[tejas]

There is a downspout at the front of my house that I want to have buried. (I'm tired of sweeping and replacing landscape chips) I looked at some of my neighbors buried downspouts and they all have an opening in the yard covered with a plastic grate. It seems like the grate cover would allow for grass clippings and dirt to get in the pipe and eventually clog the downspout.

Does anyone out there have a buried downspout with a pop-up cover? If so, are you happy with it and what company did you use?

Thanks in advance.

[vintageogauge]

If you have St. Augustine grass it's going to get covered real quick. We have the little grates on all of our downspouts going under our landscape and have had no problems with any of them.

[photo1902]

Originally Posted by tejas

There is a downspout at the front of my house that I want to have buried. (I'm tired of sweeping and replacing landscape chips) I looked at some of my neighbors buried downspouts and they all have an opening in the yard covered with a plastic grate. It seems like the grate cover would allow for grass clippings and dirt to get in the pipe and eventually clog the downspout.

Does anyone out there have a buried downspout with a pop-up cover? If so, are you happy with it and what company did you use?

Thanks in advance.

There are hundreds and hundreds of these pop-up drains installed in The Villages. We've had one for close to four years, and I've yet to notice any issues with clogging due to soil or grass clippings. As another poster pointed out, if you have St. Augustine grass, you will occasionally need to trim around it (just like you would with pop up irrigation heads). I have Zoysia, and have not had this issue.

[Velvet]

I also have a question, the house I bought has white siding and it is slightly mottled grey near the bottom at the back. Could it be from lack of gutter or downspout there?

[HiHoSteveO]

Originally Posted by Velvet

I also have a question, the house I bought has white siding and it is slightly mottled grey near the bottom at the back. Could it be from lack of gutter or downspout there?

As you say, could be rainwater from roof splashing back up, but most likely is from irrigation water reaching house.

An occasional Egner's power washing ought to take care of that either way

[Velvet]

Thanks for your suggestion. You guys in TOTV are the best!

[Sundance Orange]

We have an Amarillo ranch and had one of our downspouts moved from the front middle of house to the end of the house where it just runs on the lawn. Not sure if doable with your style house but it worked for us.

[Velvet]

Possibly, I can look into it.

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by Velvet

I also have a question, the house I bought has white siding and it is slightly mottled grey near the bottom at the back. Could it be from lack of gutter or downspout there?

You may also have mold, we get this on the north facing rain gutters and fascia, so I power wash 2 or 3 times a year. Just a note, if you hire a company to power wash your house, make sure they are aware of any electronics outside your house (cameras, light sensors, switches, etc.) I had a bad experience with our digital front door lock, and remote sensors for turning lights on and off, these items were fine with rain, but could not handle 2000 psi water pressure.

[Velvet]

Yes, I will. Had no idea about the electronics, so what did you do to avoid the problems?

[rjm1cc]

Could you get a bag of stones and add to the front of the drain. Get a color close to you mulch.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by tejas

There is a downspout at the front of my house that I want to have buried. (I'm tired of sweeping and replacing landscape chips) I looked at some of my neighbors buried downspouts and they all have an opening in the yard covered with a plastic grate. It seems like the grate cover would allow for grass clippings and dirt to get in the pipe and eventually clog the downspout.

Does anyone out there have a buried downspout with a pop-up cover? If so, are you happy with it and what company did you use?

Thanks in advance.

My husband did the buried downspout and grate by himself. The sand isn't hard to dig.

[EdFNJ]

When you all say "buried downspout" exactly how does it get installed (yea, I know, BURIED!). Does it go into the ground then come out near the street? That's how we did it up north. It went underground right to the curb. Does it just go down a foot then pop back up through a grate? I'm tired of hitting our new gutter downspouts with my mower all the time! Sounds like a simple DIY job.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by EdFNJ

When you all say "buried downspout" exactly how does it get installed (yea, I know, BURIED!). Does it go into the ground then come out near the street? That's how we did it up north. It went underground right to the curb. Does it just go down a foot then pop back up through a grate? I'm tired of hitting our new gutter downspouts with my mower all the time! Sounds like a simple DIY job.

It takes a little piping expertise. You have to detach and add some downspout that is buried, that leads to a grate the allows the water to escape into your grass some distance away.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

It takes a little piping expertise. You have to detach and add some downspout that is buried, that leads to a grate the allows the water to escape into your grass some distance away.

That's what I assumed and the "construction" part isn't an issue. I was curious if there was a minimum distance the underground portion had to travel or how the water coming back UP to the grate wouldn't back up to the gutters, I have to assume one would require a graded downward area to do this which I don't think I have. I'll have to look at someone who has one. Most homes here don't even have gutters but we added them when we moved in.