Downspout drains

mustangmike6996

mustangmike6996

Club Member
Looking for some insight on burying my downspout drains.

I would like to bury some pipe and run the collected rain water to a spot in the yard away from the house. My backyard tends to collect too much water around the foundation and it is recommended that they downspouts drain 10 feet from the house. I have the downspouts about 5 feet from the foundation currently and the basement is staying rather dry but my stupid dog rips the downspout extension off and they are also an eyesore.

I would rather run pipe underground if possible.

My thought was to dig a hole in the center of the yard and fill it with different size gravel then run the pipes to the pit and cover everything with dirt and sod.

Any ideas on if this would work or not? If so, how large of a pit and how far away from the house should it be run? My lot is 75x190 or so (large backyard)

-I would plan on running water about 50-75 feet from the house.

-The pipe would be smooth PVC (no drilled holes or absorbing material around the outside) They will be solely to take water from point A to point B.

I cant tap into the city drain system and don't want to pipe that water to the sump system.
 
Don't use pvc for underground applications,use the black bendable stuff from home Depot,that's what I used for mine....If you use pvc, in the winter when different areas of your ground freeze at different rates,and it shifts,it could crack your pipe. U need some play. I have them pop up through little grates.....You want the water above ground.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
Unless you wrap the entire gravel pit (essentially enclose or seal it off) dirt will settle into the voids, making that space no different than any other spot of your yard.

--Joe
 
Buy a dry well. Bury it. Use double-wall black corrugated pipe to take the water from the downspouts to the dry well. It isn't cheap. You can use 4" schedule 40 drain pipe but it doesn't bend. It is unlikely that it will crack unless it freezes with water in it. If you bury it properly (pack sand around it) it will not move even if you only go down 12-18".

Corrugated single wall black pipe is rough on the inside and it will likely clog with tree nuts, leaves, sticks, and roofing stone. I have plenty of experience with this.

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-install-dry-well-0
 
Thanks for the input guys. My neighbor was telling me about his old houses setup. He had the bendable black tube and it clogged all of the time.

Luckily, I only need to run straight sections (maybe a 45 degree fitting if I go with different routing)

I had planned on burying the pipe and packing it with sand/stone.


The link above is pretty much what I had in mind. Do you know where to find a dry well locally? I havent seen one in Menards or Lowes (not that I have looked too hard yet)
 
TSC, Site-One, english gardens etc or a decent nursery/landscaping specific stores should carry dry wells.
 
Need to run the pipes to storm drains if possible.... or a lower elevation in the yard away from the foundation. 5" diameter min to help prevent freezing.
 
Menards usually has dry wells near the corrugated tubing in the yard. They usually have small dry wells inside near the trash pumps.

I wouldn't use septic pipe. It's not very durable. Schedule 40 PVC or double wall corrugated pipe. The double wall is smooth on the inside and pretty much indestructible.
 
The black bendable crap is crap. Water doesn't flow over the corrugated part very easy, yes people use it, but...
I did this through my whole yard, 80 feet of white drain pipe, it has holes on each side of it about 12" apart.
Wrap the pipe with the "sock" that is also available, draft it 1/2 to 1" per 10 feet if possible, it always needs to flow downhill.
Not sure what its like by you, but I asked the city for help, they didn't do it all, but the guy was very helpful and gave me a lot of info.
They did come out and dig through the berm in my yard, installing a pipe for me to connect all my junk to in my yard.
It saved me a lot of hassle because it would have taken a few days for me to do just that one part.
I rented a trencher and did 80' across the back yard and 50' in the side yard in about 4 hours start to finish with my aunt, mom, dad helping.
 
soap said:
Unless you wrap the entire gravel pit (essentially enclose or seal it off) dirt will settle into the voids, making that space no different than any other spot of your yard.

--Joe
Click to expand...
When I dug a french drain at my old house in Waterford, we lined it with landscape fabric before filling it with gravel. Covered the top with more fabric and then back filled. Never had an issue with dirt settling or sinking in while the 10 yrs I was there.
 
Hugger Z said:
When I dug a french drain at my old house in Waterford, we lined it with landscape fabric before filling it with gravel. Covered the top with more fabric and then back filled. Never had an issue with dirt settling or sinking in while the 10 yrs I was there.
Click to expand...

Right....by lining it with fabric you enclosed the porous area around the drain. I did the same thing to my sump pump dry well.

--Joe
 
mustangmike6996 said:
If I run pipe to the dry well and the pipe has no holes in it, should I still use the landscape fabric?
Click to expand...

Are you planning to just dump the pipe in your yard or bury it outlet in a french drain? I dug mine down and had it drain into a french drain (gravel pit). I lined that gravel pit with the landscape fabric to keep the dirt from settling in the rocks. That kept an open pipe that I had draining into my yard from being exposed, looking like crap, and causing muddy areas where my dogs liked to play. After the french drain the grass filled back in and never had an issue. Nice clean look with no muddy spots.
 
Hugger Z said:
Are you planning to just dump the pipe in your yard or bury it outlet in a french drain? I dug mine down and had it drain into a french drain (gravel pit). I lined that gravel pit with the landscape fabric to keep the dirt from settling in the rocks. That kept an open pipe that I had draining into my yard from being exposed, looking like crap, and causing muddy areas where my dogs liked to play. After the french drain the grass filled back in and never had an issue. Nice clean look with no muddy spots.
Click to expand...


Essentially, yes. The pipe would be routed completely underground to a dry well or buried gravel pit in the center of the yard. The center of my yard is usually pretty dry (or at least much drier than around the house.) I would run the pipe to a pit about 30-40 feet away from the foundation. I want to keep everything hidden. I dont plan on using perforated tubing with the sock, just the ground rated, lined PVC that dumps all downspout water to the pit/drywell
 
That should work. Just line your gravel pit with landscape fabric (and cover the top) and you should be good to go. My current house has 6" PVC pipes that the downspouts drain into that routes water away from the house. I honestly have no clue where they go but it seems to work. Never had a water issue here. The critters have found their way into the lines to use them as passage from wherever they dump. I have heard them in the gutter pipes from time to time. My one barn has a similar set-up for the gutter and it has a cap to use to clear the line. I am glad it did as a crow fell down the gutter downpipe once and I was able to get him out using that access cap.
 
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