# Gutters & Drainage



## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

Well i had gutters put on yesterday.. They were done by a guy who apparently does gutter, siding,roofing and hot toping.. so either a jack of all trades.. or someone that does not know What to do..

They put them on, i decided to have it done instead of doing it myself as they get the seamless gutters...

so i explained to the guy, i wanted the drain to go to a piece of PVC and have that burried and then expose the outlet off the end of the fill area... 

My thought was to use some sort of adapter to convert the aluminum to a piece of PVC.
What the Guy did was get a big 6-8" wide piece of pvc, put the aluminum through the pvc and he buried the pvc...

The reason i wanted this was so the drain pipe would be under ground so i could still get a whell barrel behind the garage.. 

The way he did it.. there was about a 9" mound of dirt around the ugly 8" pvc pipe and no way i could get a wheel bareel over it..

so I had him lose the pvc and here is what i am left with...


<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44077>


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

another view


<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44078>


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

1st, i thought the guy should have extended the pipe down about 6 more inches.. and what i really wanted was it to fit seamlessly into PVC and then i would trench the PVC at an angle and let it drain out on the side of the garage...

<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44079>


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

*ok so finally.. My question..* 

anyone use anything like this??

<img src=http://www.homedepot.com/cmc_upload/HDUS/EN_US/asset/images/eplus/161757_4.jpg>


They sell at HD, i want to put this on the drain, then swing it around the side of the garage, then connect it to PVC and run the pvc to the side as a drain...

I see these things on line.. the look like the would convert the square aluminum to a round PVC tube.. maybe they sell them at HD.. not sure.. 

<img src=http://media.doitbest.com/products/405724.gif>


Any thoughts on this? 
Any problems with burrying the pvc drain pipe? im thinking of frost ? i can dig it down 16" if needed.. 


I could always leave it looking as it does and put a splash plate thingie down and if i ever need to get behind the garage i could remove the lower part of the aluminum drain.. but id prefer to bury the thing.. i hate the look of the aluminum drain spout out in the open..


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

I think you have it figured out. I have seen both of them at Lowes here. I would make sure if you want to run anything underground use the thick walled PVC. That flex stuff isn't thick enough to hold up for too long. The gutters will be a very good investment! We need to get them put on our house!!!eace:


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

It seems that's the problem when you hire someone to do something. I'm not sure if they know how to do things the right way or if they hope you don't know. Unless something looks like it might be extremely dangerous, I do most things myself. Another strange thing about contractors is that their laborers all seem to come from countries that don't have what they are trying to fix here. My mother-in-law had a guy from southern Italy re-do a heating system. Do they have steam boilers in countries that never get below 40-50 degrees? Probably not. I had another neighbor, ex-Marine hire a group of middle eastern guys to do his roof, and pointing on his house. Doesn't really look like they knew what they were doing, but they get paid and move on. He was trying to clean the hardened cement off the awnigs and driveway, walkways and gardens for days. Usually when someone does pointing they use a 4" grinder to remove some of the mortar and then fill it back in, not these guys. They went right over the existing mortar and now the bricks look smaller and the mortar joints are huge. I had a fence company come to replace a 22' section of chain link that a tree had crushed. They couldn't cut the tree of at the base because the guy put the chain on the saw backwards. When I pointed this out, he thought I didn't know what I was talking about and continued cutting and fighting the saw. Until the chain snapped and almost took his face off. Then they wanted to cut a hole in the new fence and leave the lower part of the tree sticking through it. So I got my chain saw and did it myself. Any way I guess the point I'm trying to make is don't think that because you hire "professionals" they know any more than you do, they probably know less.


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

Sorry I missed the part about the guy not knowing what you really wanted. We have only lived here in Norman for going on 4 years. It is hard to know who to call to have things like that done. You will always take a chance on getting someone that will take shortcuts and skip off not doing a good job. I bug the heck out of folks that do work around our house, I ask a lot of questions and try and make sure they are doing what we asked them to. I hate the feeling of being ripped off. 

