How to bury a gutter Downspout is one of the steps.

I wanted to show how I hid my gutter downspouts.It took two days to complete.The total cost was about $100.

There are black corrugated tile and fittings, a sack of Quik-rete, and a few other things.

I tripped over one of the downspouts about an hour after finishing my gutter project.It bent in half because it is thin.It still looked terrible after I straightened it out.The real work was about to start while I was done with my guttering.

The storm sewer on the alley slopes down from the back half of the property.The front half of the property is flat.Large spring rains lead to water in the basement because the rain from the roof fell to the ground.I wanted a way to get the rain out of the roof as far away from the house as possible.

There is a slope in the back yard that can be used for this project.The water will run somewhere if you have some amount of slope.

To make a Y-shape away from the house, I was going to use four inches of pipe.I wanted as few angles as possible so that the flowing water wouldn't be slowed down by making a 90 degree corner.

AdvancedDrainageSystems-4-in-x-100-ft-Corex-Drain-Pipe-Solid

I transitioned to that after the arms of my Y met up.I went with non-perforated because I don't want any tree roots to ruin it.Since the Corex is flexible, there is an option to steer around obstacles.I had a gentle curve in the course to the alley.

The neighbors will ask questions as it will look like your goal is to destroy your yard.My solution was to just keep digging and ignore them.I dug for about 120' in 4 hours.

I tried to save the grass so that I could re-sod it at the end of the project.If you want the finished product to look natural, you need to re-sodding.I wanted to not be able to see where I had trenches.

The deeper the trench, the better.The frost depth in Minnesota last year was 7' deeper than I could ever dig a trench.It will freeze in the winter, so I decided to keep it about a foot deep.The way that my discharge end was going to work made this about the deepest I could go.

I used an 8 foot long 2x4 and a level to make sure there was no slope to the bottom of my trench when I thought I was done digging it.I laid the 2x4 flat on the bottom of the trench, placed the level on it, and worked my way from the alley to the house.Not all parts had slope, but no parts sloped uphill was good enough for me.

I didn't take enough pictures of this.I cut the pipe to the length I wanted and used purple primer and glue to connect the parts.I used a Y for the connection where the two lines connect, two 90 degree angles, and two couplings to connect the pipe.I used a size that was readily available, but any size would work.

I put the glue in the trench.I put my black corrugated pipe around the 3 inch end of the PVC with a stepdown coupling.The backfill was enough to hold that in place.I backfilled the whole thing by rolling out the rest of the black corrugated pipe.

You can see how I connect the downspouts in the pictures.I used leaf guards on the house.

I had the garage downspout dump in since my in-ground pipe ran past it.To do this, I cut the black corrugated pipe, added a T, and aimed the pipe upwards.I used a leaf guard for the garage since there aren't enough trees to keep the gutter clear.

The most important part of the project is that it needs to slope downhill and the water has to go somewhere after it leaves the pipe system.The property has a storm sewer in the alley of the house.All I had to do was get water to the alley and it would flow into the storm drain.

The foundation for the garage is shown in the picture.The trench was dug behind the garage.The rubber mallet and chisel were used to get the hole in the asphalt.The hole was shaped the way I wanted it after a few hours of pounding.

I put the end of the black corrugated pipe in the hole.I patched the hole in the asphalt, sculpted a little discharge chute, and mixed up some Quik-rete.I put in a grate to keep the animals out of the pipe.

I was done at this point.It was just a matter of waiting for the rain to test my work.I didn't have to wait long.

It rained about 24 hours after I finished.I yelled "It's alive!" when I saw water coming out of my pipe.I had just created a work of art.All the neighbors were inside when it was raining.

I rearranged the grass when I was done.The most time consuming part of the project was re-sodding.I don't know where my trench runs through the yard.There aren't any downspouts to trip on and it looks great.The roof water used to end up in the soil next to the house, but now it goes to a storm drain.

