New Shop:Floor Drain ?????

[Spaarky]

Building a new shop this spring. 42x64, wondering what everyone is doing for floor drains? I have looked at a few, just wondering if there is any other ideas out there??

One I looked at had about a 6" wide grate and then drained out the back of the building into a sump pit. The other one was kind of the same principal except wider.

Need something that wee can drive large equipment over, combine, tractors, ect...

thanks... Justin

 

[wildcard]

Mine is about a foot square as well as deep and it just drains out in the field. If your driving big stuff over it I say go narrow so the grate dosn't have to be so beefy. I drive a 30,000 fire engine over mine a lot and it held up fine.

 

[Spaarky]

it just drains out in the field.

how did you get it out in the field without it freezing up in the winter time???

 

[TIM]

i have floor drain that is about 2 feet square. it is right in the middle of the shop. The drain goes outside. My shop is on a built up pad. so the drain just sticks out of the pad. I probably should have run a heat tape thru it. But it only freezes up every so often.

if i could do it again. I would run a foot wide drain right down the middle of the shop about 10 feet long.

A large sguiege on a broom handle works good for pushing snow, ice and water on to the drain. I will park the truck and sleddeck with sleds loaded over night. Get a fire going in the stove and the sleds are all thawed out for the next day and the water drains outside.

tim

 

[skidoorulz]

Just built a 30 x 40 shop.I just went and bought a large floor drain at Lowes and put it in the middle of the floor between the 2 overhead doors and drained it out the side of the foundation about 2 feet deep, Dug a trench and put in about 6 inches of washed gravel and 15 foot of perferated pipe and about 6 inches of gravel on top of pipe and covered it up. There you go French drain. I have had one like this in my house garage for 22 years and wash my vehicles indoors all winter long and have had no problems

 

[TIM]

here is apic of the inside of the shop. you can see the drain below.
sorry if blood offends you.
tim

 

[wildcard]

how did you get it out in the field without it freezing up in the winter time???

It's never been an issue, just not that much water in there just some light snow melt and little of that goes down the drain.

 

[Good to Go]

I'm a fan of trench drains in shops, but they are pricey. And the bargains at your local big box store won't cut it and you'll regret it.

So the other option is a regular catch basin. That big a shop, I'd probably just put in a Type I; but a 30 or 40 would work too.

The grates are heavy enough for anything you'll do, they don't cost as much as one thinks and they are easy to work with...and clean out. The problem with the small ones is that they don't hold much, are difficult to clean out and some are so tight you can't even get the 90 degree discharge in them.

Linky to the first site I found that has pic's..

Just click on Catch Basins on the left; they got little pdf drawings with dimensions.

 

[dragon12]

If you are going to daylight the drain you could use a trench drain.

http://www.zurn.com/operations/flothru/pages/home.asp

If you are hooking into main sewer you will probably need a grease trap.

 

[Good to Go]

^^^^^ Zurn is good stuff.

 

[J-Roc]

here is apic of the inside of the shop. you can see the drain below.
sorry if blood offends you.
tim

TIM, how do you get your sleds up there? That's a GREAT idea!

 

[Spaarky]

If you are going to daylight the drain you could use a trench drain.

That is exactly what I was thinking. Does that seem strong enough to run big equipment over though????

My original thought was to have about a 40' trench drain down the center. Then pipe it out to a large sump pit in the yard. Dig a 8x8x6' deep pit, fill it with rock, and then cover it with grass. Then it could just drain into there.

I didnt know about daylighting it out. Then in the winter time, there would be a big iceberg out in the yard.

Tim... I also love how you have the sleds lofted up. I was thinking of doing some speed racks on the side. Then building pallets to put the sleds on, so I could lift them into the sleds into the speed racks with the skidloader.. Then only bad part is the speed racks take up floor space.

 

[Long Gone]

Just built a 30 x 40 shop.I just went and bought a large floor drain at Lowes and put it in the middle of the floor between the 2 overhead doors and drained it out the side of the foundation about 2 feet deep, Dug a trench and put in about 6 inches of washed gravel and 15 foot of perferated pipe and about 6 inches of gravel on top of pipe and covered it up. There you go French drain. I have had one like this in my house garage for 22 years and wash my vehicles indoors all winter long and have had no problems

^^^^^X2!!! We did this in our 120x60 shop and it works well. You really do not need a huge or long drain. We made the floor with a 1" drop to the drain, I did not think it would work but it does and you don't notice the sloped floor.

 

[BigAl]

Go with the trench drain down the center with plenty of slope. It only costs you once and after the concrete's poured it's to late.

 

[Spaarky]

Go with the trench drain down the center with plenty of slope. It only costs you once and after the concrete's poured it's to late.

yah, thats what I am worried about. A couple of my buddies are concrete finishers, so we are gonna do the pour ourselves.

I have been waiting for this a long, long time, so I dont really want to dick it up....

 

[Good to Go]

For your trench drain, Checky here

It's sloped inside, so your floor stays level. Still need a CB some where for clean out (keeps the dirt and floating stuff from plugging up your drain field).

 

[Mafesto]

Go with the trench drain down the center with plenty of slope. It only costs you once and after the concrete's poured it's to late.

Slope is tricky.

You want enough for sufficient run-off even after some settling.
My main garage has no drain, so floor was poured level. Well, guess which area settled?
The side by the house!
So water runs towards the house!
But, you don't want so much slope that tool box drawers open or items want to roll towards drain.

Also remember....
Floor drains suck when working with small items (jets, nuts, bolts or anything that may become lost in the abyss of the drain.

 

[dragon12]

Daylighting the drain shouldn't be a problem in the winter as long as you have somewhere for the water to go. If you daylight it into a retention area then you will have a skating rink if you run that much water down the drain. If your property has a good slope you should be fine. I would think the pit idea will cause big issues because of the freezing issue. If you trap the water it will freeze there. Eventually, if enough water gets in there, you will have water backing up into your shop.

I think if you look at those Zurn drains you can get metal grates for them that can hold weight. Also, I think there might be some sort of lip that sits in the concrete that holds it up. Either way, I would avoid parking anything directly on the drain, but wouldn't hesitate to drive over one.

 

[Bubba700]

Floor Slope

When we would put these in the garages we poured we would usually 1/8 to a 1/4 in drop per 4 ft. This would give good runoff but wouldn't be so steep that things wanted to roll twards the drain when you dropped them. We do the trench style. They work great.

 

[Blu Du]

EPCA stopped by our shop last summer and every other other contractor in the area to inspect drains. and he said must come to day light or to a tank and must be pumped and hauled off. MUST not go in to ground before goning to daylight