I think you are on the right track with the bottom picture. You can attach another 90 and run it right into the adaptor then the pvc headed down the hill like you wanted in the first place.....best of luck SJ! Keep after it you have an awesome looking garage, the shelves are nice too!


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## Carm (May 27, 2004)

I know what you mean about not doing it the way you would like it, I had a friend hire a company to do powerwashing, it turned out ok, just not up to par. I have used the flexible drain like the picture, it will work ok. The adapter is a better way though. I would extend the downspout closer to the ground, then add an elbow then use the Downspout PVC adapter as the PVC pipe buried in the gorund would be more durable than the flex tube. I helped a friend with a similar project. If you cant find the adapter at HD or Lowes, a plumbing supply house may carry it.


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## Argee (Sep 17, 2003)

<img src=http://media.doitbest.com/products/405724.gif>

This converts the downspout into the corrugated plastic drain pipe sold at Home Depot...You can buy the corrugated in 50' lengths and it cuts easily with a hacksaw or a handsaw.


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

thanks i got that peice this afternoon argee... 

i looked at the flex tube but i dont think ill need it..

actually i bought 1 or 2 of a whole bunch of parts.. better to overbuy extra parts and be able to return them than to need them and not have them...


I think all ill need to do is lose the long drain part - damned thing is screwed in so i need to unscrewl the whole pipe to get at it... ill use one more elbow to point the water down, then connect the elbow to that corregated converter.. then to an elbow for the corrugated and then the corregated to drain.. 

i was thinking that maybe corragated might be a better choice than pvc and when i saw that downspoat converter part it seemed like the way to go..


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## balmoralboy (May 22, 2004)

Hi John,

I have some gutter like that, drops with an open joint (loose fit) into 4" PVC running strait down, then underground sloped until it runs out of the side of the hill. Use the PVC underground stuff with the bell-tite joints that you just push together. Comes in 10' lengths. (SDR 40?)

Ours is set up so that I can drop a section down into the vertical in case I get an ice buildup or a plug in the line. So that the gutter will still run..... Just use screws on one of those elbows to re-tighten it after you take it apart and stretch the aluminium. Ours has been there ten years.

I wouldn't use the corrugated because it will likely collect water in the corrugations and freeze, and I would leave out the adapter because it will keep you from opening the line. Remember, you will want to open the line up when it's pouring down in buckets and the gutter is overflowing on your head!!

The only problem is that last winter we had about 3 weeks while we were down south that the temperature sat below 0, and the line froze out in the field. When we got rain at the end of winter, I had to dig up the last 10 feet where it was only buried shallow because there was a solid plug of ice the whole ten feet.

I wouldn't have had to do this if it just drained my gutters, but my stairway drain and the footing drains were tied in, too, and the footing drains were backing up into my apartment through the stairway drain. 

When i broke the ice plug it was by putting a pick through the pipe above the block........The water rose up about six feet above the ground. I wish i had a picture!

The cure for that is to put in a pocket of gravel and discharge into it underground the same depth you bury waterlines where you are. That will keep it from freezing, but still allow the water some unfrozen soil to dissipate in.


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

> _Originally posted by balmoralboy _
> *
> 
> 
> ...


thanks jim, 

could you clarify for me? 

are you saying to run the aluminum drain into a 4" piece of PVC? no adapter? (just jam the aluminum into PVC? - simple enough)

and do you mean to run that pvc sort of straight down into the ground and onto a bed or pile stones? 16 " down (seems easy enough but i would think that would impeded draining of water..) 

i have that steep drop off a few feet from the gutters.. iwas gonna run the corregated down 16" deep and thought id drain it out into the open.. you think PVC will work better? 

Thanks..


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## balmoralboy (May 22, 2004)

> _Originally posted by simple_john _
> *thanks jim,
> 
> could you clarify for me?
> ...


