Hello All,
I am brand new to break time, and still pretty new to construction. I’ve seen the “Best of” in the magazine, and was hoping someone might have some advice for me.
I’ve got a client who wants a bedroom installed in a dug out space under the garage. The house has a daylight basement with the area under the garage already excavated. I am looking for a method or product to seal the garage floor which is 2×6 plank flooring over 2×10 joists at 16″ o.c. Anybody with any experience or advice to share?
Thanks in advance,
Craig
Replies
Hi Craig,
Is the garage floor exposed to weather? And what is the goal of sealing the garage floor? To keep the floor clean and protected, or to keep water, dirt, etc., from falling through into the proposed bedroom area?
Ragnar
PS: Welcome to Breaktime!
The garage floor is enclosed, but could get some weather when the garage door is open. I am also concerned about spills in the garage, snow brought in on a vehicle, etc.
The intent of sealing the floor is to protect the bedroom space below. Currently the floor has some space between the planks and anything spilling onto the floor just runs through it onto the ground which is dug out below.
Any ideas would be appreciated!
As I see it your options are to treat the wooden floor as you would a bathroom or timber roof, ie overlay it with an impervious tub membrane. Alternatively you could replace the floor with 3/4in fibre cement sheeting sealing all the edges and joins. Whatever you do you will need to think about drainage - is slush broomed out or does it drain to a floor waste?
My house has an external timber deck located over the laundry. The roof of the laundry is ply sheet waterproofed with a reinforced brush-on latex membrane. Took about five coats to build the membrane up, but it is waterproof. The deck is level, but the the ply is sloped so water falling through the deck drains to a gutter.
Craig,
I agree with Ian's approach: put some sort of waterproof membrane on the garage floor to be certain that no water, oil, etc., leaks through to your finished ceiling. If leakage does occur, you'll most likely have rot issues in the near future. And rotting structural elements are NOT what you want when there's a car overhead!!!
Ragnar
Not only rot but i'd be concerned about ALL the fluids a car can leak. An anitfreeze stain is hard to paint over.
I worked at a house where the garage fllor was 2x4 PT on edge over the joists like a large butcherblok top. Underneath was a walk out to a shop. In wet or winter weather, the cars brought in water, salt and sand that found its way through to the shop below in spite of how tightly placed the 2x's were.
Also remember the need for a fire stop between the garage and the living space and the need for an egress window, not to mention ventilation for CO from exhaust. I know its lighter and likely to go up instead of down but....
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.
The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."
--Marcus Aurelius
Gasoline fumes are heavier than air. This would be my number one concern. I would in no uncertain terms want to sleep under a automobile on an unsealed (or sealed) wooden floor. Also, the possibility of a burning 4 ton suv or whatever setting on a wood floor over my bed would probably make sleep impossible for me anyway. This idea is bad from the start, and likely would not meet building codes anywhere.
Just wanted to drop in and say Thank You for all the great input!
I am leaning toward overlaying the wood floor with a fiber cement board, sealing all edges and then coating it all with some sort of epoxy. I have been on projects where we used similar products to seal trenches to carry wafer etching waste, so I am hoping to find a similar product that will work for my application here. I'll need to find a way to slope the floor out too. (maybe some floor leveling compound under the fiber cement?) I expect the sealer will keep out all liquids as well as fumes.
Good point about local codes, too. I will be checking in with the City soon to see what they have to say about occupancy separations and the project as a whole.
Thanks Again!!