Ever wondered what goes into the construction of a garage floor? Well, it’s no longer a mystery! At P.L. Lyons, we’re taking you behind the scenes to show you exactly what goes underneath your garage floor and to tell you a little about the codes and best practices for garage flooring.
Garage Floor Foundation
Garage floors, just like any other element of a new home, have to be built to code and built to last. For garage flooring, this means having the proper slope and the right filling and reinforcement before you can even think about laying the concrete.
At least a quarter-inch per foot slope is constructed into the floor of a garage. This code exists so that there is no standing water on the floor of the garage. The slope allows any water to drain out the garage door to the outside.
Different materials can be used to fill under the garage floor, material like rock or even dirt off the lot may be used to build the foundation of a house. At P.L. Lyons, we prefer to use rock because it’s sturdy, which is why you’ll always see so much rock and concrete at our construction sites.
Best Practices for Garage Flooring
After the rock is packed in, the floor will have a vapor barrier put on it, which keeps moisture from leaking into the concrete and damaging it. Then, rebar mesh will be placed on top of that. This acts as a reinforcement in the event of a crack so that you won’t get a large separation of concrete. Of course, we then pour concrete.
All these steps come together to give you a solid base for your garage floor. After the filling, the vapor barrier, and the rebar are in place, the floor is ready for the concrete. The last step for the construction of a garage floor is the finish and curing.
Once the concrete is smoothed out properly, the curing process can begin so that your floor doesn’t harden too quickly and shrink. You think about concrete “drying out” to become solid, but to cure properly, the concrete actually has to be kept wet. When it’s ready to use, you can finish it up. Some of the most popular methods of finishing a garage floor are polishing the concrete or applying epoxy, paint, or floor tiles.
Many people do not realize these various layers are just beneath their feet or the parked car. But if you want a garage that will maintain its quality and appearance for a long time, you cannot skip any of these steps nor skimp on the high standards we use in this process.
Want to see some of these techniques in action? Check out this video for a behind-the-scenes look at what goes underneath newly constructed garage flooring. Watch now.