*

Yes, just run it into the open end. If your drain works the 4" pipe will carry away twice the water that the downspout will.

<IMG SRC=http://www.balmoralmotel.ca/350/Drain0001.jpg>

Here it is disconnected, and dropped into the vertical

<IMG SRC=http://www.balmoralmotel.ca/350/Drain0002.jpg>




and do you mean to run that pvc sort of straight down into the ground and onto a bed or pile stones? 16 " down (seems easy enough but i would think that would impeded draining of water..)

Click to expand...

[
I would tend to run down to an elbow and then run nearly horizontal into the gravel pile.



i have that steep drop off a few feet from the gutters.. iwas gonna run the corregated down 16" deep and thought id drain it out into the open.. you think PVC will work better? 

Thanks..

Click to expand...

*Strait pipe without corrugations will definitely work better. 

I'd be a little concerned about a direct dump out the end of the pipe. If I remember right you are in South Maine. In a freeze-thaw cycle you can build up ice and close off the open end. The purpose of the gravel pile is to insulate the end so it drains without freezing.


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## viper8u2 (Sep 17, 2003)

I did soemthing similar with diversion.

I bought the flex drainage pipe at Menards along with these popup emmitters. The down spout fits in a flange made just for the gutter and hooks to the flex tube, which connects to the pop up emmitter. It works awesome and looks good to.

I have never had a problem with drainage and we had a record rainfall last month. Also, our winters are very cold here, no problems with freezing.

cost me about $25 to do 2 downspouts

POP-UP EMITTERS 
http://www.ndspro.com/Drainage_DataFormResultList.asp

Mike


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## Argee (Sep 17, 2003)

John,
You have a hell of a lot of drop happening pretty quick...I don't think freezing is going to be an issue for you...I have corrugated pipe with a slight grade and freezing is an issue in winter....I'm going to dig it up some day and install smooth pipe..


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

thanks for the advise & info.. 

i decided to go with what i'd already bought.. the corrugated.. if freezing is an issue i will dig it up and replace the corrugated w/PVC...


i think it looks much better than the half assed way the contractor left it..


<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44690>


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

the corrugated seems to work pretty well at draining.. and the pitch i run the pipe is steep..


<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44691>


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

stone all around the corrugated...


<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44692>


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

PS jody, dont yell at me.. i picked up the trash at the bottom of the drain pipe..:furious: 

gravel on top.. 

looks good as new..


<img src=http://www.tractorforum.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=44693>


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## Chris (Sep 15, 2003)

Nice Work. Looks great! 

BTW, 
Is your mind always in the gutter, SJ?

:furious:


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

SJ, you are the man and my new hero!!!:worthy: 

That looks awesome and definaltly first rate in my book. 

How long did it end up taking you to do the work? I would think that hill made it a little sporty! 
Thanks for the pictures.:cheers:


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## jodyand (Sep 16, 2003)

That looks 100% better then the gutter guy did. And i wasnt going to yell at you at least you do what you say your going to do. Unlike some people we know isn't that right Toba:furious: :furious: :lmao:


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

really not too long.. 3 hours probably... 
the fill (that my garage is built on) is pretty much straight sand so it was easy digging.. - a little scary to think its supporting the garage...

cost was only about 10$ for the corrugatred and fittings and 7$ for stone.. well worth the 17$ not to have to look at the way the contractor set it up..


Saturday was very rainy in the AM and a perfect day to test out the drainage.. the water was mostly only coming out of the 1st foot of corrugated so i think i have plenty of room for flow.. unless it freezes up solid..



i think i may want to calk the part where the gutter rests against the fascia board.. the contractor did it when he did the gutters - but it was raining.. i am guessing i should be able to look up from below the gutters and not see any space between the fascia and the gutter.. i definetly see a small space.. ill calk that and that should complete it.. 




Im really just procrastonating cause i dont want to start to repaint my garage again..


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## Argee (Sep 17, 2003)

Nice looking job SJ...you done yourself proud


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