Need some suggestions on how to fix water getting into my new building.

[mx842]

I just had a 60X60' metal building put up and Everything is wonderful accept the lousy concrete pour. Aside from having a bunch of cracks everywhere there is a low place in the center of the floor where water will hit the concrete out in my covered side shed and end up piling up on the wall and seeping under the metal and ponding in the center of the shop floor. I have tried to seal under the metal with every kind of sealer known to man with little or no help. Every time it rains I have to go out and squeegee the water off the concrete to keep it from flooding the floor. When it rains hard enough there will be a half inch of water standing right up on the wall.

I've thought about getting someone to come out and grind the edge down in hopes the water will run out into the gravel but am wondering what that will look like in the end. I was going to enclose the first 20' and turn it into a tool shed but that part of the concrete doesn't seem to pile up there it's the middle section that is low and is where the problem is at. I decided to enclose that part and turn it into a screened in area which I was going to do eventually anyway but I don't even know if I will be able to keep the water out even with that going up. This new wall is going to be wood framed with metal on the outside walls accept where the screened in part is. The problem seems to be I can't find anything that will stick to this concrete. It will seal for a week or two then start to peel away.

Also, on the back of the building there is 1' of concrete that extends out from the wall. That was kind of my fault because I misunderstood the building people when I got the dimensions of the concrete slab. They kept talking about a 6" lip around the outside perimeter and I took that as meaning concrete extending 6" out from the building wall. I still don't know what the 6" lip thing is they were talking about. The guys that put the building up pointed this out and we decided to shift the building 1' to the back and 1' to the right side and that took care of the problem on two sides but now water will hit the rear wall, run down and hit the concrete and come in under the metal and into the building. I put up white metal siding on the inside walls and it's already starting to rust the bottom edge of the metal. I've tried sealing it, cutting lines every couple feet, and it still gets in. Plus, all this he was to put aprons at the two big doors and at each entry door which he never did, and water will hit the concrete and come in under these door entrances too like it knows what it's doing.

I paid this guy $26,000.00 to pour this floor and now I have to spend another 10 grand or better building walls that I still don't know if it will help or not. Maybe some of you guys can come up with an option.

 

[Snobdds]

Your only real solution is to put in gutters, commercial, and get the water away from your building. Then make sure that water is dumped well past the building.

I personally like large overhangs, but you're past that point now.

 

[CliffordK]

Yep, I was going to ask if you had any place where gutters would help.

For the place where you have a side wall coming down flush on top of the concrete, you could cut a channel in the concrete at the bottom of the wall, and direct the water where you want it to go outside of the building. Perhaps extending the panels further down. But that would probably involve taking off and possibly replacing the side panels with longer ones. But you could get lucky if there is already a joint with adequate overlap.

Maybe some photos of the problem areas?

 

[mx842]

Well, I already have gutters on the open side shed part. It's the rain that falls and hit's the concrete then in that one area. To fix the thing right I would have to take down the whole building tear out the floor and get someone that knows what they are doing and repour the whole floor. The inside of the main part of the building is 32X 40 and there is a low place tight in the center that takes up almost half of that area. The concrete in that middle section has a low spot about 8' wide and extends all the way to the center of the floor. It's like a creek feeding a pond.LOL

I could tell there was going to be a problem as soon as I pulled the polly off the top of the concrete when he came back a week later and cut the lines in the floor. That was the problem and reason for all the cracks that are now everywhere. The concrete had already relieved itself before he cut any lines. Once the concrete dried after uncovering it I could see all the low places because there was water standing. I asked him about it and he said that was normal and that was a second or two before I ran him off. At that point it wasn't much I could do. It wasn't worth getting a lawyer involved because he didn't have anything I could go after.
I think I can fix the back wall by getting someone in here to grind that edge down and slope it away from the building but there is guarantee that would even work. Gutters wouldn't do any good there because that is a side wall.

 

[mx842]

I don't have any pics of the back wall that can tell you anything, but these may give you an idea of what I'm working with. That middle section in pic #3 is where the water trails from.

 

[ruffdog]

Nice looking building. It looks like downspout extensions would help getting the water away from the slab. I don't know why it would have a bunch of cracks in it though.

 

[etpm]

Regarding the 1 foot part my neighbor had a similar problem. The roll up doors on his shop let water in because the the slab was sloped such that water ran inside under the doors. The amount of slab that was outside the doors was about a foot wide. The fix my neighbor used was to have sheet metal bent up and attached to the bottom of his doors. This sheet metal covered the 1 foot of concrete. When the doors were raised the sheet metal went up with the doors and so was out of the way. The sheet metal sloped away from the doors at about a 15 degree angle. The fix worked quite well. Maybe you could do the same.
Eric

 

[mx842]

Well, the doors are just a small problem compared to the river I have coming in under the metal from the side. If he had of put the aprons in like he should have that part would be ok.
All concrete will crack if you don't put in some form of relief to allow the concrete to do its thing. The idea of cutting lines is that when the stress is relieved as it cures it will follow the lines or expansion joints as it does so, He was also supposed to have fiber added to the concrete mix, but he decided that was not necessary and the end results shows what happens when you don't.

