OT: Building a garage, can I put in a floor drain.

[cetuximab]

I am getting my dream shop. Space to store and work on bikes.

The size of the garage is 40x40' with a little 18'x18' corner cut out for stairs, bathroom, laundry etc.

I want to put a central floor drain.

I used to clean my Dad's veteranrian clinic early before school. I loved how easy it was to clean the dog runs. I had to shovel the solid poop. But the doghair, bits of food, and everything else cleaned up so easily with the high pressure sprayer.

I dream of having a garage/shop that easy to keep clean.

In the winter when you pull the cars in with road salt and ice on the undercarriage, you could just spray it off and it would run down the drain. Right now the ice melts and water runs under the chest freezer and the dirt gets tracked into the house. Are the builders going to have a conniption if I request that? or should I just request a sloping garage floor toward the doors. Freezing water in a pee trap would be less of an issue, I want to install a shop heater with a thermostat. (To keep a constant 50 deg winter temp.) Or can I have the central drain like the landscaping drains they hook up to rain gutters?

Any ideas where in the garage should I install the shop heater? Maybe it doesn't matter. There is probably gas in the laundry room they could extend for the shop heater.

It is fun having a spot to putter and watch watch the kiddos playing on the driveway and cul-de-sac. Spots for the kids to park their bikes, ceiling space to hang my bikes, I have a small fleet of rafts and kayaks.

[soulspinner]

Have no answers but jealous as hell:hello:

[buddybikes]

So where will this drain go - down into the ground? I think your local board of health won't be too happy depending upon where you live.

[Mikej]

You can, but it’s not as easy as you think, permit wise and what is going to be required. You should call the contractor, I’m sure he will know. I see it is attached to a house (5/8” drywall at common wall) which may complicate it. People think everything goes down a drain and it’s gone, but being a garage,there is a possibility of flammable liquid being rinsed down and accumulate and it’s attached to a house. Nice space though, have you been to Garage Journal forums?

[saab2000]

Ask your contractor and municipal authorities. Highly recommended. I wish my garage had a drain.

[old fat man]

Assuming you have a lot of cars or big toys to fill in that space? If not, I'd go bigger for laundry and half bath.

If ceiling is high, consider a basketball hoop or climbing wall area for the kids to use when weather is bad?

[Plum Hill]

You need to check with the local plumbing inspector on the drain. More than likely you’ll be required to have an oil separator/grease trap. The days of dumping anything down a sewer are long over.

Before deciding where to put a heater, you need a floor plan of where you want to put shelves and cabinets, and where you want to hang things from the ceiling. Last thing you would want is a gas heater blowing directly on a bike or plastic kayak.
Ultimate heater would be in floor hot water run off a small boiler.

[Ralph]

I recall seeing homes in Colorado with drains in middle of garage floors. Mostly for automatic car washing/rinsing systems. Top and bottom. Great idea it seems to me....if you can figure out how to make it drain. Guess that depends mostly on your property.

[DfCas]

What you want is called a catch basin. Its basically a pit built into the floor. The one I built was about 2 feet by 18 inches and about 18 inches deep. A piece of 4 inch pipe is roughed in near the top of the pit and drains to wherever your local codes require. The idea is rocks and sand and junk fall to the botton and when the water rises it goes out the pipe. You can clean out the basin with a small shovel and dispose of the debris. So much better than a floor drain and vitually clog proof. You will need a heavy grate for the topp that needs to be strong enough for what ever crosses it. Cars?

The contractor can easily do this when the do the floor.

[eddief]

see page 89. If ain't just water it seems you can't just clean your garage and have it go into the system. Maybe Pueblo different, but I doubt it.

https://pueblowestmetro.com/DocumentCenter/View/238/Amended-Bylaws-PDF

[OtayBW]

You'll have to do something with the household (non-stormwater) gray water. If you're on city sewer, that may or may not be possible. If you're on a septic tank drainfield, you may exceed the design capacity without enlarging the site (expensive). Two other options may be to drill a dry well if code permits. Finally, you may be able to install a washout pit underground/nearby that you would pump out periodically. Depending on your situation, that may be one of the least intrusive ways to go. GL.

[Jaybee]

As an environmental professional that works in Colorado, I can assure you that you cannot tie your garage floor drain to the municipal sanitary or stormwater systems without some intermediate step to be sure you are catching any hydrocarbon waste.

Permitting this won't be cheap, your standard general contractor may not be qualified to do it.

Edit: removed a possibly incorrect statement about discharge permits

[rwsaunders]

Your local plumbing code will outline the requirements and a licensed plumber will most likely need to do the work. They’ll know what to do. Most new codes call for interceptors whether the line goes to the sanitary sewer or a dry sump. Think about a drain at each car bay and slope the floor accordingly. Never slope the water to the garage door as it could freeze if there is cold air infiltration near the door seal. If you can, run hot water to the garage and I installed a laundry tub to deal with cleaning paint brushes, etc. Never enough pegboard and electrical outlets either.

[Hindmost]

Short of plumbing, sanitation, and environmental issues I wonder that you couldn't judiciously slope the concrete floor to drain outside, say to the driveway.

[jamesdak]

I can't help but do like the idea. Used to live out at the Pueblo Depot in my Army days. Loved the area and playing in the mountains up past Wetmore. Good times.

[jamesdak]

Never slope the water to the garage door as it could freeze if there is cold air infiltration near the door seal.

So true! I deal with this every winter at my place. All the crap off the vehicles melts and runs to the door seals where it freezes the doors shut. This winter I have been generously slathering and re-slathering the seals with Crisco to help them not freeze.

