What to Do If Your Garage Door Leaks

You open the garage door to retrieve your flashlight in the middle of a thunderstorm only to realize that your garage floor is flooded with rainwater. Most homeowners have been in this exact position at some point in their life. Whether it’s a minor leak that only leaves the room damp or a major onslaught of rainwater, garage door leaks can be a serious problem that spell trouble for your garage floor, your home, and any belongings you have stored in the garage.

Fortunately, this common issue has a few extremely simple fixes that you can try on your own before you ask for a professional’s assistance. These cost-effective tricks may be all you need to take care of a little leak.

It’s always best to try something minimally invasive like these suggestions before moving on to more drastic options.

What can you do to keep the water out of your garage? Take a look at the surrounding area today to see which of these suggestions would be the best first step for your home.

Install a Threshold or a New Seal to Keep Water Out

Most garage doors come with some type of seal along the bottom of the door to help keep the outdoor environment from entering your garage. Over time, exposure to the elements can lead to rotting and deterioration along this less durable piece of the door.

It may be misaligned, torn, or flattened to the point that it’s no longer able to perform its duties well. It’s possible to notice that your seals are no longer in good shape when you start to see sunlight through the sides or bottom of your garage door.

You might be lucky enough to find that this is the only thing you need to replace to correct your leaking garage. Putting a new seal on the bottom of the garage door should be a relatively simple task you can perform with an inexpensive seal purchased at a home improvement store. Make sure to measure and size it appropriately to prevent gaps that would allow the leak to continue.

Keep in mind that your garage door also has a seal that runs along the sides of the door. If you have no gutters, the rain could be running straight from your roof over the entire door and entering through the sides.

Check the garage door seals on all sides to make sure that they’re in good shape, properly sized, and intact.

Consider pairing a new door seal with the addition of a threshold to further protect your garage from water intrusion. The threshold raises the height of the garage floor to help keep rainwater out.

It functions almost like a speed bump that your car can still drive over, but it’s highly effective at drying out this area. Both the threshold and the new door seal should be simple solutions that require very little skill or initial investment.

Put Up some New Gutters

Have you ever considered that the rain may be entering your garage because it has nowhere else to go? Installing new gutters and appropriate downspouts can help you to redirect the rainwater away from sensitive parts of the home such as the garage door.

Some modern homes are actually built without these once-standard additions. However, there can be some real consequences for your home without appropriate gutters installed.

Be sure to point downspouts away from the garage door to make effective use of these tools. This is the only way that you’re going to prevent future water from pooling up around the bottom of your garage door.

However, all homeowners should be careful that they’re redirecting the water out into the yard instead of causing a new issue elsewhere.

Regrade the Land Around Your Garage

Perhaps the rainwater is coming into your garage because the grading of the land around this area is directing it here. The soil or concrete next to your garage door may be higher, forming a small hill that slopes directly toward your garage.

While the hill may seem relatively small, each raindrop that lands on it is rolling right underneath your garage door.

You can regrade this area by either adding more dirt to level it off in the other direction or raising the height of the concrete on your driveway or under the garage door. This may take a lot of hard work and could require the assistance of a professional landscaper to help you get the proper grade for your foundation.

Install a Drain System to Keep Water at Bay

There are some circumstances that prevent these minor repairs from correcting the issue thoroughly or effectively. It’s possible that your garage sits lower than the driveway which routinely causes the rainwater to puddle right around the garage door seal.

If this is the case, not much will keep the water out of your garage for an extended period of time. Instead, you need to find someplace new for the water to go.

You might have to install a trench drain that runs along the front of the garage door. This drain is going to be difficult to install on your own, so consider enlisting the help of a professional.

You’ll need a long and narrow channel that spans the entire length of the garage door. It’ll be a few inches wide and covered with a metal grate so you can still drive your car over the top of it.

The water that would originally enter the garage can now fall into the drain and keep the inside of your garage significantly drier.

Raise Your Garage Floor

Instead of installing a drain, you could consider installing a new garage floor instead. This would allow you to increase the height, hopefully to a point where draining would no longer be necessary.

It’ll be too tall to continue allowing the rain droplets to sneak past its well-sealed doorway. This is easily the most time-consuming and labor-intensive option of all the possible solutions for a garage door leak.

While many of the options on this list of solutions for a leaking garage door allow you to perform the work on your own, you may need assistance to install a drain system or a new garage door.

Garage Door Leaking is a Thing of the Past

Be certain to accept professional assistance when you need to in order to prevent worsening the issues you’re currently experiencing.

The good news is that you aren’t destined to have a leaking garage door for your entire life. In fact, it’s extremely likely that you could solve the issue with just a few minutes of your time for a weekend or evening project. If these don’t help, contact a specialist to help you make the best decision about how to proceed.

Is your garage door worn down and in need of updating? Then you’ve come to the right place! Feldco will help you create your custom garage door. You don’t have to worry about installation either because your new garage door will be installed by factory trained and certified professionals.

Get a free quote now and start your home improvement project today. Replacing your garage door has never been so easy.