Garage Floor a Mess

[fishersofmen]

Its that time of year again when all of the slop from the cars makes a mess all over the garage floor. I am tired of all this garbage being tracked into the house. My garage stays somewhat warm being insulated and most of this slop melts into filthy water and slush. Do you guys just use a squeegee to push this stuff out or is there a better solution? My wife wanted to put some kind of absorbent down but I don't want that getting all over in the cars and house either. Any suggestions?

[nofishfisherman]

Even if you put some sort of absorber down you'll still have something there to track into the house. Got to get it out somehow. I just try to shovel it out the best I can. I don't squeegee it out because that would tend to leave the bulk of the water on the driveway to freeze creating an ice rink. I try to shovel it out and off the driveway as much as possible.

A good rug and taking your shoes off at the door is probably your only true solution from some of it getting in the house, short of moving to Texas that is.

[CAMAN]

I use a squeegee and bucket of hot water. Never had an issue with ice on the driveway, I usually squeegee the water to the side of the driveway anyway.

[Dave]

Usually squeegee it out and before it freezes on the driveway, shovel the slush up.

[JohnMickish]

If your ceiling is high enough you can put in a ceiling fan to help move some air around and dry the floor or a gas fireed heater with a fan will keep the floor dry as well.

[delcecchi]

If you were really ambitious, next summer or spring you could put a floor drain to a "dry well" pit that goes down below frost line. If garage doesn't get very cold a few feet would do. Put some coarse rock or something in the hole, and a grate on top. Ideally it would be located in a low spot where the water tends to pool naturally.

Then you could squeege or even hose (depending on how big the pit is) the gunk into the drain. Be some work but it wouldn't cost much.

[cavalierowner]

It would be wise to check with local codes before putting in a dry well. I looked into that several years ago and what I found was that a dry well is prohibited by code. I had two options. First was a flammable waste trap, although that really wasn't an option for me because of cost. Second was a drain, with no trap, that went directly outside and daylighted on grade. I am about to a point where I need to pour a new garage floor and I will probably put in a drain and daylight the pipe outside.

[Ice Wolf]

I am in the same boat. Every winter I think about installing floor drains. The slab would have to be replaced and I just have a hard time justifying the cost of ripping up a perfectly good concrete floor and plumbing the drain pipe in my basement. Right now all of the slop runs to the door so I use a squeegee and a mop and bucket. I do have a large ceiling fan and when the slop is squeegeed outside the floor will dry over night then I sweep up the sand. With all the snow we have been getting it seams like I am out there every day cleaning up the slop.

[gunner55]

We have the same problem & looked into a drain when we put up the garage.Local code wouldn't allow it with out some special trap.We now use our shop vac(with dry filter removed) when it's too deep & just dump it out the side door of the garage.We also have some pretty thin(1/4"-1/2") rubber mats that interlock so we don't track in the house & have mess with the water all the time.We discovered the mats at Sam's Club 1 winter when Mom was asking about doing something with her garage floor.It gets very slippery in the winter when it's wet & we were afraid she would fall.I guess that Kmart has them now also & they're not very expensive.

[not_nuf_time]

Give this a try, sounds stupid but I do it all the time. Pull cars out, take your shovel and go out and grab nice clean snow, and put it down all over in garage. Push it all around and it acts like a floor dry. shovel it out, throw some more clean snow on and repeat after acouple rounds of this it pulls up lot of the salt and the old dirt floor snow. Finally sweep it clean. Matter of fact I'll prob go out an do this today. Glad you reminded me. It does work.

[RebelSS]

x 2 on the snow. My dad showed me that 40 years ago. Cleans up nice. I'm happy I have a floor drain.

[PurpleFloyd]

If you were really ambitious, next summer or spring you could put a floor drain to a "dry well" pit that goes down below frost line. If garage doesn't get very cold a few feet would do. Put some coarse rock or something in the hole, and a grate on top. Ideally it would be located in a low spot where the water tends to pool naturally.

