We just recently got our first snow in the house we just bought, and the day after I discovered that all of the snowmelt off of our two cars had collected in a corner near the door. There’s nothing that can be directly damaged there, as it’s nowhere deep enough to damage the drywall- and that’s where we store the garbage cans, anyway. The water does seem to dry within a day or so, so I’m not sure that I’ll even need to worry about mold. But it’s still an annoyance, especially if I have to take the garbage out.
The simplest solution seems, to me, to be to drill a drain into the floor in the middle of that puddle. Our basement isn’t directly below it, there are no pipes or anything, and we’re not really talking about a lot of water, anyway. Does this sound like the best solution to ya’ll?
You could, and it might be fine but whether it causes problems depend on a few things.
Salt or ice melt will deteriorate the concrete in your slab and foundation. General-use concrete will also deteriorate faster if it is cannot dry out.
If you have weeping tile for drainage, it is (almost always) on the outside of your foundation, so the water must flow down and out below your footings or seep through your garage foundation walls.
It’s also possible that enough water could erode your substrate causing voids below your floor or depending on your climate, freeze, lift your slab or crack your foundation.
A simpler solution would be to skim coat the low spot with new concrete to grade the floor towards your drainage.
I’d suggest a latex modified self-levelling compound. Although you won’t get a fall towards the drainage it should eliminate puddling. It’s very easy to use, you don’t need to be skilled with a trowel to lay it.
A few tips for anyone who has never used it:
Make a cut round the area to be leveled with an angle grinder to “tow it in”, rather than “feather” it.
Scabble the area to give a better key.
Mix it with exactly the amount of water as directed on the pack/spec sheet.
Don’t put too much in, put some in, gently trowel it around and add more until you’re level with the existing floor.