Downspoats where do they go?

[evluoma]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?

[Topspinmo]

They are French drains, mine exit out at street through up pipe with grate covering. They pull water away from you’re house for better drainage.

[evluoma]

Any advice on finding the exit point? House is about 15 years old.

[Topspinmo]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?

You can remove the drain pipe and use blower and blow them out. Or you can turn the water hose on and run it down the pipe the water pressure from the hose should unclog. Some might be connected to street drain? If you see water spewing out in you’re yard you may have to clean the drain cause of the up pipe. Leaves, pebbles, and shingle sand will accumulate there.

[Topspinmo]

Any advice on finding the exit point? House is about 15 years old.

What type of house? CYV or designer? CYV it will be out at edge of the street probably under bushes it you have any or covered up by rocks? Designer could be exiting in the grass somewhere out front or connected to street drain which I doubt? But it could. Run water hose down and turn it if it don’t back up or show up in yard it’s probably connected to street drain?

[CWGUY]

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/where-do-buried-rain-downspouts-go-310108/?highlight=downspouts

And other threads..... Search feature on this site. :)

[Stu from NYC]

Thanks for asking was wondering about this

[Count'n the days]

Our drain goes under our flower bed to the middle of the front yard. It is capped with a bubbler that will pop up and let the water flow into the yard. It could also be capped with a grate instead. It's possible the grass has grown over the grate or bubbler preventing it from letting the water discharge. When ours gets grown over my gardener (hubby) takes a screwdriver and taps to find it. Of course he knows the vicinity to look for it. Good luck.

[evluoma]

I got access to the beginning of the drain, fille with debris including leaves, shingle gravel and roots. Got as much out as i could, but it is obviously filled with roots of all shapes and sizes. I have decided to not use them and instead have them drain above ground. Much easier to keep an eye on and much easier to maintain! Thanks for all the advice.

[Mleeja]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?

If you have buried downspout drains would the locations show on the house blueprints?

[vintageogauge]

If you have buried downspout drains would the locations show on the house blueprints?

If you have gutters all the way around your house they are most likely added after the house was first sold.

[Malsua]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?


The one at the back of our CYV was clogged. We ended up using Florida Rooter, who was a great guy by the way. We looked around and could not figure out where the pipe exited. It went under the back wall of the villa to parts unknown. Darrel found a rag in the pipe and some roots, got it clear though. Works great now.

[richs631]

You can remove the drain pipe and use blower and blow them out. Or you can turn the water hose on and run it down the pipe the water pressure from the hose should unclog. Some might be connected to street drain? If you see water spewing out in you’re yard you may have to clean the drain cause of the up pipe. Leaves, pebbles, and shingle sand will accumulate there.

They most likely drain into a pop up drain in your lawn. They were installed while your brick was done. The grass has most likely grown over the drain. If you look carefully you may find the drain in your lawn and you can clear the grass that has grown around it. There is also a removable cover so you can clean inside. Hope this helps

[OhioBuckeye]

They are French drains, mine exit out at street through up pipe with grate covering. They pull water away from you’re house for better drainage.

I think that’s what they’re talking about, they’re plugged between the downspout & the street!

[Villages Kahuna]

You can do either one. Downspouts directed into the ground or underground receptacle need to be cleaned out or unclogged every year.

[deestatham@aol.com]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?



HELL! To drown the devil’s residents!!’

[EdFNJ]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? When you were a kid your parents should have explained to you that they go to China to provide water for all the thirsty school children who don't have water like we do. Oh wait, never mind, that was "eat all your vegetables because people in China are starving." :)

[LianneMigiano]

I got access to the beginning of the drain, fille with debris including leaves, shingle gravel and roots. Got as much out as i could, but it is obviously filled with roots of all shapes and sizes. I have decided to not use them and instead have them drain above ground. Much easier to keep an eye on and much easier to maintain! Thanks for all the advice.
Above-ground disbursal will discolor concrete over time, disturb growing conditions for grass during downpours - beside creating a hard-to-avoid soaking of your feet during arrival home in a rainstorm. Take your pick....