I live in South Florida.The lot is flat.There is a monsoon when it rains here.The one that I have is next to the house.I am not sure how I would arrange an exit as my yard is FLAT.Any suggestions?

Three years ago on Step 7.

I'm going to do something similar once it warms up enough to dig in the soil.One tip from previous projects is to shovel your dirt onto pieces of cardboard along the trench so you can easily fill it back in to the hole.You'll have to seed the tench mound if you leave it there long enough to kill your grass.

6 years ago.

I was wondering if you could put a mesh over the cuts to make it easier to water your yard.It would be better to water the roots than the top soil.

6 years ago on introduction

When I put my system in, I considered your idea.I didn't want to have any holes to let water out since my problem was with too much water in the soil.I was happy to take all of the roofwater and get it as far from the foundation as possible.

I wanted to do it this way because I had some time before starting a new job.I spent four days soaking up water and drying out the basement.When it would mean using vacation time, I was willing to spend a couple days of effort to avoid wasting so many days on clean up.

I connected a rain barrel to the gutter in the garage as part of my gutter project.The roofwater from the house used to end up on the lawn, but now it goes to the storm sewer and I feel a little better about it.

6 years ago.

You could put the downspout into a rain barrel system to collect the rain water and have an overflow so that when it fills, it dumps into the washout.There is a chance that you could install a small turbine in the downspouts.There are just spitballing ideas.I formulated a plan similar to yours after we made a washout at a friend's house when his gutter dumped a few feet from his foundation and next to his pool.Good job.

6 years ago.

People with gutter don't drain away from their house.Everyone in Quebec dumps it 1-2 feet away from their foundation.

6 years ago.

You might want to know if your solution is legal in your area.It is illegal to dump rain onto someone else's property in a lot of cities.Storm water should be handled by the property that gets the most rain.

If the powers that be ever come to do any work in the alley and they see your fix, you could end up with problems.Storm sewers are designed to work with the water that they expect to collect from the road, but they don't factor in the rain that comes from your house.You can be fined if you discharge into a storm sewer in some areas.You can't easily disappear from this solution.

It will probably never be an issue for you, but anyone else who does this should research their local codes and/or check with whoever manages the alley/road they are thinking of using.

6 years ago on introduction

Anyone doing this should look at local codes.I didn't because two of my neighbors have downspouts that empty into the alley.If it's legal for them, it should be legal enough for me as well.I will add pictures as soon as possible.If anyone wanted to take issue, I could easily remove the downspout adapters, cap my PVC and replace it with standard elbows and downspouts.

6 years ago on introduction

That brings up a good point.It can be difficult to base projects on what neighbors have done.I've worked around construction for a long time and I have seen a lot of situations where a property owner thought they could do something their neighbor did only to find that the neighbor's house had been grandfathered because the codes had changed.It's not likely that anyone will notice or care that you did this, but in some places, even if you can remove the work quickly, you might still be fined, or even have to go to court over something like this.It seems like something to point out for anyone thinking about doing this.It's important to know what laws apply to projects that involve houses, especially those that leave outside evidence of what was done.It's not likely anyone would notice that you changed light fixture or plumbing fixture in your house, but poured concrete, built a garage, or left things that an inspector could see 24/7.

6 years ago.

It's great to hear positive feedback, thanks for the comments!I will try to get pictures up tomorrow, but I didn't mention that the diverters are replaceable.The threaded fittings on the tops of the pipes allow me to close them off if I need to.I can replace the diverters with a standard elbow and downspout after removing them.If the ground is still frozen in the spring, I will do this.

6 years ago.

An access cover at the bottom of the downpipe might be a good idea to allow the underground section to be cleaned if it gets full of leaves.

6 years ago on introduction

If I ever need a washout, my plan is to remove the black downspout.I can washout from the top of my PVC.I am hoping that the leaf diverters on the downspout will keep leaf debris out, I expect the only thing that will potentially plug my system is the shingles.I hope that I have enough slope in the second half of my system that the water flows quickly and never slows down to deposit shingle.

Six years ago on Step 7.