How To Prevent Water From Entering Your Garage

How To Prevent Water From Entering Your Garage – There are a lot of things in this world that can’t be controlled by man.

Among a whole list of things, one of those is the weather (depending on who you ask).

On occasion, after some time of hefty rain or even a flash flood, water can make its way through the cracks of our doors and the spaces of our windows.

Sometimes, water can even make its way through the garage door and waterlog all of the valuable items we usually store inside the garage.

This can be a major inconvenience, especially when cleaning all that water up after the storm has passed.

These tips we’ve prepared can help any homeowner prevent water from coming into their garage!

Landscaping

A relatively cheap solution to prevent water from getting under the garage door is to landscape the terrain surrounding the garage and the driveway.

Alter the terrain surrounding the driveway and the garage to let the water flow away from home and drain more naturally.

Water buildup in a single spot somewhere around the property can eventually make its way through the soil and penetrate the structure, causing water damage.

It’s best to either spend a day or two changing the terrain or hiring a professional landscaper to do the job.

Replace The Garage Door Weatherstripping

The garage door’s weatherstripping can deteriorate over time after constant exposure to different weathers.

Since an overhead door’s weatherstripping is made out of rubber,

it’s no surprise that it can start to become brittle after quite a long time of being exposed to the heat, the cold, and the rain.

A damaged weatherstripping can let anything in, including small to relatively large insects, dust, various debris, and, you’ve guessed it, water.

If the garage door’s weatherstripping has noticeably become damaged and is not serving its purpose, it’s best to either replace it yourself or hire someone to do it.

Overhead door weatherstripping isn’t that hard to find if you’re thinking of replacing the weatherstripping yourself.

It can be found at most hardware stores and other home improvement stores located in Calgary, or anywhere near you and your area.

Install Garage Vents

As counterintuitive as it sounds, if water were to, unfortunately, make its way under the garage door and into the garage, it’s better to have an exit route for the water instead of letting it build up inside the garage itself.

The downsides to having vents installed to the garage are dealing with other things entering the garage, such as insects, dust, various debris, and the like.

If water is the only concern and the other downsides to having vents installed to the garage don’t seem alarming, having vents installed to the garage is an excellent solution to water building up in the garage.

Create Trench Drains

Not all houses have driveways sloping downward from the garage.

Some houses have driveways that slope down towards the garage, making the water flow towards the garage.

One solution to homeowners who have downward sloping driveways is to build a trench drain or a channel drain to channel the oncoming water elsewhere.

In order to make a trench drain, the homeowner or the hired professional should cut a narrow trench through the cement from one side of the driveway to the other.

A U-shaped trench made out of metal or PVC is then inserted into the cutout.

After the top part around the channel has been poured with concrete, an iron barrier is then placed on top to filter any debris.

This tip is the only tip on this list that requires a lot of effort and resources, but if the water coming through the overhead door is becoming a serious problem,

especially because of the driveway sloping towards the garage, this might be the best solution.

Barricade The Garage Doors

Probably the most cost-efficient tip on this list is to create a barrier outside your garage door with bags filled with sand to stop the water from coming into your garage, especially if flooding is common in the homeowner’s area.

Water accumulating in any homeowner’s garage can really be a handful, and can even damage the overhead door itself.

While many garage door repair companies located in Calgary have all the overhead door maintenance and repair services any homeowner needs, the best solution is always proper prevention.