The slope of this front yard is such that water does not drain away from the house as much as we would like. The splash block on this downspout put water too near the house, causing a pool of water over the walkway and against the foundation. A temporary above-ground extension solved the water problem, but looked like heck. This post shows a better solution: to dig a drain pipe into the ground, routing the rainwater away from the house.
A shovel-wide ditch was dug down to the sidewalk. The tarp held the loose dirt and left the surrounding grass clean after the job was done.
Plugs of grass were saved and set to the side to hide the trench later.
The ditch was graded to give about ¼ inch of fall per foot. Plumbing usually is installed at a 1/8 to ¼ inch drop, so as not to create excessive water flow rate that can leave materials behind.
The existing downspout was loosened to attach an extension.
The old metal downspout was bent to fit inside the new vinyl extension.
The upper connection was fitted back in place.
The existing downspout was guided into a rectangular transition fitting.
The drain pipe had slide on couplings that were easily pushed together.
Dirt was filled in around the fittings.
Dirt was filled in several places to hold the pipe.
Boot tamping helped hold things in place.
Harley supervised.
The pipe was easily hand-cut to length.
Harley decided to help out with filling the dirt back in.
A small hand trowel was used to carve a groove in the grass plugs where the pipe was shallow.
When the groove was the right depth, the grass fit back neatly.
This plug was a bit high and so got a deeper groove until it sat flush with the surrounding grass..
The walkway stones were replaced.
The finished drain blended right in and will move water away from the foundation. ~Chuck
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