Floor drain in the shop

[191 champ]

Have read many posts recommending a floor drain in the shop. Kudos to those that have. Just shut down my shop after parking my truck a few hours ago and snow melt was about 5' from some sheetrock I had stacked for a project. Swept all the water and ice out the door. Aside from this and parking your wet boat inside, what other instances have you run across where a floor drain was helpful? Felt stupid for not thinking of the snow, have brushed off the cars before bringing them into the attached garage.

[CatFan]

Most places will fail inspection for a floor drain unless you have elaborate measures to capture vehicle fluids.

[Shockedwake]

I was convinced that I wanted a drain when I had mine poured and my concrete talked me out of it saying he had them and you always have to spray it out to avoid clogging . He sloped mine and I could be more please . water will run from the back and when it gets about half way it makes a hard right and goes right out the corner of the garage door . Pretty impressive. And you can't even notice the slope .

[Brady bass]

Cleaning fish... and deer.... just take the hose and spray every thing down. Done deal... I have a 10 ft trench drain so it don't clog

[CJ1]

Washing vehicles, running boats, thawing just about everything out in the winter ect ect. Hot and cold running water and a floor drain is the best thing I did in the garage. Cj

[cowtrimmer]

Install sediment receptacles.

[Bassman Ia.]

Local code here includes a sediment trap before it runs into the sewer. I'm thinking real hard about tearing the floor out in my wife's garage ( attached to the house) and re-doing the floor. Slope to the center, 14'x 1' sealed trench drain down the center.

[buster502]

Most places will fail inspection for a floor drain unless you have elaborate measures to capture vehicle fluids.

and thats a fact around indiana,i almost done it

[Rider99XX]

Might be cost prohibitive but a directional boring company can bore under an existing slab and install a drain line. Also foundation repair companies can do the same but they will tunnel under the slab and actually crawl under to install the drain line.

Both are probably cheaper than tearing out and replacing an existing floor.

[Spinningrod]

^ you can add a drain but unless the floor has a slope into it no guarantee the water will ever make it into the drain

[Bsktball55]

What's the advantage of having a drain versus just having a slopped floor? My floor is sloped and it all just runs out the garage doors.

[Bassman Ia.]

What's the advantage of having a drain versus just having a slopped floor? My floor is sloped and it all just runs out the garage doors.

^^^^ It does? So you don't have a good seal on the bottom of your overhead door? I really don't want water ( melted snow) running under my overhead door, on to my driveway and freezing so people can fall on the ice.

Rider99----- the floor is flat, no where for the water, slush, sand, de-icer to go--- just stays on the floor.

[Rider99XX]

^^^^ It does? So you don't have a good seal on the bottom of your overhead door? I really don't want water ( melted snow) running under my overhead door, on to my driveway and freezing so people can fall on the ice.

Rider99----- the floor is flat, no where for the water, slush, sand, de-icer to go--- just stays on the floor.

The drain area can be ground down to provide a slope. I have seen this done with good results.

[Kanuck1958]

A floor drain is a magnet that collects check balls, springs, washers, nuts and small parts that I drop when I am either taking something apart or putting it back together. It doesn't matter where the shop I am doing this, the parts always seem to end up in the floor drain

[Brady bass]

A floor drain is a magnet that collects check balls, springs, washers, nuts and small parts that I drop when I am either taking something apart or putting it back together. It doesn't matter where the shop I am doing this, the parts always seem to end up in the floor drain

That's perfect at least you know where to start looking for what you dropped lol

[white gambler]

Well I just had my concrete floor in my boat garage pulled out yesterday because the contractor forgot to put the drain in and slope the floor to it. It was important enough to me to go through it because I wanted to be able to wash my boat inside when I get off the water after a long day in the summer. It looks like some posts so far are split up as to whether a drain is a big plus. I'm hoping it's worth it in my case.

[Rider99XX]

Some floors with drains have far more slope than is needed. Some I've seen were sloped so much so that if you were laying on a creeper you'd have to throw out an anchor to keep from rolling to the drain. It doesn't take much to get water to head towards the drain.

[Dando]

Drains are nice, but, the floor has to be sloped toward the drain to make it of any use at all. And drains do stop up.
For a small shop (two or three car garage size), I think it best to have a very slight slope toward the door instead of a drain.
For a large shop? Several drains would be better than trying to send it all out the door.
If you have no slope at all? Just installing a drain isn't going to help anything but lighten your wallet. Buy a squeegee and a mop.