garage apron

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gorentz - 28 Nov 2003 17:00 GMT

I'm getting ready to pour a garage floor and am wondering whether a
small apron should be poured along with the floor or, if I pour a big
apron/driveway later, where to put a joint between the two.

Some details. The garage is about 24x24, but I'm also pouring another
24x23 at the same time. I'm doing the forming and other prep work, but
am hiring a contractor to do the pour and finishing. A guy was out the
other day to look at it in preparation for getting me an estimate. Now
I wish I had asked him. I still can, but I've got good advice before
on this list.

There are two 9 foot doors. The structure is on a block foundation.
I'm putting in pex tubing on top of mesh over 1.5" blue insulation - the
25psi stuff. The pex is spaced about 12" apart. I'll need to hire a
pump and this contractor wants to use a laser screed rather than try to
screed off of pipes while stepping on top of all that mesh and tubing.
2" foam insulation goes on the edges, tapered up to 1/2" at the surface.

So my question is, where do I form up the garage door openings? On the
outside edge of the block walls? Right underneath the doors, which is
several inches inside of that outside edge? Or should I pour a small
apron right now and make it integral with the garage floor?

In olden times people used to put a piece of galvanized pipe across the
floor to meet the garage door where it comes down. I haven't seen
anything like that done on recent construction. Is that because it's
more trouble than it's worth? In a way that would seem to be a good
place to put a thermal break in the slab. But maybe it would just end
up as a place where water would get in between the apron slab and the
garage slab.

If I pour a small apron integral with the garage, that would cause some
complication because I presume for outside work I should get a different
mix -- one that includes some limestone. The garage floor mix isn't
what I should use outdoors, I think.

Any ideas? This has to be a dumb question, because I imagine hundreds
of slabs like this are poured every day without it being a big issue.
But I'm not quite sure what I should do here.

John Gorentz

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Js Walker Lazenby Jr - 29 Nov 2003 00:31 GMT

Generally, John . . .

. . . you will be better off to pour your floor slab to a
line between the interior edges of the door opening. Decide
whether you prefer the bottom bumper of your door to close
along the edge of the floor slab, so that the joint between
the apron and the floor slab lies just to the outside edge
of the door face . . . or whether you prefer the bumper to
cover that joint.

You might get a better appearance with the latter, but you
are likely to get a more weather tight and more easily
adjusted and maintained joint if using the former.

Your own conditions will indicate whether you should pour
your apron or your drive pavement next. The apron edges are
more easily controlled in the pour than the slab; however,
having the apron in place actually dictates the exact edge
of the pavement, elevation and alignment. That is a pretty
good control to place on your pavement pouring. However,
you might prefer to pour the apron last in order to make
adjustments between the floor slab and the driveway slab.
If you have peculiar driveway topography or approach angles,
etc., you might want to solve them as best you can and
adjust with the apron.

Your driveway conditions can also establish the depth
(distance from drive pavement to floor slab) of your apron.
With a relatively straight, level driveway approach, you can
likely utilize a shallow apron. With difficult conditions,
you might welcome a deeper apron to adjust final approaches.

I like the joint between the floor slab and apron just in
front (exterior) of the door face. I find a deeper than
typical apron more to my liking cosmetically and
practically.

Jim

> I'm getting ready to pour a garage floor and am wondering whether a
> small apron should be poured along with the floor or, if I pour a big
[quoted text clipped - 37 lines]
>
> John Gorentz

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gorentz - 29 Nov 2003 12:56 GMT

> You might get a better appearance with the latter, but you
> are likely to get a more weather tight and more easily
> adjusted and maintained joint if using the former.

Thanks! After posting my question I went out, took another look at it,
and did exactly what you suggest here -- going with the "more easily
adjusted and maintained" joint just to the outside of the door. It is
good to have confirmation!

> Your own conditions will indicate whether you should pour
> your apron or your drive pavement next. ...

Thanks for the good advice on the apron, too. I had not thought of all
that.

John Gorentz

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Homeowner Forum / Construction / November 2003

garage apron