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

[Mike sandor]

On the two sides that have the 1’ offset, could you have a sheet metal shop fab up a flashing that reaches out and over the slab and have it pitch up a bit on the wall? It might look a bit funky but eliminating the 1’ lip for water to set on is definitely something you want to fix.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Something like this:

CPS100-10 - 4" Wide Glass Fiber Polyester Trench Drain Kit 10 foot Complete by Trench Drain Supply

3 Meters = 9.85 feet

www.trenchdrainsupply.com

As for the 1' extra concrete pad, simply have it cut off and removed. You can flash over any little bit left if needed. Use Aluminum and have it slightly sloped away from the building.

 

[Mike sandor]

Something like this:

CPS100-10 - 4" Wide Glass Fiber Polyester Trench Drain Kit 10 foot Complete by Trench Drain Supply

3 Meters = 9.85 feet

www.trenchdrainsupply.com

There you go!

 

[Mike sandor]

Possibly seal up the 1’ over hang areas using rubber roofing membrane material. You would have to get access to the wall as you would want to go up the wall a bit with it and drap it over and down the slab. This stuff is typically used on commercial roofs. You would need to install a metal flashing to cover exposed areas but you can get Z flashing made up at just about any size you need at a good tin shop.

 

[mx842]

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.

I don't have a drainage problem as far as water not draining away from the building. There is plenty of slope away from the building once it gets off the concrete. Water hits the concrete then runs to the center of the pad. If you look at the two pics where there is no building you can see how the water puddles to the center.

 

[mx842]

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.

I've thought about grinding the outside edge on a slope starting as close to the building as possible. I have a guy coming out to look at it and see if that is a workable solution. I'm going to have to get him to also cut out/grind out the areas at the big doors and put in a proper apron that slopes outward. The problem is that this outside edge is the footing and it's 31/2 feet thick. I can't just break it out. I had thought about cutting slots long ways one end of the wall to the other. Make cuts like you would if you were cutting a notch in a 2x4. Many little slices then take a hammer and knock them out. I was thinking about making slices that get progressively deeper as you go outward. Then take self-leveling concrete mix to smooth it out. If that makes any sense.
I guess I could do the same thing to the outside edge of the covered part before I put those walls up.

 

[ruffdog]

 

[LouNY]

If I'm understanding correctly the OP's slab is a monolithic or Alaskan slab were the footers are poured as part of the slab so the outer edge of the slab is the referenced 3 1/2' thick.
To my way of thinking the easiest and likely least expensive would be to cut just shy of a foot off the buildings tin, lay and caulk the sealing edge of a 2x12 against the frame of the building and run flashing under the building tin and over the the edge of the 2x, then pour a 3-4" high strength high bond concrete slab that tapers to an 1" on the outer edge to get good slope away from the building and a good bond to the concrete already poured. It could even be formed and poured out past and down a couple on inches past the outer edge of the existing concrete.

Edit added;
If the water intrusion is from the covered area (porch) and is water being blown or falling on the concrete there, dig down a bit, expand the pad lowering it a few inches and sloping it from the existing pad and extend the roof out .

 

[ruffdog]

That is what I was thinking...some sort of flashing under the metal then going up behind it. Could the front edge of the flashing be cemented in a groove to seal it?

 

[wolc123]

I would mark the spots where the water accumulates the deepest and drill holes thru the concrete there with a hammer drill when it’s dry. There should be crushed stone under the concrete and the water will drain away into that. You should be able to do that in less than 15 minutes. 1/2” hammer drills can be had for around $ 50 from Harbor Freight.

I personally don’t like concrete floors in pole barns. My workshop and porch area is concrete but the storage area (boat, tractors, implements, camper storage) is crushed and compacted stone. No big deal if something drips a little water or oil onto that.

There’s not a crack on any of my concrete (I’m in upstate NY where it gets real cold in the winter). My nephew poured and finished it 5 years ago. He’s very good at flatwork.

 

[mx842]

I would mark the spots where the water accumulates the deepest and drill holes thru the concrete there with a hammer drill when it’s dry. There should be crushed stone under the concrete and the water will drain away into that. You should be able to do that in less than 15 minutes. 1/2” hammer drills can be had for around $ 50 from Harbor Freight.

I personally don’t like concrete floors in pole barns. My workshop and porch area is concrete but the storage area (boat, tractors, implements, camper storage) is crushed and compacted stone. No big deal if something drips a little water or oil onto that.

There’s not a crack on any of my concrete (I’m in upstate NY where it gets real cold in the winter). My nephew poured and finished it 5 years ago. He’s very good at flatwork.
View attachment 859536
View attachment 859537
View attachment 859538

I had thought about that but decided against it because in the first place this 5" slab is poured over top of the original 6" slab and if I did drill holes, they would stop up in a very short while and I would have holes full of water all over the floor. This low area covers close to 1/3 of the entire floor.

 

[two_bit_score]

I had thought about that but decided against it because in the first place this 5" slab is poured over top of the original 6" slab and if I did drill holes, they would stop up in a very short while and I would have holes full of water all over the floor. This low area covers close to 1/3 of the entire floor.

