Can we do gutters and downspouts in this forum?

[Paul Reece]

If so, I would appreciate some input to a plan I'm considering.
I have a large but low and poorly drained back yard. The two downspouts on the back of my house empty into this low area.
On the most troublesome side of the house, I want to direct the water from that backyard downspout to the front yard and out to the street.
This sidewall dimension is the longest on the house at more than 65 feet, and that sideyard is pancake flat. If I pick up the downspout water just above ground level (at the foot of the downspout), I have zero inches of natural fall in the terrain all the way to the front of the house.
The good news is that the front yard is well sloped to the street. And that front corner also hosts a downspout that produces a lot of rainwater runoff that is scouring the top soil and nutrition out of that frontyard slope. I would love to merge those two gushers and carry them in underground PVC through a curb cut and into the streetside gutter which serves a sizable storm drain.
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My house is one of those that features a brick facade skirtwall along it lower three feet, and the running bond bricks are topped with a sloped cap of perpendicularly mounted bricks. All along that uninterrupted 65-foot sidewall, the top of that wall is dead flat level... but sturdy as hell.
What I'm considering is mounting a standard gutter on that top shelf and shimming it from the back of the house to the front to introduce a generous pitch and to allow that troublesome backyard downspout to drain into the supplemental gutter which will carry all of my runoff to the front corner of the house. From there, I can merge the backside runoff with the front corner runoff and carry it all underground to the street.
Sorry to burden you with one other aesthetic detail, but to prevent this unorthodox arrangement's being visible from the street, I would drop the feed down to an underground conduit just before it reaches a six-foot high gated side fence that is ten feet back from the front corner and blocks the view of that side of the house. Every thing after the fence would be hidden underground.
If you got this far, thank you for your patience. I will truly be grateful for all critiques and input.

 

[Sylvan]

You have to check your local plumbing code as some areas frown upon the starm water entering the street

Have tyou thought about installing a retnetion tank and it will drain slowly and not causev any erosion

 

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[John Gayewski]

I was thinking something similar. A distribution system for the backyard with snaking drain tile or a large drain tile manifold.

Dumping all of that rain might have an effect on your billing for runoff. Not sure how your system is operated locally but, some places a percentage of your roof and concrete area is figured into the storm water production of your lot. If your collecting/dumping it rather than distributing it, there could be a regular bill that someone might either notice and want paid for, or refuse all together.

Also the size of the piping required for this might be larger than you think also. You'd need to figure out your roofs square footage for the different rain leaders and what zone your in for annual rain fall. Based on those two things and the roof construction youd be assigned a pipe size. There are charts for it.

 

[Paul Reece]

You have to check your local plumbing code as some areas frown upon the starm water entering the street

Have tyou thought about installing a retnetion tank and it will drain slowly and not causev any erosion

As mentioned, there is a dedicated storm drain system at the street. It leads to a retention pond, and most homes in the development feed into it at the curb. Erosion is not a problem; standing water and runoff into my neighbor's yard are my major complaints, along with mountainous accumulations of grass clippings in ridges all over the back yard. The community lawn service refuses to use a grass catcher.

 

[Jeff H Young]

So ca style a job like that about 90 percent of time we use gravity drain to the curb and core a hole in curb. I have to cores in my curb its very very typical or the yard has a swale . common stuff we dont pool up water in back yard you wont get final inspection or occupanncy

 

[Paul Reece]

I was thinking something similar. A distribution system for the backyard with snaking drain tile or a large drain tile manifold.

Dumping all of that rain might have an effect on your billing for runoff. Not sure how your system is operated locally but, some places a percentage of your roof and concrete area is figured into the storm water production of your lot. If your collecting/dumping it rather than distributing it, there could be a regular bill that someone might either notice and want paid for, or refuse all together.

Also the size of the piping required for this might be larger than you think also. You'd need to figure out your roofs square footage for the different rain leaders and what zone your in for annual rain fall. Based on those two things and the roof construction youd be assigned a pipe size. There are charts for it.

Thanks for the thoughts, but drain tiles would still leave the rainwater in my back yard and flowing into my neighbor's.
We don't pay for runoff control. The expectation is that pop-up emitters and pipes through the curb will send storm water to the community retention pond by way of the storm drain system (see photo).
Roof calcs are done, pipe specs are known for 10-year and 100-year rainfall intensity statistics in our area. But they don't make that needless 65-foot pipe-hiding trench any shorter or any shallower. What I'm trying to solve isn't a technology problem; it's a laziness issue and an aesthetics problem.