Then you could squeege or even hose (depending on how big the pit is) the gunk into the drain. Be some work but it wouldn't cost much.

Maybe not the best suggestion considering most cities don't allow it without costly additions.

[delcecchi]

Huh, learn something new every day. So it could run out through a pipe onto the surface, but not into a hole in the ground?

[cavalierowner]

Huh, learn something new every day. So it could run out through a pipe onto the surface, but not into a hole in the ground?

The way it was explained to me back then by a mechanical engineer is that it's more of a fire code. They don't want any possibility of flammable fluids building up in a dry well under your garage slab and causing a fire or exploding. That was also why, if I daylighted it on grade, I couldn't put a trap in the drain unless it was a flammable waste trap designed for that type of use. BUT, this was all a good 10 years ago and at least 2 code revisions ago, so all of what I was told back then may have changed completely.

[Wanderer]

The way it was explained to me back then by a mechanical engineer is that it's more of a fire code. They don't want any possibility of flammable fluids building up in a dry well under your garage slab and causing a fire or exploding. That was also why, if I daylighted it on grade, I couldn't put a trap in the drain unless it was a flammable waste trap designed for that type of use. BUT, this was all a good 10 years ago and at least 2 code revisions ago, so all of what I was told back then may have changed completely.

That sounds exactly why and how a code would be written. I'll take guess and say once that one is adopted it's not likely to be repealed.

I squeegee and shovel too. There's enough salt, sand and grit in our slop that the stuff never really freezes hard and doesn't get slippery but is a heckuva mess. The snow idea makes sense if your floor isn't too warm. I use snow to clean and dry things quite a bit; just not usually that big an area.

[cavalierowner]

That sounds exactly why and how a code would be written. I'll take guess and say once that one is adopted it's not likely to be repealed.

I squeegee and shovel too. There's enough salt, sand and grit in our slop that the stuff never really freezes hard and doesn't get slippery but is a heckuva mess. The snow idea makes sense if your floor isn't too warm. I use snow to clean and dry things quite a bit; just not usually that big an area.

That's exactly right, that's one provision that is unlikely to be repealed. Having been to more code seminars than I can count, I will say that most provisions in the codes are a result of something bad happening. Although once in a while they will surprise you. There were several "sacred cows" killed back when they changed from the Uniform Building Code to the International Building Code, at least on the commercial side of things.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Kick the road slop off your cars before you pull them in. Once inside and melted, squeegee it outside.

[Wanderer]

Kick the road slop off your cars before you pull them in. Once inside and melted, squeegee it outside.

I'm going to show your post to my wife and see if that helps.

Nope...

[fishersofmen]

Lol. I will throw some clean snow in the garage and clean things up. Sounds like a good training seminar for the kids.

[Dave]

I'm going to try the fresh snow solution as well.

[titelines]

I have the same problem...should've installed a drain when I had the chance....

I'm looking into installing SwissTrax in my garage next year. At least all the "junk" would melt and go down to the garage floor, while the surface you walk on would be raised and relatively "gunk" free. Just Google it and see if it would work for you.

[Dave]

No way, not with all the slop and dirt I swept away just today. There'd be no way to sweep anything out with that installed.

[The Luker]

the containment mat.com! Check them out! They make them in Mankato, might be cheaper to go pick up, they are heavy, so shipping can be pricey.

[BoxMN]

Luker, looks interesting. Question I have though, is how do you get the slop/water out of the garage? Do you drag it out and turn over? That seems like work... Do the front corner flap down somehow? thnx

I kinda dig the ribbed style floor mat, that has channels to guide liquid down stream, but I have my slab tilted towards the door, so this would work better for me. But I haven't gotten one yet, still just let liquid and gravity do the work, and I open the door the let it flow

[The Luker]

Squeegee right out the door,or shop vac it up. Edges are raised, keeps all the mess contained, everything stays on the mat and not all over the floor.