[Ladygolfer93]

I got access to the beginning of the drain, fille with debris including leaves, shingle gravel and roots. Got as much out as i could, but it is obviously filled with roots of all shapes and sizes. I have decided to not use them and instead have them drain above ground. Much easier to keep an eye on and much easier to maintain! Thanks for all the advice.

I agree with you ! I cleaned out the gutters of leaves, etc. some but not too bad, then went to HD and bought some pieces I needed (too cell phone pix with me) to make a "turn" and direct the water above ground but into a large flower bed. Also bought a couple "splash" plates so it would not dig a big hole in the flower bed. I really like this arrangement better than the French drains which were always a mess !

[Bridget Staunton]

Let hose run on gutter by downspout. Then do 1 at a time, go out from house approx 4-5 ft. Look for wet spot and carefully dig down and you will fine it. Be careful digging there may be cable in the ground

[almondz]

Our drains were covered with grass and were full of dirt and debris so the downspouts wouldn't drain properly when we moved in too. Our landscaper located the exit grate in the yard, cleaned out from the house to the exit grate and replaced the exit grate (I guess they no longer use the grates) with a pop-up drain. He said they quit with the grates because they fill up with dirt and grass clippings too easily. Many of the drains get covered up because the grass will also grow over them. Now we make sure all drains and sprinkler heads are accessible.

[daveac83]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?

Usually it goes underground to a outlet somewhere in the yard. Google "downspout bubbler".

[dwbevan]

We had a squirrel fall down our downspout which goes out to a French drain into lawn. The grate was plastic and he chewed his way out.

Our spouts were changed to French drains for landscape purposes.

[Topspinmo]

Personnelly I don’t like French drains, the pipes have holes in them to allow water to seep into ground or rock liner. If you have any shrubs or trees the roots head for the water source and in few years long after the installation the French drain turns into slow drain or plug up. Luckily mine are just drain pipes In my CYV running out to edge of street with grate covering the up pipe.

[stadry]

underground downspout drainage pipes are defined as 'leader drains',,, 'french drains' are different & get their name from the manner in which paving stones were installed @ fountainbleu - laid so every 10meters a trough was formed which then collected rainfall & directed in to the left under the hall of mirrors into the reflecting gardens,,, in landscaping terms, we now call them 'swales'

[Darlene_from_Hershey]

When we purchased our court yard villa I mentioned to the realtor that the rear downspouts drains go underground and asked where do they go. I also asked if there was drainage line for the backyard since it was walled in and runoff had no discharge path. He didn't know. After the purchase I looked at each downspout and the angle the underground lines were headed. I estimated the junction point and dug a hole. About 1 foot below the top of the mulch I found a drain box that went to the a main drain. The previous owners cover the drain for years with mulch, so the surface water wouldn't run off and only seep into the ground. I purchase an extension for the drain box and everything was find. That is also where the downspouts discharged to.

[dadoiron]

At our house, the downspouts by the entryway walk go down into the ground. Where in the world do they go to? It appears one may be clogged, any hope for unclogging it, or should I just put in an elbow and let the water run above ground?
China?

[William J. Doll]

Maybe consider trying the women at pink flamingo. 352-661-7310. I had them dig out overgrow downspouts in lawn and put donuts around them so they would not get lost and overgrown again.

[vintageogauge]

We had what I thought was a blocked downspout near our crepe myrtle. Today I hired a handyman to clean the downspout and put up a few gutter guards. He found that it was the grate at the end of the drain pipe that was full of St. Augustine grass roots so he went all the way around the house and found all of them, opened them up and cleaned them all out, cleaned out the sand and loose debris from the gutters and cleaned up the yard. Took nearly 4 hours to find them and do the cleaning. Well worth keeping them cleaned out every few months. If you need this service his name is Larry Griffaw 970-306-3790. Someone on TOTV gave me his name 3 years ago and I've used him for various jobs 4 times now, he does good work at fair pricing.