Adding onto your house?

Question

we have an attached garage with 3 storage rooms also attached to the garage on our house the problem is we want to bring the level of the garage up about 5 inches to the same level as the slab our house is on when we get a massive amount of rain the water creeps in i guess what i'm wondering is if it is possible to do this without having to tear down the whole garage to add the extra cement or can it be done without having to tear anything down??

Answer 1

This is a little difficult to answer without actually seeing the space you're wanting to raise. If the foundation is above the area where the water is coming in when it rains (where the cement meets the walls) then it can be done. Usually a garage floor slopes, and pouring a new foundation for a living space requires a fairly level surface so you'll need an experienced slab person to set the right forms and especially use the right type of concrete that won't crack in the shallow thinner areas. You definately need to figure out why and how the water is getting into the area before making it a living space and resolve that however, because the last thing you want is to get a nice new room finished and have it flood and get water damage that ruins most everything you've done.

Answer 2

What about having some one put in French Drains? They divert the water away from the garage. I think that may be a better solution than tearing down the garage.

Answer 3

Roeskats is right, it sounds more like a drainage problem than that of to low of floor. But yes, the floor can be built up without tearing the garage apart. But I would look into proper drainage before anything else.

Answer 4

Drain would be a much cheaper way to go barring any drainage issue---I concur.