When Your Fresno Garages Are Wet, What Should You Do?
Fresno garages are notorious for their hard-to-locate leaks. Although they don’t often happen, when they do, finding the source can be quite a challenge. However, with our help, you’ll be on the right track at the very least. As with any problem in life, your first step should be formulating a game plan. Only after that should you tackle the problem. Otherwise, you’ll be unprepared. At that point, you could do more damage than anything.
Locating and Fixing Leaks in Your Garage
So, you’ve woken up, only to find a huge puddle in the garage. Now, what are you going to do about it? If you are like most, you’ll feel the stress boil your blood for a few moments. Then, once you’ve gathered your head, it’s time to take action. Of course, your first thought will likely be to use towels to sop up the water. While this may appear to make sense at first glance, upon trying to implement the practice, you’ll find it lacking. Since most garage leaks don’t happen overnight, there will be more water than a mere towel can handle.
By using the following process, you’ll overcome this challenge. Even in the most trying circumstances, you can use this general process to your advantage.
- First, remove the water: Of course, you’ll need to use more than a few towels. In most instances, we suggest using a shop vac. These are similar to the vacuum cleaners you use to clean the floors. However, they are built to handle much more strenuous activity. Plus, they can suck up water without malfunctioning. Moreover, they’ve got the capacity for the job as well.
- Next, identify its origins: After the water has been removed, you’ll have to locate where the leak is hiding. Unless you move quickly, you could find the garage covered in water. Within no time at all, a serious leak can pump gallons of water onto the floor.
- Then, plug the leak: After you identify where the leak is located, then you can attempt to plug it. Before you apply anything, remember to turn off the water main. Otherwise, any type of cement or glue won’t be able to dry. At that point, all your hard work will be for naught. It could lead to further damage requiring garage door repair in Fresno.
Locating the Leak in Your Fresno Garages
Assuming the floor is dry enough for an investigation, we can begin to search for the source. Typically, you’ll find that it’s the result of one of the three following reasons. Depending on how the floor of your garage appears after drying it, you’ll know which one it is. Obviously, if the water is dripping, it’s coming from above the ground. Sometimes, a pipe in your house may have it first. However, there are a variety of reasons water might be accumulating in the garage. Sometimes, when the air conditioner is running, moisture condenses on ventilation shafts. While not all garages have ventilation, some of them do.
Suppose you spent a couple of hours waiting to see some drops. Nevertheless, despite waiting, nothing ever happened. Still, there appears to be some water seeping up from below. If that’s the case, then you most likely got a slab leak on your hands. At that point, it’s probably more than you can handle without the help of a professional. Since the leak is underneath the slab, you’ll need heavy equipment to reach it.
Of course, on some occasions, you’ll notice water running down the walls. If you notice something like that and it has been raining, then that is the reason. When it rains a lot, the ground begins to absorb the water. At a certain point, the water table rises above your garage level. Particularly when you have a below-ground garage, you’ll notice that this type of leak. With them, all you can do is try to contain the water to the best of your ability.
Preventing Leaks in the Future
Depending the source, there might be some preventative maintenance you can do to ensure a repeat of this episode doesn’t occur. However, not all of these are solvable. For example, if the water table has risen above your garage, there is little that you can do. In that instance, the best you can hope for is to seal the garage better. Plus, once the water table descends, the leak should cease.
Regularly, you’ll see a burst pipe that runs above the garage. When that happens, a pool of water is inevitable. If you happen to live in an aged home, then replacing the pipes might not be a bad idea. By doing that, you’ll have far fewer issues with your plumbing. Plus, you won’t have to keep cleaning up water off the floor of the garage.
Often, during the winter, you’ll hear reports of people waking up to puddles on the garage floor. Most of the time, it’s because they didn’t remember to winterize the property. If you winterize the property, you’ll have a far fewer piping issues in the winter.
