Downspout Drain Lines

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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