Garage concrete cracks letting water inside

1293 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by stadry, May 20, 2020

Joeywhat

Discussion Starter · May 19, 2020

My concrete garage floor has a crack going across from one side to the other (the entire width of the garage, parallel to garage door) and it is also up into the concrete that sits a little higher around the outside edge (sorry I have no clue what that's called). Any appreciable rain means water gets in through this crack and I get standing water in the garage.

I'm looking at how this needs to be fixed. Ideally I would like to tackle this myself if it's in that realm. Can I use cement patch/crack stuff for this? The main crack is about an inch wide at the top and maybe 1 inch deep at most (could go deeper, albeit as a very fine crack at that point).

I'll try and get pictures tonight, I'll have to move a bunch of stuff out of the way to show everything.

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Loizok

· #2 · May 19, 2020

Without seeing the pics.... I can wait.

2 things come to mind... Is it surface water? OR Is it Ground water? Under the foundation and seeping up?

I would try and determine the origin 1st. Coming in from the side or from underneath.

Depending on which it is determines best course of action.

Look forward to seeing pics

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Joeywhat

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 19, 2020

I'm inclined to say surface water. I have multiple issues leading to this, I believe. The water table where I'm at seems very high. I have a couple holes in my garden from some shrubs I pulled, and any rainfill fills those about 1" below ground level and it'll stay that high for several days. Also, the drainage is awful, the ground is hard clay and it takes a while for rain to drain out. My whole yard stays swamping for a few days after a rain. I'm not sure what I can do about that considering the whole yard seems to be water logged, and I'm not really in a low spot geographically (there is a smaller river/creek running through my subdivision).

Even after a stretch of warm and dry weather I'm not digging too deep to find water in my garden.

The water enters through one side of the garage (where the crack goes up the side, and isn't just through the slab) and slowly streams through the crack across the garage.

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Loizok

· #4 · May 19, 2020 (Edited)

Can you change the pitch any? along the side that gives you the problem.

Have it higher along that wall and sloping away from it.
Maybe if you can give it enough of a pitch.... any rainwater may run far enough from the base to eliminate or minimize how much of it makes it in.

For the crack part of it... You could use DryLok. I used it on the exterior bricking of my foundation... Seemed to stop water from coming through any cracks / openings my foundation has.

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Bud9051

· #5 · May 19, 2020

Does your property abut to that stream bed and if so could much of your water problem be diverted in that direction?

Bud

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Joeywhat

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 19, 2020

The creek is about 100 yards away (several properties away from me) so that's not an option. The house next door is also only about 10-15 feet from that side of the garage (and their fence is even closer) so there's not a lot of room to do anything right there.

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huesmann

· #7 · May 20, 2020

Without pics, I'm wondering if it'd work to construct a swale (or a dike/curb) outside the garage to direct water away from the area with the crack.

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stadry

· #8 · May 20, 2020

next time the crack's dry, seal it w/np1 polyurethane,,, it should have enough strength to resist leaking wtr's hydrostatic pressure,,, read directions & be sure to follow them INCL use of closed cell backer rod,,, keeping the wtr away from the garage would be the next step

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