Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern


I was following the advice in the home depot outdoor projects book about
moving the water from my gutter down-spout to someplace farther away.

But I'm confused on one point.

Should I be using the PVC pipe with holes in it (at 4 and 8 o'clock) such
that the water disperses along 10' of it and the rest ends in a sistern, or
should I be transporting part of the way in solid PVC to keep even small
seepage away from the house?

The only problem is that the non-hole PVC doesn't fit the adapters needed to
connect the downspount<-->PVC. A silly thing really, looks like a conflict
in inner vs. outter diameter specs.

So should it be this:

*Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)10' Solid PVC-->Sistern*

or

*Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)4' Solid PVC-->10' drainage
PVC-->Sistern*

or just the easiest

*Downspout-->Adapter--->(connects redily)10' drainage PVC-->Sistern.*

And *HOW BIG* should the sistern be? The ground fill is highly rocky (good)
but this downspout manages all the water for half the main roof, half the
baywindow roof, and the porch roof.

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

I think you are having problems trying to match solid DWV PVC pipe with
perforated Sewer pipe, they are different but a little looking will find
couplings to match the two pipes together along with specialized couplings
to match virtually all common pipes with other commonly used pipe types.

"Thomas G. Marshall" <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail . com >
wrote in message news:KB3Mj.805$mG1.424@trndny08...
>
> I was following the advice in the home depot outdoor projects book about
> moving the water from my gutter down-spout to someplace farther away.
>
> But I'm confused on one point.
>
> Should I be using the PVC pipe with holes in it (at 4 and 8 o'clock) such
> that the water disperses along 10' of it and the rest ends in a sistern,
> or should I be transporting part of the way in solid PVC to keep even
> small seepage away from the house?
>
> The only problem is that the non-hole PVC doesn't fit the adapters needed
> to connect the downspount<-->PVC. A silly thing really, looks like a
> conflict in inner vs. outter diameter specs.
>
> So should it be this:
>
> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)10' Solid PVC-->Sistern*
>
> or
>
> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)4' Solid PVC-->10' drainage
> PVC-->Sistern*
>
> or just the easiest
>
> *Downspout-->Adapter--->(connects redily)10' drainage PVC-->Sistern.*
>
> And *HOW BIG* should the sistern be? The ground fill is highly rocky
> (good) but this downspout manages all the water for half the main roof,
> half the baywindow roof, and the porch roof.
>

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

The point is to get the water away from the house. I use solid pipe which
is actually just an extension of my AL downspout -- depending on the grade
of the lawn I've gone either 5' or 10'. My extension is solid and gets all
of the water away from the house. I don't use a drywell or sistern. The
grade of the lawn carries the water off. Works for me.

"Thomas G. Marshall" <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail . com >
wrote in message news:KB3Mj.805$mG1.424@trndny08...
>
> I was following the advice in the home depot outdoor projects book about
> moving the water from my gutter down-spout to someplace farther away.
>
> But I'm confused on one point.
>
> Should I be using the PVC pipe with holes in it (at 4 and 8 o'clock) such
> that the water disperses along 10' of it and the rest ends in a sistern,
> or should I be transporting part of the way in solid PVC to keep even
> small seepage away from the house?
>
> The only problem is that the non-hole PVC doesn't fit the adapters needed
> to connect the downspount<-->PVC. A silly thing really, looks like a
> conflict in inner vs. outter diameter specs.
>
> So should it be this:
>
> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)10' Solid PVC-->Sistern*
>
> or
>
> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)4' Solid PVC-->10' drainage
> PVC-->Sistern*
>
> or just the easiest
>
> *Downspout-->Adapter--->(connects redily)10' drainage PVC-->Sistern.*
>
> And *HOW BIG* should the sistern be? The ground fill is highly rocky
> (good) but this downspout manages all the water for half the main roof,
> half the baywindow roof, and the porch roof.
>

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern


I tried that, but I just cannot keep my lawn cutters from squashing the
thing with their tractor.

We have a fast draining lot. It slopes in the back, and is extremely rocky.
Even digging a hole for a very small tree (2' diameter was a chore in
fieldstone removal.



Jay Stootzmann said something like:
> The point is to get the water away from the house. I use solid pipe
> which is actually just an extension of my AL downspout -- depending
> on the grade of the lawn I've gone either 5' or 10'. My extension is
> solid and gets all of the water away from the house. I don't use a
> drywell or sistern. The grade of the lawn carries the water off. Works
> for me.
> "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpower@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail . com > wrote in
> message news:KB3Mj.805$mG1.424@trndny08...
>>
>> I was following the advice in the home depot outdoor projects book
>> about moving the water from my gutter down-spout to someplace
>> farther away. But I'm confused on one point.
>>
>> Should I be using the PVC pipe with holes in it (at 4 and 8 o'clock)
>> such that the water disperses along 10' of it and the rest ends in a
>> sistern, or should I be transporting part of the way in solid PVC to
>> keep even small seepage away from the house?
>>
>> The only problem is that the non-hole PVC doesn't fit the adapters
>> needed to connect the downspount<-->PVC. A silly thing really,
>> looks like a conflict in inner vs. outter diameter specs.
>>
>> So should it be this:
>>
>> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)10' Solid PVC-->Sistern*
>>
>> or
>>
>> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)4' Solid PVC-->10' drainage
>> PVC-->Sistern*
>>
>> or just the easiest
>>
>> *Downspout-->Adapter--->(connects redily)10' drainage PVC-->Sistern.*
>>
>> And *HOW BIG* should the sistern be? The ground fill is highly rocky
>> (good) but this downspout manages all the water for half the main
>> roof, half the baywindow roof, and the porch roof.

