Like most houses, mine has downspout extenders that route water away from the foundation and into the yard. Unfortunatley, several of mine are in awkward or ugly locations, so what I’d like to do is as follows: Dig a trench in the yard, and attach the downspouts to a buried length of PVC with holes drilled in it for drainage. Is this feasible? Is there some calculation I can perform to figure out the drainage rate of my soil and the capacity of my pipe versus my average rainfall to assure that my system doesn’t back up and explode like a geyser? Has anyone tried this before?
All of my downspouts go directly into the ground. Follow these instruction to avoid the geyser effect.
Dig a trench approx 4 to 5 feel long, approx 1 foot wide, and 2 1/2 feet deep. Fill the trench half full with large pebbles. place the PVC with drainage holes facing the pebbles. Fill remainder with the soil you took out. Pack hard. re-seed if you had grass in the area. (you can also, neatly cut the shape of the trench in the grass and peel it up for use when you are done.
The pebbles keep your water draining constantly…little to no back-up.
*Make sure you have a very good screen on the gutter end of the spout. You do not want any sludge building up in there…it is a bitch to clean.
It’s also a good idea to avoid leaving any spaces for rodents to get in to this pre-fab burrow you’re building. When the big rains come, the nests and drowned rodents will muck up the works.
Thanks for the info, Phlosphr. Can you give me a few more details about your setup? What is the diameter of the pipe you use? How many drain holes are in it, and of what diameter? Did you include an access port for cleaning?
I don’t have too much time, but here goes:
PVC pipe roughly the size of the down spout. Make sure your coupling to the drain is secure and won’t leak or break…they sell them pre fab. I’d make the drain holes on the burries PVC 1/2 inch and every 3 inches. Cup the end of the pipe with a cup that can be bought usually right next to where you’ll find the pipe…at least thats the way they do it at home depot. No access for cleaning is needed. Flush from the coupling if you’d like or from where the gutter hits the roof…Your insurance on cleaning comes from the screen you have at the top of the drain pipe. I’ll check back tonight if you have more Q’s.
What you are trying to build is a French drain. Try Googling for it and you’ll find ways to construct one.