Connecting A Gutter Downspout to Foundation Drain
Written by Todd Fratzel. 
Recently I had gutters put on our garage. When we built the house I only had them put on the main house to help save some money.
In the photo you can see two down spouts coming down from the gutters. The one on the left comes from the house and was installed a couple years ago. I had it connected to the foundation drain so that the water can be directed out away from the house. The one on the right is the new down spout from the garage. As you can see it’s not connected to the foundation drain.
The first time we had a big thunderstorm this summer I realized I had a big problem on my hands. When I walked out onto the porch I could see about 3 inches of water pooled up where the hose is sitting. One of the big reason I put gutters up was to get the water away from the house. So obviously I needed to connect the new gutters to the foundation drains.
So I decided to dig up the existing foundation drain, install a tee and connect the new garage down spout. Before I go too far some people may be asking why on earth you’d connect the gutters to the foundation drain. There are two thoughts here: some people say that’s crazy don’t do it because you’re putting water down near your footing. The other school (and one I believe) is the foundation drain if properly installed will carry the water away from the house as designed. I also believe it helps keep the pipe washed out.
I excavated around the existing foundation drain riser and disconnected the existing down spout. In order to install the tee fitting I needed to cut off the riser below grade so I could get the tee in a
nd reconnect the existing down spout. Regular foundation drain pipe can be cut with a utility knife or hand saw. As you can see I cut off the riser below grade and then installed a 4″ sani tee with a short piece of vertical pipe and a down spout cap. I dry fit the whole assembly first to make sure it all fit back together. Then I glued it up with PVC cement.
Next I dug a trench from that location over to the new down spout. I measured the distance from the tee fitting to the center of the down spout and cut a lateral section of 4″ drain pipe. I then added a 90 degree elbow with a short vertical piece of pipe and another down spout cap.
Again I dry fit the assembly to make sure everything fit correctly. Then I marked the pipe at each joint with a pencil mark so that I could glue everything back in the same shape. Once everything was glued in place I backfilled with sand and stone. This project only took about an hour an cost $17. This is certainly a home improvement project that most people could tackle with ease.
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where does the foundation drain drain to? Can that water be used to irrigate landscaping?
ps I’ve linked you up to my blog addiction – feel free to link me
The drain is connected to the footing perimeter drain which runs underground and “daylights” at the rear of our property. Basically any water around the footings or from the gutters enter the pipe and run out of the pipe at a low point on our property.
This method will work when the existing foundation drain to daylight is working properly.
As a builder of many years I do not prefer this method.
If the foundation drain to daylight becomes clogged for some reason (animal/silting/other debris)the volume of water being directly fed into the foundation drain in periods of intense rain (from the roof surface) is tremendous.
With a clooged drain to daylight the volume of water from the roof area will build up water pressure around the actual house foundation drain area and (if there is no backup sump pump inside the basement) you will have a huge amount of water seep up from the cracks in your concrete slab/basement slab joint/any small vulnerable cracks in your lower foundation wall.
I prefer to drain the gutters seperatly from the foundation drain system.
How do I know this can happen? My brother came back to a completely flooded basement with over 10K in water/cleanup damage after his last vacation when this happened to him while he was gone.
No-I didn’t build that house.
@ MJ – Here’s my point in it. By hooking up the gutters I’m assured that the foundation drain is constantly flushed out and working. Furthermore we install them with clean-outs so if you notice the water has stopped on the daylight portion of the pipe you can flush the pipe. I would NEVER recommend this approach unless the foundation drain is in fact day lighted. I’ve yet to have a problem with this approach, however, there are pros and cons for both approaches.
Hi Todd,
Great article, and I’m looking for some additional advice related to the point MJ brings up. I experienced a similar problem with water rising up and filling my basement due to a clogged foundation perimeter drain a few years ago. My house (a colonial)was built in 1984, and I purchased it from the builder in 1998 who had been living in it since ’84. To make a long story short, I dug up the drain outlet which was completely underground and had corrugated pipe and had been clogged by roots. I rebuilt the outlet with solid PVC rerouted it to the french drain that was built along the edge of my street, which is also the lowest point of the property. So it is not a daylight design, but my drain pipe outlets into the middle of the (street) french drain amidst a large rock field made of 4-8 inch rocks. I even moved a small tree nearby to another part of my property to ensure no roots.
When I made this change I also connected a main gutter downspout (ie picks up the front main roof section and family room roof section)to the foundation drain right at the start of the foundation drain outlet. It seemed like a good idea at the time, for the same reasons you’ve already pointed out in your original article from June 2008.
Everything has been fine for the last 5 years, until last Thursday 7/2/09, when I got more water in the basement after torrents of rain occurred during that day. Also we’ve had a above average rainfall already throughout the month of June.
That Thursday night I checked my site pipe at the rear of the house and could see that the foundation drain pipe seemed to be full and not moving. There was no additional rain throughout the night, and after cleaning up the basement, no additional water seeped in. I checked the sight pipe the next morning and it was flowing again and the level had dropped.
I have no idea if the foundation drain was properly built. Do you believe that my problem could be related to the gutter downspout connection and should I disconnect it from the foundation drain and change it back to a surface outlet?
Thanks,….Bob
@ Bob – Sorry to hear about your water troubles. I have mixed feelings about connecting a gutter to a foundation drain if it does not daylight. I say this because you have no idea if water is flowing or not. Unfortunately, disconnecting it may not fix the problem. It may even make it worse. Without seeing your property it’s hard to say which approach is best. I have a feeling all the rain we’ve had created a VERY high water table that was the ultimate reason for the flood.
in no way should you put downspouts into the footer drain.the water will find it’s way under your house.i do this for a living. “do not do it”
Frank – I too do this for a living and I disagree with you. If you have a properly sized foundation drain that actually works this will not be a problem. In fact, it helps keep the drain flushed out. I’ve NEVER had a problem, in fact my own home is done this way. I guess we have to agree to disagree. Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Todd,
We just moved into a newly constructed house. I remember seeing foundation drains during construction but am not sure where they exit. What is the best way to find the end of the line to insure the foundation drains were installed correctly? Our builder bailed toward the end of our build leaving us to deal with drainage, landscaping, etc. so not possible to contact him for info.
Thanks for any help you can offer,
Carroll
Carroll – The easiest way is to start by scouring the property for an exit pipe. Once you find it put a garden hose in the clean-out at the house and make sure it drains at the exit. Most foundation drains exit at the lowest nearby grade.
thanks Todd. I will look for exit pipe. My next challenge will be to locate the clean-out. Are they typically located in obvious location? Not sure where to look.
Carroll
Carroll – Typically they are on the corner of the house, should be a pipe just above grade with a cap on it.
Many thanks Todd.