Garage Floor Slab Design

Thickness of garage floor slab.

Garage floor slab design.

Building codes provide minimum standards to support garage applications and should be followed. The rationale for requiring this little step was that it would prevent spilled gasoline gasoline vapors and carbon monoxide from getting inside the house. A 6 inch thick slab weighs only about 75 psf and live loads anything that is not part of the building itself including vehicles typically don t exceed 50 psf in a garage. You will also need some type of steel reinforcing in the garage floor slab portion of the design such as 10 gauge wire mesh that is formed in 6 x 6 squares.

This creates additional space under the garage that may be used for occupancy. The thickness of the garage floor slab depends on many factors such as types of loads coming upon the slab climatic condition design mix of the concrete and span of the concrete. Standard thickness of the garage floor slab used worldwide is 6 inches. The house i grew up in had a garage floor drain.

That means that the soil under a typical garage slab only has to be able to support 125 psf. Garage floor drain ideas time tested technology. Today s residential building code does not include this requirement. It comes in rolls about four feet wide and can be laid on top of the crushed rock and pulled up as you pour the slab with a hooking pole to about 1 1 2 below the finished floor surface.

Building codes used to stipulate that the floor of an attached garage be four inches lower than the floor level of the house. Recommend design process for residential garage floor joists the use of wood members to support a garage floor is a common practice for sloping lots. Depending on the region and the garage plans this slab can be poured on a compacted subgrade which can include sand or gravel.