Sounds like the flashing over that outside edge will be the way to go. I have seen several buildings with a portion of the slab appearing to extend past the outside wall siding and always wondered if that would cause water to run under the siding and floor plate. I thought maybe when the slab was done they addressed that is some way or the overhang covered it. This has been and interesting read and I am sure you have come to a good place to find a solution.

 

[wolc123]

I had thought about that but decided against it because in the first place this 5" slab is poured over top of the original 6" slab and if I did drill holes, they would stop up in a very short while and I would have holes full of water all over the floor. This low area covers close to 1/3 of the entire floor.

If you locate the lowest spot (use a tape measure or a ruler to find where the water is deepest after a rain), you might need to only drill one hole (11” deep to go thru both layers of concrete, to the gravel below). If you use a large diameter drill bit (1-1/2” plus) then you could install a metal grate in it, making a floor drain.

It really doesn’t matter how big of an area is covered with no hole drilled, as long as you drill the hole in the lowest spot, you might need just one hole.

What are you doing now, using a squeegee after every rain ? If so, that seems pretty labor intensive. You really don’t have much to loose, by drilling one hole in the lowest spot.

 

[CliffordK]

Talk to a closed cell spray foam person. That is supposed to be good stuff. Put a couple inches over the inside of the whole structure, then an extra bead down along the concrete. That should keep the whole structure dry, and give it some insulation reducing condensation.

Hmmm, do you have a footer? Somehow pull the footer up and get the insulation or caulking behind the footer, and behind all posts too.

It sounds like if you keep the water out, then all the other problems will become insignificant.

 

[Yander]

This isn't going to be the cheapest option but an option non the less. Enclose it and put in 3 roll up doors. You have that much invested already. Then you have more enclosed storage and water problem is gone.

 

[bigtiller]

Rent or hire a curb grinder and grind away the top edge of the slab to get your desired angle for water run off.

 

[jaxs]

Contrary to popular belief concrete can be capped (poured over) with good results. In the simplest form sand mix with additional Portland can be placed over existing and featheredged. To enhance bond,spread a slurry of water and Portland just before placing concrete. Latex and other additives as well as fiber reinforcement make it even better. If you don't mind water standing below overhang you could start at wall with 2" tapering to one or more feet from wall to prevent water running inside shop. Talk to a masonry supply distributor about products designed to be placed over concrete. The same strategy might work at doors. Flashing as suggested sounds far less expensive than grinding on 1' protrusions.
The concrete contractor should have made you aware of possible repercussions when he saw no dropped ledge was speced. Same for whomever constructed building. Both outfits have seen these mistakes in the past and should give customers benefit of that knowledge.

 

[mx842]

This isn't going to be the cheapest option but an option non the less. Enclose it and put in 3 roll up doors. You have that much invested already. Then you have more enclosed storage and water problem is gone.

Well, if I did that, I would still have the same problem I have with the other two big doors in the shop and that rear wall as well. The whole problem is that the concrete was finished poorly. There are dips, high spots and places where the concrete had just about gotten away from them. Basically, they bit off more than they could chew and didn't have enough help. They did use a vibrator on the footing part but they did that after they had already laid down the concrete. In doing that the concrete settled but they never came back to level it back off leaving the outside edge higher than the rest of the floor. AS they moved inward, they worked off that lower settled part rather than my grade stakes. I saw them driving down a couple of them and when I asked them about it, they said they were too high. I called bull crap on them but by then it was too late over half the floor was finished.

 

[mx842]

Talk to a closed cell spray foam person. That is supposed to be good stuff. Put a couple inches over the inside of the whole structure, then an extra bead down along the concrete. That should keep the whole structure dry, and give it some insulation reducing condensation.

Hmmm, do you have a footer? Somehow pull the footer up and get the insulation or caulking behind the footer, and behind all posts too.

It sounds like if you keep the water out, then all the other problems will become insignificant.

I have 2.5" of spray foam on the walls and 3" under the roof. The whole building is sealed tight accept under that piece of 5X3 galvanized angle plate that the metal is screwed to. They put those foam pads under the bottom and top between the siding and those angle plates. Those foam pieces do a good job of keeping bugs out but does nothing to help keep water out. If they had put some kind of waterproof sealer between the angle plate and the concrete it may have helped some.
When I build that 40' wall under that open part I'll dang sure put plenty of waterproof sealer under that 2x4 wall but I'll probably still have to grind a taper on that outside edge.

 

[mx842]

If you locate the lowest spot (use a tape measure or a ruler to find where the water is deepest after a rain), you might need to only drill one hole (11” deep to go thru both layers of concrete, to the gravel below). If you use a large diameter drill bit (1-1/2” plus) then you could install a metal grate in it, making a floor drain.

It really doesn’t matter how big of an area is covered with no hole drilled, as long as you drill the hole in the lowest spot, you might need just one hole.

What are you doing now, using a squeegee after every rain ? If so, that seems pretty labor intensive. You really don’t have much to loose, by drilling one hole in the lowest spot.

If it was just one low spot, that would be one thing but there are a bunch of high and low spots all over the floor.