A floor drain is beneficial to have when you have a basement or a garage. It can drain off the water spilled during a car wash or anything easily. If the basement area is prone to flooding, then a floor drain may come in handy for a quick cleanup.
The benefits of having a floor drain in your house are that you can easily wash your car inside; you don’t have to take your car every time you wash it. All you need to do is push the water towards the drain, and the drain will automatically clean your area.
The good thing is you can install a floor drain in your garage or basement by yourself. No need to pay cash to general contractors or handymen to install this for you.
You must be asking yourself, “how to install a floor drain on a concrete slab?” Well, we are here to answer all of your questions. It’s very easy, with the right equipment you can easily do it yourself.
What you’ve been missing
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You need to find the right equipment first before starting your installation project. With a little bit of afford, you can easily set up a floor drain in your garage. So let’s take a look at how you can install a floor drain on your own-
Initial Preps
It becomes effortless to install a floor once the cement is being poured. After this, you can level the surrounding area with a slight bevel, so the water can easily flow towards the floor center.
The important thing is to determine what type of material will be flowing down to your drain. If you have just water entering the drain, then you are ok. You can just connect the drain with the current septic or sewer system. But, if you are going to use any harmful or dangerous material in your basement then you need to follow the local safety measurements and hazardous material disposal codes.
Drainage Planning
The next thing that comes on the list is you need to figure out where the drainage will go. New floors are easy to set, just lay down the pipes in place and install the floor cover over the top.
You can use traps, so cleaning your drain can become manageable. Also, this will keep large debris away, so your drain doesn’t get blocked.
Drainage Planning For Current Floors
In some instances, you will have no option but to break through the existing floor to install the pipes. The process might seem hard, but actually, it is not.
You will need to use some heavy machinery and equipment since you will have to break through the current floor in order to install the new drain. Though, it is a time-consuming process.
Digging Trenches For Pipes
You need to call to have your utilities marked before digging. This will prevent you from hitting any gas pipe accidentally. Take it as a safety precaution.
You will need to dig a trench for the new pipes to place in order to connect them to the existing septic system. Dig a trench from the area where you are placing the floor drain to the septic or sewer system. You also need to dig under the exterior of your garage. A backhoe might make things easier and quicker. Also, you can try hand-digging; this will minimize the landscape damage.
Digging A Trench In Concrete Floor
For this process, you will need a jackhammer so you can dig out a trench in the concrete for the new floor. Make sure you are following all the safety protocols and wearing safety gear like goggles to avoid any injury.
The concrete inside also needs some digging to connect to the trench, which was previously dug outside. Once you complete the task, lay down the pipes and connect them with the septic or sewer system.
Pouring New Concrete
If you don’t want to accidentally concrete over your new drain, make sure you put a can upside down to prevent such an incident. A coffee can is fine for the job.
Mix the concrete and pour it to fill the trench you dug. Use a trowel to smooth it. You can also bevel off the area surrounding the drain, so the water will just flow down to the drain instead of clogging around it.
New concrete will be lighter and softer compared to the surrounding concrete floor. If you want everything to be consistent, just paint the floor and add interlocking flooring.
Adding A Drain Cover
Probably the easiest thing to do. Remove the coffee can from the concrete and add a trap and cover. There, you have just installed a floor drain all by yourself.
Conclusion
We hope the post has helped you to get your answers. Following our process thoroughly, you can easily install a floor drain without paying anyone.