Alabama Storm Damage

[JSUPreston]

Well, I was blessed yesterday. As y'all have probably heard, Montgomery, AL was hit pretty hard by at least one tornado, which was less than 4 miles from my house. My wife was home (skipping class-her university was actually hit!) with our 7 year old when she heard what she described as a freight train in the distance. I figure she actually heard the tornado on the ground! Gave all of us in town a good scare, especially since over 30 children were trapped in a building that apparently was directly hit. Eveyone made it out okay from what I understand.

Anyway, on to my little (and I mean little, especially in consideration of everything else) problem. When my wife's grandfather quit using my shop as a garage, he walled up the garage door opening with some really funky paneling and 2x studs. With the hard driving rain we had, I had water marks inside the shop a full 1 1/8" up on things like stands and my workbench. I'm seriously considering a new garage door, but I'm looking at the old kind that open up and out, since I have very little headroom for an overhead. I'd like to build a sliding door, but I've got too many other things going on to take the time to do it. Any suggestions on a door? Remember, the building is cinder block, and the opening is no more than 6' high (can't remember width, but it will take a car).

Also, last year when I did some "renovations" to the shop, I floored up one side of the shop with pressure treated 2x and I believe 5/8 or 3/4 pt ply to bring that side level with the slab on the other side. Basically, I built an indoor deck, which water has gotten under. Should I take up a sheet of ply to let it dry underneath? Or should I just assume that the water will eventually evaporate or absorb into the concrete slap underneath?

Thanks in advance for all the help.
Preston

[JTimmons]

I don't have any suggestions on the door, but if it were me I'd try to dry out the water underneath the floor. I have seen first hand how much mold can grow from just a little water. Pull up a sheet of ply and get as much of the water out as you can by hand. Then you can rent one of those industrial floor dryers at HD and set it down inside and let it run for a while until its dried out.

[gjat]

Rent a dryer?
Us cheap Floridians would just use a fan and crank the AC. But yeah, you do wanna dry it up, especially if it's in an area that doesn't get much air circulation.
As far as the dooor, use one of those blue tarps. We use them for roofing, interior walls, pond liners, and wheel barrows down here.

[JSUPreston]

I figured there would be a problem with mold. I just remembered that I sealed the hidden slab with Drylock, so the water ain't goin' nowhere!.

Well, looks like I've got to move the 3100, the bandsaw, and router table. Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Thanks for the advice on getting rid of the water. Any suggestions on a garage door that may keep this from happening again?

[crokett]

Water was driven in under the sill on the paneling wall? I am not sure a garage door is gonna do anything. It would be real tough to seal it right unless it overlapped onall sides and closed against some sort of rubber seal. And then you have to solve keeping it tight. Does it have to be a garage door? You plan to park a car in there again? I might take out what the grandfather did and reframe with a lot of silicone under the sill and around the framing on the sides and top. Then frame in a standard door.

[JSUPreston]

I already have on semi-standard door in the shop. Due to the existing block and structure, I can't put in anything taller than 6' without a whole lot of extra work. Plus, like SWMBO says, if I build something big, I may not be able to get it out.

About the car question: it is my goal in a couple of years or so to get a '68 or '69 Charger or maybe a Camero from that time period and do a restore, and I may actually want to park it in there, which means a redo of the layout. So, ideally a door that does seal on the outside of the block opening would be the way to go. Unless I were to go with a rolled door. Would still have to work on making the opening as water tight as possible.

[Red88chevy]

Preston,

Glad everyone is Ok, it sounded like it was pretty scarry if the tornado was close enought to your house for your wife to hear it. Hopefully you already have a safe location picked out for when severe weather hits. As someone else already said, I don't know if a garage door is going to help much. We don't get much rain here, but when it does rain hard it comes in under the garage doors and a little around the sides. I'd use a shop vac to pick up as much water as possible and then use fans to dry it out. Pulling up the deck will be alot of work, but as you said, you were "blessed yesterday".

Good luck,
Doug Cain
National Weather Service
Midland, Texas

[Ed62]

Sorry to hear of your problems, but the fact that there was no loss of life or serious injury is much more important than property damage, which is something you can fix. I'm sure you agree by the way you started your original post.

I agree that it is important to get as much of the water out as possible, and a wet/dry vac might work well if there's not too much water. Otherwise you might go to a rental business for something more substantial.

I don't have any words of wisdom on the door situation. But I wonder if you could build an roof extension above the door that would help? I guess that would depend on different factors that apply specifically to your situation.

Ed