Slope of concrete floor in pole barn.

Thanks,
Bob

Where I live we often have freezing conditions for several months a year. A friend of mine sloped his garage so that water would run out under the overhead door, which works OK in the summertime. But in the winter, he has had problems with the door gasket freezing down to the floor and being torn off when the electric opener lifts the door.

It only takes a little more work to do the central drain. I really think it is worth it.

I like to use either a gutter type of drain poured as part of the floor, and then outfitted with a stand pipe to provide a sump for grease and dirt or 12' x 12"collection boxes (either way) connected with a french drain system.

How much slope depends on what kind of drainage you want. Remember that sanitary drains are usually pitched at �"/ft. so if you want that kind of fast run off for vast quantities of water then go with �"/ft but you will have to deal with a slope that makes it hard to set equipment on or to use a creeper on, plus every thing you drop on the floor will roll away from you. If you want good drainage with less slope try 1/16"/ft pitch this will give fair drainage with out the slope problems, if you use less than 1/16" per foot slope you will need to assist the drainage with a broom or squeegee. The last shop I built was 30' x 50' with two drain that were set up so that each drain served a 30' x 25' section of the shop with the collection boxes in the center of the section and 1/16"/foot slope.

HOWEVER, when laying your plumbing be sure to dig an adequate trench. I did not dig mine deep enough so my drain does not work that well. The plumbing "floated" up during the pour which I had not counted on. Still works but not as good as expected and I encountered a crack the lenght of the run where the plumbing is under the slab.
FWIW

Paint the poles with tar and it'll solve that problem.

T_Bone