Garage and winter runoff

Bit of a long story. I'm working on getting our attached garage setup so mama bear can park in it over winter. She's getting arthritis in her shoulders and struggled to brush and scrape her vehicle last winter. So new garage doors and openers went in, lots of stuff moved to the barn and now plenty of room for her to pull in.

And I just noticed there's no drain. Really, who built it that way?

I'm thinking of installing some sort of curbing on 3 sides to retain the water so it can be squeegee out the door for this winter. And I'll figure out a drain next summer.

I'm thinking of getting some treated 2x2, silicone and Tapcons for right now but I'm open to suggestions.

What would you do or have done?

I don't recall ever seeing a home garage with drains.

Might not be as big an issue as you think.

Drains are not typically installed in garages. Is there evidence of standing water in the past? Water stains, damp spots? How is the terrain around the garage?

Is your garage heated? If so, you don't have a problem. I keep ours about 50 degrees in the winter and there hasn't been a ND winter yet where there was a problem. Whatever runs off the car evaporates.

If your garage isn't heated, you won't be able to squeegee ice out the door.

As to drains in a garage, if they daylight there typically isn't a problem. If they connect to a municipal sanitary sewer, as minimum you typically are required to have grease traps.

We're in the Ohio snow belt and there's going to be times where a snow covered Jeep is in the garage. Over the years I've pulled in snowy vehicles to work on, even after brushing them off, there's enough water on the floor to flow to the edges. That's going to get worse if a vehicle is brought in daily.

Garage is not heated but is insulated and seldom gets below freezing. Slush from the roads is generally salty enough that we don't have to salt the apron in front of the house. I highly doubt I'll have ice in the garage.

I have 2 walls that I can run a drain to daylight, it's just not something I have time for right now.

My uncle had a drain in his garage. For whatever reason it cracked at some point and the water washed the soil under the garage and the floor cracked and settled - about 3" lower than when it was poured. Its a hell of a mess but he never did anything other than patch the cracks. I personally would never put a drain in the garage.

I don't think I'll have enough water to wash out anything. But I don't want it puddling up around the freezer or other items that would prefer to stay dry and salt free. Like drywall.

When I built my garage the concrete guy made the garage floor
slope towards the door so that it would self drain , just a very small slope
Don’t notice it unless your looking for it , great for washing the floor

I've got that and a drain in my shop. The house garage is level, well as level as you can make it.

Hmm. My garage is 26 D X 33 W. I've pulled our car in with over an inch of snow on it and never had a problem with water even getting to the door. Don't know what to say. If your garage gets below freezing, even rarely, that sounds like ice to me, even with the salt content. But you know your own property better than I.

My garage has a floor drain, is heated, and insulated. My garage is free standing and is exposed to the sun if its shining. The garage temp is set and maintained at 60 degrees, but that thermostat is about at eye level. The temp at the floor is in the 35-40 degree range. The floor drain exits the west side of the garage where the ground level is below the drain. That drain exit area is exposed to the sun all afternoon. Up here in the north west corner of IL, the salt infested snow melts off my wife's car every night. After a couple days of cold snowy weather the water in the floor drain freezes. I have to push the salty water/ snow pile out through the garage door every morning after a snow fall.

The floor has a small dip near the drain, but other wise is fairly flat. The water pools near the drain in about a 1" deep 5' diameter pool that captures either the front or the rear of the car (usually the front with a front drive car). There is a smaller diameter pool about 3' in diameter, maybe a 1/2" deep, under the other axle of the car. If the car was covered with snow when it was parked in my garage, there would be considerable more water on the floor. I can push the water out of the door and towards the west side of the drive (the driveway water runs towards the west), but I only get about 3' out of the door before it will start freezing on the driveway. If the sun is out, the driveway will be dry in a couple hours, if it is not sunny, that ice will be there until it melts off, the salt from the road water/snow that was on the garage floor helps some. but is pretty diluted with the amount of water present.

If you have no heat, I wouldn't expect much snow melt, The big chunks will probably fall off the car and stay where they land. If the car is covered with snow, what does melt off and falls on the floor (only because the car body may be warm) will freeze there lands. If you want to keep the floor clean & dry, you will need to clean it about an hour after the car has been parked there, before it can freeze solid. Gene

Maybe a dehumidifier if needed ? It also discharges slightly warmer air

Since you asked for suggestions, here is mine - make sure the overhead door is not frozen to the slab before you hit the Up Button.

What I had done on every garage I’ve had built. Never had a water problem.

I've been using Great Stuff foam for a few years. Works pretty good and isn't permanent. When summer gets here, I don't have something to go over or around for the floor jacks or shop vacs. It does leave a stain, but that comes in handy for the next year when you put it down. What I do is run a steady line from the door track (leave a few inches to make sure the door won't hit it), up to the front of the garage, over to the other side, and back to the garage door. Basically a big U. There is even a small U where I park the snowblower. Once the first line is dry (I wait until the next day) I run another bead along the inside of the area where there will be water and the foam that is there. Gives it something better to bond to as there is 2 edges instead of just the floor. Slow and steady to get a good bead. That helps protect the freezer that's in front of the garage, cabinets on the side, and other things on the garage floor. I squeegee it out and if it pools up a bit, hardly ever creeps past the foam. I also knock off the snow chunks and push them out before they melt.

I have used a mat like this for years. . .

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Floor-Defender-Garage-Containment-Mats-7-9-x-18-Car-Size/183992517

Usually end up with the shop vac to suck up the standing bit of water, even with garage temp kept around 45F, I would rather not have the salty water evaporate into the air . . . and before putting car into garage, usually knock all the road crap off the mudflaps, and have a brush to clean off the wheel wells . . . I know neighbors probably think I am nuts, but then again my car is 15years old and still looks NEW and no rust ! Even with using it in winter time.

This is pretty much what I am hoping to do.

Ohio uses LOTS of salt in the winter, like I said earlier, we don't have to salt where we park the cars outside because so much salty slush drips off the cars.

While not heated, it very rarely gets below freezing out there and even then not for long.

Our garage has a drain but in most garages home or commercial when they're heated whatever water is on the floor evaporates after a while. With ours if it's really bad we'd squeegy the water towards the drain or out the door,