 

[grsthegreat]

on mine we used #4 rebar on concrete pads to keep rebar out of sand base. plus fiber added to concrete. poured on 80 degree day.......still cracked.

lets face it. concrete cracks.

on the carriage barn i used #4 rebar , 6x6 metal mesh plus concrete additive.....still cracked.

and they prepped it using vibratory compactor and plate compactor. no difference.

 

[grsthegreat]

one thing they did do right was pour concrete AFTER structures were built so the pad is 4" above finished grade. at least i dont get any water intrusion. but mine is pole barn structure. yours looks to be metal frame and truss, and those get built on pads

 

[mx842]

Yeah, I put 2 runs of #5 rebar and 2 runs of #4 rebar on 6" centers, one run 1' from the bottom and the next run 6" above that one in the footer plus 7 rolls of the heavy duty roll mesh wire tied into the rebar. If he had come out the next day like he should and cut his lines, there would have been far less cracks than is in there now if any that would be visible. Plus the fiber helps.
The pad where the old building was, was basically the same size and was poured 20 years before and didn't have but one small crack at the corner of the big door at the front of the building. But that was poured by the old guy that used to own this company before he turned it over to one of his boys.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We poured a 40x60 floor in our barn two years ago, and cut joints every 10 feet. Not a single crack.
I dont have a lot of suggestions. What a mess, sounds like this fella was overpaid. Our pad was poured within the confines of the walls. What sort of fly by night operation is this?
If it's got gutters, and those still allow this, the real solution is to find a way to get that concrete removed from around the building.

 

[mx842]

Yeah, the first building was a pole barn design and all of the outside 6x6 post sit on piers. I also had that poured after the building was up. I didn't use wire on that one I used #4 rebar on 1' centers or squares because I put pex in the floor that time. This one had to be put on a monolithic pour with a 3' footing.

 

[mx842]

We poured a 40x60 floor in our barn two years ago, and cut joints every 10 feet. Not a single crack.
I dont have a lot of suggestions. What a mess, sounds like this fella was overpaid. Our pad was poured within the confines of the walls. What sort of fly by night operation is this

An operation called Creative Mud in New Kent County Va. I like to advertise for them every time I get a chance.

 

[newbury]

Ditches all around (french drains maybe), a sloped pad for the big door with a drain around the base of the pad and gutters on the eaves.
Might be costly but it will work.

 

[dodge man]

A thought, and I don’t like it but I think it would solve some of the problem. Get a good sized concrete saw and cut two notches the width of a trench drain apart in the open side part of the building as close as you can get to the wall of the enclosed building. I’m talking the full length of the wall. This means you’d then have to pour a bottom to that which slopes to the back and dumps out. It might take a pipe to get it to daylight. You can put a grate over the channel once’s it’s built.

In the back would it help to cut off the concrete?

You could also cut a small square inside the building and have someone directional bore into the building and pull a pipe to the outside. I don’t know if one drain would catch it all though.

It’s a shame, nice looking building.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

Fixing drainage on outside of building is my preferred / first thought but if you can't an inside solution like a u-drain may work for you?

I didn't see mention of a budget but retro-fitting a slot drain into an existing concrete floor is very easy.
Drain into a sump pit and pump out is a very elegant solution.

U-Drain

u-drain.ca

 

[Mike sandor]

I had a pool installed when we lived in AZ. The perimeter was concrete, sloping away from the pool. They installed drain channels to direct this water out and away from the pool. They had plastic grid covers on them as well.
when I recently built our new house, I looked at garage floor drains that were similar in design but built heavier to allow for vehicles travel. I did not go with this channel system but it may work well for your problem. Installing is a bit of work as you need to saw cut and hammer out room for the channel system, then grout it in.

 

[Mike sandor]

Similar to Maple Leaf Farmers reply!

 

[Midniteoyl]

A thought, and I don’t like it but I think it would solve some of the problem. Get a good sized concrete saw and cut two notches the width of a trench drain apart in the open side part of the building as close as you can get to the wall of the enclosed building. I’m talking the full length of the wall. This means you’d then have to pour a bottom to that which slopes to the back and dumps out. It might take a pipe to get it to daylight. You can put a grate over the channel once’s it’s built.

In the back would it help to cut off the concrete?

You could also cut a small square inside the building and have someone directional bore into the building and pull a pipe to the outside. I don’t know if one drain would catch it all though.

It’s a shame, nice looking building.

This ^^

Cut a drain as close to the building as is feasible, have it drain out the back or to a pit, cover with a grate.