Downspout Drain

Have you ever wondered where does the rain water go to? In most homes the downspout drain carries the rain water from the rain gutter. It is a pipe that carries the rain water. These drain pipes are mostly vertical in shape and extend down to the ground level. The water is carried away from the foundation of a building so that the foundation can be saved from damage. Usually the water that is carried by the downspout drain is lead into the sewer or sometimes it is lead into the ground through way of seepage. One ought to keep in mind that homeowners need to be careful about downspout drain because if ignored there will be problems of water seepage into basements or crawlspaces.

When it comes to downspout drains, there are several options. However, choosing the best option depends on a number of factors like location of the home, local regulations, and requirement of the homeowners. In fact, if you wreak your brains a little you can expect to divert water from downspout in ways which are attractive, practical, and at the same time good for the environment.

It needs to be mentioned here that homes that have been built on well-drained, sandy soil, downspout drainage is not at all a problem, however, the homes which have been constructed on heavy and clay rich soil, in such cases downspout drainage must be constructed properly. It is important so that further damage is not caused to the property.

Let us now have a look at the many drainage spout options.

To use splash block is one of the options. Splash blocks are used at the base of the downspout. These splash blocks are small rectangular blocks which have the capacity to absorb the force of the rainwater that exits the downspout. It is true that splash blocks prevents the erosion of the soil and creation of a puddle near the foundation but another downside is that it diverts a large amount of water from the home.

Similarly, another option is to further divert the water from the foundation with the help of a pipe extension. For this a PVC or plastic pipe is affixed at the end of the downspout. In this case, the extension is of two types. One of them is above the ground and another is down an incline.

Lastly, the most environment friendly option is to conserve the downspout runoff in a rain barrel. Usually, each of these drains has a faucet and a hose. The top drain is left open in case the barrel overflows and the bottom drain is opened so that water can run out of the hose in order to irrigate the garden surrounding the home.

Last but not the least, one needs to keep in mind that you should not go wrong in installing underground downspout extensions because in case a small mistake is made it will do more bad than good.