So, the floor in the garage of the new house obviously has a crack or has settled unevenly. After snows, the melt runs towards the front right corner of the garage, predictably towards the drywall (no concrete footer in the garage). Because of this, the dry wall in that corner has deteriorated to the point that it has broken off in spots

I'm planning to rip all the dry wall down, rewire the garage, insulate (notice I didn't say REinsulate) the walls of the garage and hang new drywall. But, before I do all of that and potentially waste money, I need some ideas on how to fix this slope problem.

So, any ideas on how to fix the slope/grade of this garage floor to get water running back to where it needs to go versus where it is going?

Get a company in to core it and pump it back up.

Ya, like Rob says. Mud jacking or replace. If you do replace, its a great opportunity to install some floor drains....

I have a good concrete guy who could look at it... he does all the flips I do.. I would be concerned about mud jacking a garage slab.. my engineer says it usually leads to even worse problems... I would look into a concrete mix with some of the new additives for strength. .its really good stuff.... oh and my concrete guy is really reasonable

We had mud jackers come out to jack up a 6x8 slab off our patio landing. It was kinda pricy and it only lasted a couple years. It'd probably be more $$$ to jack it out and repour it, but it should last longer. If it's a new house, the builder should fix it.

Mud jacking is usually a band aid to a bigger problem. . Bentonite in the soil or improperly back fill and compacted soil. Alot of builders use bad fill in the garage area because its dead space. Ive seen 4 foot deep caverns under garage floors.. I would look into a rip out and redo

It's definitely not new construction, built in '69.

As to the rip and redo, that will likely have to wait until summer.

Thanks for the input guys.

Give me a call and I can hook you up with him at least to get a base line for what it will cost. . Im gonna guess 2000 to 2500

and when you re rock the garage look at the blue/purple rock. it's moisture resistant. And if your gonna do a new slab a couple needed things. IN SLAB HEAT!!!!

And those colored rocks look pretty cool. Seal it and it's like a epoxy floor only better

Radiant heating might go into the shop when it's built but I'll save the expense on the garage.

I do plan to go with a mold resistant drywall as there will inevitably be some moisture issues in the garage.

I used vinyl baseboard in our laundry room and siliconed them to the flooring in case of flood. Might be a good interim solution.

That's a tough one. I think you'll want to tear it out and put in new as well with one, maybe two drains. This is likely your permanent home (at least for a while) right?? I also wonder if it might help you to drop the floor 4-6" to give you some protection against water on the floor. You might look into taller garage doors too before you decide how far down you want to go. But that could be a win/win. Get your lifted truck/bronco inside with that extra clearance. But in the event of heavy rain, you don't want water to be running into your garage.

But then I also recommend a very good sealer or epoxy when new. Oh and we found a Mervyns that went out of business a long time ago, and bought their wall shelved and wall tracks. I LOVED that setup. Adjustable, sturdy (if attached to wall properly) etc. And it helped keep stuff off the floor. It's very expensive new, so you might need to find a similar situation.

I'll throw my .02 in there for you. Mud jacking works, but if you do it, it has to be a grout based rather than concrete based. Concrete shrinks and the grout won't. I mud jacked my garage floor 14 years ago and it doesn't have a crack in it other than when it settled before initially. It is going to be cheaper right now, but in the long run, it does run the potential to crack again, especially at the edges of your expansion joints. There are also only a couple of guys in S. Colorado that I would trust to do a quality job of this type of work.

Putting a floor drain in is harder than you think. You have to cut the floor out to get the drain in, get the proper slope (I've seen concrete guys want to run it at the bare minimum of 1/8" fall and that only causes problems) It has to daylight somewhere and then you have to patch the concrete back in. If you are going to go through this trouble, might as well knock out the slab and do it right the first time so that you can get the proper drainage on a floor drain if you want it. By replacing the slab, it gives you the opportunity to properly slope the new floor away from the walls and channel everything to the door and/or to a drain. The other option is to put a floor grate along the front of the garage just inside the the door that spans it. You will still have to cut the concrete out and run the drain away from the house, but it could stop the incoming water from making things worse.

As far as fixing the drywall/insulation problem, do the work yourself, but use dura-rock on the bottom of the drywall. It's expensive, but it is made for showers and is concrete rather than gypsum board. You can texture it, paint it, or put tile up on it. But unless you solve the floor problem, water will always damage what is there, doesn't matter if you use dura-rock on the walls or not. A bigger concern for me is what does the framing behind the drywall look like? Is it rotted? Does it need a few sticks replaced? That is a bigger concern than drywall, but again, unless the water problem is solved........

You've got my number, brudda

I agree with sbolt19 on the mud jacking however every quote I have ever recieved on mud jacking with grout as of late has been more expensive than a rip out and redo.. We have done a couple drains in garage. Our engineer would have us trench out a 1/4 fall per foot with 3" underground rated pipe (solid) of your choice. Trench out under your slab on the drive way and put in a dry well.. Pretty straight forward. Need top use a self compacting pea gravel on the pipe.. I would slope the floor so you have good run off and put in a drain trough in front of the slab to pull the water away from the.. Another option on the dry wall is to use Dense Shield.. Its what I have been using it now for a few years on my flips and its a little more cost effective than dura rock.. Once in get a tub of red guard and seal the bottom half of the sheet rock.. If you do a rip out you could have the concrete guy build a footer on the perimeter to get the dry wall up 6-8" off the deck.... If you want me to come over I can look at it.. We do alot of water damage issues on the flips we do....

A few comments. First, thanks for all the great input and ideas. Second, appreciate all the offers.

When the drywall comes down, I will definitely be inspecting the studs and walls behind for damage/rot. I expect I will be finding some scary stuff back there. But I am not afraid of some framing. I will be farming out the electric simply because I plan to do some upgrades and may need some permits pulled.

The garage will be getting no drains, radiant heating, built in shelves, etc. Why? Because this will NOT be the garage mahal. Basically, I just need the floor to slope and properly drain when the snow melts off the wife's car. I will likely consider having a concrete footer added to the floor/walls when/if a new pad is poured in there. (Did I mention there are no expansion joints in the floor?)

Now, I do plan to have a garage mahal. Some time later this year, or early next year, I will be building a separate detached garage/shop on the property, adjacent to the house. This palace of wonder will be complete and resplendent with all devices and tools imaginable and desired for ones personal use. Radiant heating in the floors, 220v outlets, a two post lift, compressor room, and a stainless steel piss trough. I anticipate it being complete about 2 days before I am hit by a bus or killed by a random box wrench dislodging itself from an airliner passing overhead at 20k feet.

You had me at piss trough

Let's not forget the magazine rack in said garage bathroom.

Yes, don't forget the commode too. No one wants to run into the house for #2 and you need a fart fan that'll make your ears pop!!

Speaking of which, a good exhaust fan in the garage-mahal would be nice for those days you are welding with the doors shut.

Funny you say no urinal. I looked at buying a house a year or so ago. Had a big beautiful 4 car garage in it with a "man bathroom", as my wife put it, with just a urinal and sink. It was perfect.

When I was a kid working in my dad's shop we just went out between the shop and the fence to take a leak, until the neighbors called the county.

So my redneck dad installed a urinal on the back wall of the shop. No plumbing mind you, the drain simply d through the wall and emptied out into that same area between the shop and the fence.

How things have changed.