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Residential Garage Building Specialists

Information About Our Garage Concrete Pads

Concrete pads are concrete slabs added in garages to increase the load-bearing capacity of the floor. Concrete pads can be found in garages with large lifts, mechanics' pit areas and also when you need additional square footage for parking your extra vehicles. Garage concrete pads are typically poured directly on top of an existing garage floor. Commonly found in commercial garages, concrete pads are also popular additions to residential driveways as well.

Some mechanics will tell you that the increased load capacity is the main reasoning behind the addition of a concrete pad. However, others will argue that it's merely an additional surface area for storage and nothing else. Garage concrete pads provide a place to park your vehicles and equipment.

If you have an addition to your home, such as a garage with a mechanical lift, the concrete slab will probably be needed for that reason. Garage concrete pads can also be useful if you wish to add another point in your home for drainage purposes such as a drain or sump pump system. Garage concrete pads would provide the perfect place to install the drainage system for your yard.

Most concrete pads are poured with a 4" (100mm) thickness, but this can vary depending on the type of garage or building it is being installed in. Garage concrete pads will typically support ground-level parking up to the width of the pad itself and about one car length past that directly in front of the garage door. Garage concrete pads are typically 8 feet (2.44m) wide and 12 to 16 feet (3.7-4.9m) long, but this varies by region and application.

Garage concrete pads are not recommended in garages where the top of the garage is lower than the bottom, such as when there's a mezzanine floor. Garage concrete can be poured with or without reinforcement bars (re-bars) depending on local building codes.

Gecko Garages has experienced some of the issues that come up with Garage concrete pads. Gecko takes some steps to prevent some of these potential problems, such as:

Leaving some gaps between Garage Panels and Garage Pads so water can escape and not build up against the garage panels and greatly reduce their useful life, potentially leading to rot and insect infestation.
Installing Garage Doors slightly off level, so the Garage Door Seal lines up with the Garage Pad correctly and prevents water from pooling against Garage Panels or Garage Pads.
Creating a V-shaped groove underneath Garage Pads to allow water to drain away from the Garage Panel seams.
Even with these steps, Garage concrete pads will almost always have some issues due to the nature of their design. Garage concrete pads are typically made with a fibre mesh at the top which prevents small rocks in the cement from causing damage underneath by preventing them from walking across your floor. However, this also allows water an easy way into garage concrete pads.