How to Prevent Garage Flooding from Rain

Are you struggling to keep rain water from pooling in your garage? This is an unfortunately common struggle with houses positioned at the bottom of a hill or with a down-sloping driveway. However, Leaquida Waterproofing is happy to assure you that there is a very effective solution. Here’s how you can prevent garage flooding when it rains near your home.

Trench and French

The solution to garage flooding is actually very simple. To keep rain water out of your garage, all you need is a combination of a trench drain and a French drain. These are two kinds of drains that, when used together, can stop water in its tracks and reroute it.

The trench drain is installed in front of the garage, spanning the length of the garage entrance. This small, unobtrusive drain has slots in it that allow water to flow into it. From there, the trench drain connects to the French drain, which directs the water elsewhere.

Redirecting Rain Water

What exactly does it mean to redirect rain water? It’s not as hard as it sounds. Instead of letting water just pool inside a drain and stay there, we install a French drain as well. The French drain connects the lower end of the trench drain and runs further away from the house. This French drain gives the same assistance to your yard that a ditch gives to the roads. It simply moves runoff to somewhere less obtrusive. 

If you have a ditch near your house, the French drain may be able to simply connect there and dump the rain water from your driveway into a public drain. If there’s no ditch in sight, that’s no problem at all. The French drain doesn’t need an outlet. It can simply offload excess water into the ground, far enough away from your house that it’s at no risk of running back toward it.

The Process

The process of installing these drains can be slightly involved. If you have a cement driveway, we may need to break away the part closest to the garage entrance to allow space for your new trench drain. Any gaps between the driveway and trench drain upon completion can be patched up easily. 

Dirt or gravel driveways are even easier to install in. We’ll have to dig a small trench across the front of the garage entry, but can cover the area with gravel again when we’re done. In the case of a dirt driveway, the trench drain will remain visible.

The French drain will likely involve digging a small trench through your yard. However, we can dig this along the side of the driveway, avoiding damage to your landscaping. It’s also possible for grass to be pulled back during the trench digging process and then pushed back into place aftward, as the surface layer of dirt is held together by grass roots. That makes the French drain installation process fairly easy to recover from, visually.

Reliable Installation

If you’re looking for reliable French drain installation, trench drain installation, or general help to prevent garage flooding in Toronto, Leaquida Waterproofing is the place to call. We look forward to working with you.