a 45 degree angle to hold it in the concrete more positively. Probably overkill for this application (you dont have any forklifts or heavy equipment do you?) - just depends on how stout you want to build it. The neenah frames interlock with the concrete reinforcing. All of this may be more than you are looking for, but that is actually pretty tough service (all of the freezing and thawing and driving over it) and something well built would last much longer than something half-baked. As for pollution concerns, I think lake tahoe is an industry leader in stormwater treatment in stormdrains. They have tested a lot of products including drainpacs (www.drainpac.com) - basically a big filter bag you put on the drain to filter out sand and grease and oil, etc before discharge to the stormdrain. You could incorporate something like this if you are into that sort of thing....Okay, enough babbling out of me - good luck!Sami
*thanks guys,I was hoping there was a Trench drain that was already pre-built. i wanted one that i could just put on the compacted sand base and then pour the concrete around it. maybee it could be made of a tough plastic or aluninum, the grate would have to be metal because of the weight of the cars.maybee what i am looking for doesnt exist, but i though it would be easier that have to form it up.the garage is attached to a house
*Neenah also makes a model R-4995/R-4996 which includes a cast iron drain trough with the cast iron grating. You order it whatever length you want. It is shown cast into concrete all around, but I imagine it could be set in well-compacted sand and the concrete placed on either side of it. The concern would be the trench settling and making a dip on the way into the garage or frost heave lifting the thing up and out of the concrete. Well compacted base and good soil stability would be a key. There may be some concern about corrosion with the cast iron in direct soil contact - may want to coat the bottom with some bitumastic paint or something like that. Good luck, again.Sami
*thanks sami,does this company have a Website?? i would hope if it was Cast iron that it would have some crossion protection. once it is set in concrete its there forever.jon
*Their website is http://www.nfco.com. Not to be a jerk, but how hard would it have been for you to do a Yahoo! or Lycos search for "neenah foundry"? By the way - I just read their policy on not painting their castings, they made some interesting points and recommend not painting - most of their castings are meant for embedment in concrete, though, not direct soil contact which is a whole different corrosion animal.
*Jon...Lowes carries plastic drain...Probably HD too...
*Menards has it {plastic} in green white and black .
*Sami,i tryed to fine there website, i went to Neenah.com, but that dident go to the right place.
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I plan on building a house with a 3 car garage, I want to put a trench drain the full length of the garage just inside the garage door.
I have been told that the Inspectors dont like these because there affraid your going to put toxic chemicals down the drain.
is it posible to put one in?? and does anybody know of any companys that sell them??
thanks alot