Welcome to Family Roofing

CALL OR EMAIL US TODAY FOR YOUR FREE ESTIMATE – 202-276-5004   FAMILY.ROOFING@YAHOO.COM

 

At Family Roofing, we take great pride in our experience, expertise, quality and customer service. It is our mission to provide excellent workmanship and complete customer satisfaction from start to completion of a project. Our reputation is based on service, safety and quality, regardless of how large or small the job.

 

HOW TO IMPROVE DOWNSPOUT DRAINAGE

Downspout clogs can be as big a problem as gutter clogs.   Gutter clogs can also be the cause of downspout clogs.   Downspout extensions can improve downspout drainage as well.  You don’t need to know much about how a gutter system works to understand that the gutters collect the rain water and the downspouts guide the water down from the roof and away from the house.  So, if you have a problem with downspout drainage, you have a problem.  There is a lot of information out there about gutter clogs, but what if your gutters seem to be running fine, but the water isn’t leaving the downspout correctly?  If your downspouts back up, the gutters will, too, even if they’re currently free of clogs.  Take a look at a few things that you can do to eliminate downspout drainage problems.

One inch of rainfall drops 623 gallons of water onto the roof of a 1,000-square-foot home and through the gutter downspouts.  The water can cause serious and expensive flooding and foundation problems if it collects around your house.  To prevent this, help your downspout drain correctly. Here are several simple solutions, including straight and flexible extensions and various underground piping plans.

Add Downspout Extenders

If you have well-drained soil sloping away from the foundation, simple downspout extenders may be all you need to improve downspout drainage.  There are 2 types: a straight, folding vinyl extension or an accordion-style flexible extender.  These extenders can be twisted into any angle to suit your purpose — for example, to move the downflow away from a patio.

Either extension should end on a splash blocks.  Some experts don’t give much credence to plastic or cement splash blocks.   They may not be the perfect solution for downspout drainage issues, but splash blocks at least spread water so it doesn’t pool directly under a narrow downspout.

Roll-Out Drain Sleeves

Roll-out extensions are designed to uncoil during heavy rain and disperse water from little holes. Once the flow stops, they roll back up—kind of like a party blower, but for your downspouts.  These sleeves do have some shortcomings. Despite their easy installation, they aren’t always made of the best quality plastic. Tears can happen. Also, if the rainfall isn’t heavy enough, the sleeve might not fully extend.

Pipe Water Away from House

To divert water farther from the house, consider a French drain or other trench drainage system.  A French drain is a trench that slopes away from the house at least ¼-inch per foot and empties onto open ground far from the house.  Fill the bottom of the trench with gravel, then lay in a flexible or solid pipe and cover with more gravel and soil or sod.  The original French drains had no pipe, and you can make a hybrid system with a porous pipe.

Rain Barrel

Rain barrels collect water from your gutters into a large tank, which you can use to water flowerbeds and vegetable cards or even wash your car.  This won’t extend your downspout per se, but it’s an eco-friendly way to collect and reuse rainwater.

Bury Drainage Pipes

If the yard doesn’t slope enough for a French drain, you might need to build a more complex pipe trench.  Most municipal ordinances no longer allow homeowners to attach downspout pipes directly to the storm sewer system.  However, you can build an underground drainage system – a sloping, buried run of PVC pipe that pushes water into a gravel-filled posthole or a dry well, which is basically an underground plastic barrel with holes in the sides for water flow.  Make sure to add a filter or overflow cap to simplify the removal of debris and allow excess water to escape during very heavy storms.

Install Diverters

Finally, diverters can be used in conjunction with these other methods, but they are not a complete solution to drainage issues. Diverters draw water into a rain barrel from your downspout. Rain barrels can be used for irrigation and to spread water.  Rainwater harvesting is a good way to collect water, but there are health warnings and legal concerns.  Rain barrels will probably not capture all the water flowing off the roof in a heavy rainstorm. A good diverter is designed to overflow back into the downspout and spill out onto the ground. You will still need extenders or piping to alleviate drainage problems.

Sometimes, downspouts are inadequate because they’re simply too short to properly divert water away from your home. In this case, you can improve drainage by finding a way to extend your downspouts. There are several options for doing so.

• An aluminum downspout is a low-maintenance, cheap, and easy fix, though not always aesthetically beautiful.

• Buried drainpipe – keeps the water away from the house while preserving the look of the land.  You won’t see the pipe, but it will take some work to install and bury it.

• Plastic extensions – these are somewhere between aluminum and buried drainpipes. They’re meant to be easily attached like aluminum downspouts, but instead of sticking out, they’re usually camouflaged with rocks or mulch, so they’re hidden in a way that’s similar to buried drainpipes.

• Roll-out drain sleeves – another compromise option, roll out drain sleeves are designed to uncoil only during heavy rain, then curl back up when it’s dry, meaning that they’re only really visible during the rain. The big drawback to roll-out sleeves is that they may not be sensitive enough to roll out unless rain flow is heavy.

• Splash blocks – splash blocks are meant to disperse and divert water. Some decorative splash blocks are designed as a slightly longer runway for the water, effectively increasing the downspout’s length in that area. These are visible but can be designed to become part of the landscape decoration rather than an eyesore.

Improving downspout drainage can be as simple as screwing on an extender or as complex as burying a barrel, but any method is cheaper and simpler than fixing potential foundation problems caused by rainwater pooling around your house.  If you’re not sure which system is right for your home, consult a professional roofer.