Downspout Drain Lines
Summary: Splash blocks directly below down spouts do little to pipe water away from your foundation. For heavy downfall regions, a sump pump discharge pipe may not be piping the water far enough way. Invest in plumbing drainage pipe for this job.
Related Articles: downspout drainage installation, downspout drainage, storm water drainage
DEAR TIM: I purchased some splash blocks to set on the ground immediately below my down spouts. My wife thinks they are useless. I feel that they help divert water away from my foundation and water her gardens at the same time. She thinks that the roof water and my basement sump pump water should be piped away from the house. What do you think? T. E.
DEAR T. E.: Well (no pun intended)... I think I have to side with your wife on this one. The splash blocks are not entirely useless, however. They can effectively control erosion of the soil. The blocks can absorb some of the energy of the moving water before it hits the soil.
Rainwater that drains onto soil near your home is generally not a problem if you have sandy or very well drained soil. However, a large portion of the USA does not have well drained soil. Many of us (including myself) live in regions that have clay rich soils. Clay soils don't always drain that well. Basements and crawlspaces can become indoor swimming pools in periods of heavy rainfall or sustained wet spells.
A moderate 1 inch rainfall will generate 1,483 gallons of water on this roof. This water will hit your splash blocks and enter the soil about 30 inches away from your foundation. If your region receives 40 inches of rainfall a year, you will inject about 59,320 gallons of water into your wife's gardens. That might be a little overkill, don't you think?
If your foundation is currently leak proof, your sump probably accepts a good portion of this water. If the sump pump discharge pipe merely dumps the water along side your house, you end up recirculating this same water time and time again. This wastes electricity and leads to premature pump failure.
I feel that your storm water and sump water should be piped away from your
house. Some urban areas allow this water to be connected to public storm sewers
and water retention basins. If this is not available, pipe the water to the
lowest portion of your lot where it would have drained naturally before your
house was built.
Consider using SDR 35 or Schedule 40 PVC plumbing drainage pipe for this job. Install 4 inch diameter pipes in all locations. Use 90 degree elbows only at the base of down spouts. Use 45 degree fittings to change direction in all underground work. Before you bury the pipes, take photos of their locations. These will come in useful as your wife's gardens expand.
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Comments:
Ashish Sethi 22 Apr 2008, 14:53
What would you suggest for downspouts that have a concrete path (sidewalk)
in the way? I was thinking about breaking the concrete, installing the pvc
and putting new concrete on top. Would the new concrete damage the pvc? Any
other suggestions?
Traci 09 Jul 2008, 00:59
Hi Tim, On the west side of our seattle area home, we have a two-fold
problem. We need to drain a downspout away from the home and we need to
keep the french drain in place. The question is: with only a 5' slope from
the foundation to the existing french drain trench, do we install new
french drain (perf) pipe (and additionally improve the linear slope to the
front yard) or should we use solid "downspout" pipe since we must drain the
downspout through this trench line. (No where else is down hill from the
foundation.) It seems like perf pipe would just send the roof water right
back into the foundation. On the other hand, if we use a solid pipe, that
section would not be able to collect water from that side of the house (27'
length). Your other articles appear to address these as seperate issues.
Thanks.
Cindy 06 Sep 2008, 15:40
I have an old home (built ~1915). The drownspouts drain into pipes in the
basement which drain to the sewer line. We are currently experiencing
heavy rain, and I noticed that I have water coming out of the drain pipe at
a connection, but prior to connecting to the sewage pipe. I assume the
leak is due to blockage in the pipe from roof leaf litter. My question is
this; how to I clean out the drainage pipe? The drain pipe is ~4 inches in
diameter, which seems to big for a snake to be effective.
thanks! cindy
Sandra 14 Oct 2008, 01:11
I've live in my home 24 years and never had a problem with my sump pump
outside drainage, until the 10"record rainfall we had in Elk Grove Village,
IL, last month. I've done nothing to change the grade of my property.
However, my neighbor has managed to eliminate the swale that ran parallel
with the depth of our lots. To the rear of the lot, they used rock to
build up the ground surrounding hedges, eliminating the rear lot line
swale. Problem is now the neighbors' yard is retaining water on their lawn
and newly constructed flower garden. Village inspector came out and agreed
the grading could be the problem, however, I received a notice from the
Vlge., telling me to connect a hose to my sump pump drainage pump and run
it toward the rear of my lot. I am not happy or satisfied, since I believe
the neighbors created their own drainage problem. Any suggestions on a
remedy? I know I cannot leave a hose attached during the winter and it
looks awful. I'm sure it will create a river in my backyard, because the
water no longer flows as it did. Thanks for your suggestions & help. PS.
I am a widow and really cannot afford to hire a plumber at this point. I
need to fix it myself, or better yet, have the neighbors fix their own
mess. Thanks again, Sandra
craig 21 Oct 2008, 21:03
After building a house close to a pond, I installed two sump pumps plus a
battery back-up. Unfortunately, by the time you might need the battery
back-up, it's rusted out.
Is it a good idea that water on the outside of the basement is brought inside so it can be pumped out? This is ok, until the electricity goes off. So why bring the water into the basement? Keep it on the outside. I dug down on the outside of the basement to my horizontal "T" going into the basement wall; turned the "T" up; put in a concrete pad; ran a GFI; and put a sump on the pad. Along with a generator for ele. outages, I avoided water problems. If I wasn't home when the ele. went off, water stayed on the outside of the foundation until I hooked up the generator to pump it out. The ground (plus a cover) kept the pump from freezing. I did pull it out in Dec./Jan when there was no chance of saturated soil.
Jeff Sullivan 07 Nov 2008, 20:14
Tim,
I have a couple places in my crawl space where water is coming in between the foundation wall and the footing. I actually have a drain from the low spot of my crawl space to an outside drywell. This prevents any standing water from accumulating. However, I'd like to stop the source of the leaks. I thought initially in was my down spout (pvc pipe) system around the house which drains to the street. I did fix a leak in it in August 08. I'm getting less water now but it still leaks. It's possible there could be a couple more leaks in it but they are hard to find. Any suggestions? Is it possible water is coming in because the foundation is below some kind of underground water flow? My crawl space is 5-6 feet high in places and I'm part way down a gentle downward slope. When it rains water flows right to left down the street in front of my house. Thanks Jeff View all comments |