 

[Paul Reece]

So ca style a job like that about 90 percent of time we use gravity drain to the curb and core a hole in curb. I have to cores in my curb its very very typical or the yard has a swale . common stuff we dont pool up water in back yard you wont get final inspection or occupanncy

That's what I'm planning, Jeff. It's that 100-foot trenching job mostly across hard, flat clay that I'm hoping to simplify. I'm ready to bite the bullet on the $300 core drilling at the curb. I'm even prepared to tunnel under the sidewalk. But I'm too damned old to dig
the Suez Canal.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Thats just what I see here and of cource we have places that require a permit to core the curb as far as I know its widely ignored in my city. But as others mentioned I dont know what your area allows, of cource Im aware of the digging chore lol not fun

 

[John Gayewski]

Thanks for the thoughts, but drain tiles would still leave the rainwater in my back yard and flowing into my neighbor's.
We don't pay for runoff control. The expectation is that pop-up emitters and pipes through the curb will send storm water to the community retention pond by way of the storm drain system (see photo).
Roof calcs are done, pipe specs are known for 10-year and 100-year rainfall intensity statistics in our area. But they don't make that needless 65-foot pipe-hiding trench any shorter or any shallower. What I'm trying to solve isn't a technology problem; it's a laziness issue and an aesthetics problem.

What size pipe is it?

 

[WorthFlorida]

The easiest way is to add a sump pump and drain basins. On my small lot here in Florida I was adding pavers on three sides of the home and did have some standing water issues. I also did not want the run off to enter my neighbors yard since the pavers would slop to the lot line that was only 5' from the foundation. Only 10' ft between homes. On one side I only added one drain basin and three down spouts to the 4" pipe. The system drains at the raised curb by adding another drain basin. It is lower than the rest of the system so it drains over the curb onto the street.

On the other side I sunk a four drain basins with three downspouts. At the first drain basin I installed a Zoeller sump pump. It was not possible to use 4" pipe everywhere because of the slope. One the side with the pump water will puddle during the rain event but it does all drain away by the pump and then gravity. The other three basins drain the standing water.

I'm sure GA has similar summer thunderstorms showers that dump at a rate of about 1" an hour. My weather station records the rain rate. Don't try to keep the ground dry during the rain, you'll never have a large enough pipe but a system that will drain standing water.

 

[Paul Reece]

What size pipe is it?

Three-inch pvc suffices for the run from the rear downspout to the front downspout, but after they merge, four-inch is recommended.

 

[Paul Reece]

The easiest way is to add a sump pump and drain basins. On my small lot here in Florida I was adding pavers on three sides of the home and did have some standing water issues. I also did not want the run off to enter my neighbors yard since the pavers would slop to the lot line that was only 5' from the foundation. Only 10' ft between homes. On one side I only added one drain basin and three down spouts to the 4" pipe. The system drains at the raised curb by adding another drain basin. It is lower than the rest of the system so it drains over the curb onto the street.

On the other side I sunk a four drain basins with three downspouts. At the first drain basin I installed a Zoeller sump pump. It was not possible to use 4" pipe everywhere because of the slope. One the side with the pump water will puddle during the rain event but it does all drain away by the pump and then gravity. The other three basins drain the standing water.

I'm sure GA has similar summer thunderstorms showers that dump at a rate of about 1" an hour. My weather station records the rain rate. Don't try to keep the ground dry during the rain, you'll never have a large enough pipe but a system that will drain standing water.

I don't envy you trying to solve your drainage problems, man. But, as you might notice in the pictures, I'm not limited or confined by yardspace factors. I have a full quarter-acre, but the hard, impervious, terra cotta clay of north Georgia isn't nearly as forgiving as the sandy soil of Orlando. I dealt with the drainage issues of our place on Merritt Island for five years, and I can assure you there's a world of difference. I'm not trying to keep the ground dry; the rain that FALLS ON IT is more than adequate without adding the redirected runoff from 1200 sq. ft. of roof surface (rear roof only) from being added to the rice paddy of my back yard. One way or another. I'm going to get it the the front yard and down the hill to the street. The sump pump approach would be as much work--or MORE--than just digging the damned trench and being done with it. In fact, yesterday I went ahead and called 811 to get the utilities marked in the area of that inevitable and excruciating excavation.

 

[Reach4]

While running pipe, consider adding a cleanout or two. A leaf blower might be able to blow debris, if you can block the other paths.

For the gutters, maybe consider a filter on the downspouts. The Amerimax units are really cheap. Available in black or white.

There are other downspout filters that cost more.