[Tandem Rider]

The last house I owned, I built, it was in the county, not the city. They allowed me to put in a floor drain in the center of the garage and run it to daylight, I dumped it onto a downhill run of gravel. There was never more than snowmelt or bike rinsing on the floor so it wasn't an environmental issue. I set the top of the drain 2 inches below the perimeter elevation and sloped the entire floor to the drain. The floor was radiant heat so the snow and ice melted and the garage was always about 45 degrees, even at -20 outside. Check with the building department before you do anything, commercial rules are often much different than residential. Good luck and have fun, sounds like a great space!

[54ny77]

What kind of yard is there?

If good size, you might consider putting a 500 gal. drywell in there, with a leach field in front of it.

Interior of the garage, yes put grease traps and other filters.

All depends on the budget and the permit police. Am guessing Colorado is a bit bonkers in the latter.

Check out garagejournal.com to really get into it. No better place for garage stuff.

[Louis]

So true! I deal with this every winter at my place. All the crap off the vehicles melts and runs to the door seals where it freezes the doors shut. This winter I have been generously slathering and re-slathering the seals with Crisco to help them not freeze.

I thought garage floors were supposed to drain to the door, in case you have a gasoline leak you don't want that to pool right by the house.

Also, I got 8 Sterilite mini-tubs and if I've had to drive through a lot of snow I put them under the car, one in front of and behind each tire. That catches a significant percentage of the snow melt from the car and minimizes the mess on the floor.

[OtayBW]

What kind of yard is there?

If good size, you might consider putting a 500 gal. drywell in there, with a leach field in front of it.

Interior of the garage, yes put grease traps and other filters.

All depends on the budget and the permit police. Am guessing Colorado is a bit bonkers in the latter.

Check out garagejournal.com to really get into it. No better place for garage stuff.Good idea! :D

[jds108]

I've got a similar size garage and just had one car stall have a floor drain installed as I prefer to have the floor flat and level elsewhere. That drain just goes into the earth below. I asked about having it connected to the sewer and the guys said "you don't want that". I didn't explore further, turns out that I should have.

They dug a roughly 4'x4' hole in the earth, filled that with rocks, then afterwards the concrete garage floor was poured. That was 5 years ago. I assumed that all of the winter road salt/sand wouldn't ever fill that up, but just this year it's now draining very slow. I'm not sure there is really a way to get the silt out, only a vacuum could do that and it would have to be a hell of a vacuum.

So no more using the hose in the garage to spray road sand/silt/grime off of the car. Bummer.

OP - consider your ceiling height as well. If you ever decide to use a lift to store a car/boat/trailer on top of another, 10' probably won't cut it. It's much cheaper to have a higher ceiling than increase the square footage of the garage to accomodate that kind of storage. 12' would be enough for most folks. Mine is 11' and that's kind of an arbitrary bare minimum.

[cetuximab]

Pueblo West
see page 89. If ain't just water it seems you can't just clean your garage and have it go into the system. Maybe Pueblo different, but I doubt it.

https://pueblowestmetro.com/DocumentCenter/View/238/Amended-Bylaws-PDF

I'll look into code in Colorado Springs

[cetuximab]

As an environmental professional that works in Colorado, I can assure you that you cannot tie your garage floor drain to the municipal sanitary or stormwater systems without some intermediate step to be sure you are catching any hydrocarbon waste.

Permitting this won't be cheap, your standard general contractor may not be qualified to do it.

I have heard the grease trap can expensive.

I will not be changing oil or washing parts with gasoline.

[Hindmost]

...Never enough ... electrical outlets either...

A friend thought it was excessive when he saw that I had wired duplex receptacles every 4 feet along a wall intended for work benches. Still isn't enough.

[rwsaunders]

I have heard the grease trap can expensive.

I will not be changing oil or washing parts with gasoline.

$500 for a FOG trap...a bit overboard imho but your local regulations will dictate use or not. Someone mentioned annual inspections and fees...seems a bit overboard and I’ve never experienced this for a non-commercial use. More oil, grease and fuel leaked on roadways and let’s not forget road salt.

[Dave]

Whether such a drain is allowed can vary from state to to state and even county to county. If the drain was to go out to the ground near the building, it's not allowed where I live. I have an 1800 square foot work shop that's heated and air conditioned. No drain allowed. I have a bathroom that drains to my septic tank, just like the house.

I would think it that routing it to a city sanitary sewer system would also not be allowed - too much chance of automotive fluids going down the drain. I'm on a septic system, so that's also not allowed.

That said, I know of a home in the next county that has trench drains hear the garage door the route to the ground around the house.

You have to ask your local building inspector.

[Jaybee]

The regs Dave describes might be different in El Paso county, but I doubt it.

Want to rinse out your garage and push all manner of oil, antifreeze, brake fluid, road salt and grease down your driveway to the street where it will eventually find the storm sewer? Not recommended from an environmental point of view, and if I were your neighbor I'd ask you to think about it, but also probably not against the law.

Want to build a collection and discharge system specifically for rinsing the exact same stuff through a pipe instead of over the driveway? Nope. Usually.

Like Dave says, I'd check with local experts first.

[C40_guy]

I will not be changing oil or washing parts with gasoline.

You may not plan on pouring oil or gasoline down that drain.

The next owner of the house, on the other hand, may see that drain and think it's a perfect place to discard hazardous chemicals. He or she may not know where the drain goes, may not care.

Building codes are designed to protect your neighbors from that guy. :)

[cetuximab]

So true! I deal with this every winter at my place. All the crap off the vehicles melts and runs to the door seals where it freezes the doors shut. This winter I have been generously slathering and re-slathering the seals with Crisco to help them not freeze.

My Dad's Veterinarian Clinic had a trench drain in the large animal rooms. That might work.

Sloping towards the door might freeze the garage door shut.