--

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

On Apr 12, 2:40 pm, "Thomas G. Marshall"
<tgm2tothe10thpo...@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail . com > wrote:
> I tried that, but I just cannot keep my lawn cutters from squashing the
> thing with their tractor.


Most houses have landscaping around the perimeter. If possible, you
could consider a 5 ft wide landscape bed in the area of the
downspout. The corrigated pipe then stops at the edge of the bed.
They even have flexible pipe like that with ends that fit over the
downspout pipe. The bed can be attractive and add value to the
house.




>
> We have a fast draining lot.  It slopes in the back, and is extremely ro=
cky.
> Even digging a hole for a very small tree (2' diameter was a chore in
> fieldstone removal.
>
> Jay Stootzmann said something like:
>
>
>
>
>
> > The point is to get the water away from the house.  I use solid pipe
> > which is actually just an extension of my AL downspout -- depending
> > on the grade of the lawn I've gone either 5' or 10'.  My extension is
> > solid and gets all of the water away from the house.  I don't use a
> > drywell or sistern.  The grade of the lawn carries the water off. Work=
s
> > for me.
> > "Thomas G. Marshall"
> > <tgm2tothe10thpo...@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail . com > wrote in
> > messagenews:KB3Mj.805$mG1.424@trndny08...
>
> >> I was following the advice in the home depot outdoor projects book
> >> about moving the water from my gutter down-spout to someplace
> >> farther away. But I'm confused on one point.
>
> >> Should I be using the PVC pipe with holes in it (at 4 and 8 o'clock)
> >> such that the water disperses along 10' of it and the rest ends in a
> >> sistern, or should I be transporting part of the way in solid PVC to
> >> keep even small seepage away from the house?
>
> >> The only problem is that the non-hole PVC doesn't fit the adapters
> >> needed to connect the downspount<-->PVC.  A silly thing really,
> >> looks like a conflict in inner vs. outter diameter specs.
>
> >> So should it be this:
>
> >> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)10' Solid PVC-->Sistern*
>
> >> or
>
> >> *Downspout-->Adapter-->(connected somehow)4' Solid PVC-->10' drainage
> >> PVC-->Sistern*
>
> >> or just the easiest
>
> >> *Downspout-->Adapter--->(connects redily)10' drainage PVC-->Sistern.*
>
> >> And *HOW BIG* should the sistern be?  The ground fill is highly rocky=

> >> (good) but this downspout manages all the water for half the main
> >> roof, half the baywindow roof, and the porch roof.
>
> --- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

trader4@optonline . net said something like:
> On Apr 12, 2:40 pm, "Thomas G. Marshall"
> <tgm2tothe10thpo...@replacetextwithnumber.hotmail . com > wrote:
>> I tried that, but I just cannot keep my lawn cutters from squashing
>> the thing with their tractor.
>
>
> Most houses have landscaping around the perimeter. If possible, you
> could consider a 5 ft wide landscape bed in the area of the
> downspout. The corrigated pipe then stops at the edge of the bed.
> They even have flexible pipe like that with ends that fit over the
> downspout pipe. The bed can be attractive and add value to the
> house.

There is already 4' landscaping there. What I had previously was this:

downspout --> Flex pipe --> gutter pipe to edge

(that would dump the water onto the grass just past the rocks that line the
mulch.)

But it only 1/2 worked. The water flow just wasn't enough away from the
house. So I added some gutter pipe (about 1' long) to dump water a foot
past the rock and it improved things considerably, but not enough to keep
the flood out of the corner of the basement. That and the landscaping
grunts squash the thing flat every time.

*So perhaps I should resculpt the lawn a little* ? I could make it so that
the "pipe to edge of rocks" idea results in water continuing to flow away
from the house (but over the grass). Like a mini grass covered trench, or
swale, or whatever, but barely indented enough to allow the water to gravity
feed away?

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

Jay Stootzmann wrote:

>The point is to get the water away from the house. I use solid pipe which
>is actually just an extension of my AL downspout -- depending on the grade
>of the lawn I've gone either 5' or 10'. My extension is solid and gets all
>of the water away from the house. I don't use a drywell or sistern. The
>grade of the lawn carries the water off. Works for me.
>

We had problems around our condo with washouts from
downspouts......grading is fine, just needed to
keep the outflow from washing away mulch and soil around hedges. We got
some plastic trays from the
garden center. tje lomd tjat 2" pots are displayed in. Double them for
strength, one inside the other. Dig
a hole the size and depth of the tray where the forceful flow hits the
ground. Put tray in hole, fill tray with
med. size river rock. The rock deflects and disperses the water but
doesn't dislodge. Can do the same without
the trays, but just river rock on landscape cloth. Heavy flow will run
off before it sinks much.

Re: Basement water: Moving downspout water away from house to sistern

trader4@optonline . net said something like:

...[snip]...

> A drywell would be my last choice, because besides being harder to
> construct, they have a number of problems. How big it has to be is
> one of them and depends on what an expected max rainflow is and how
> fast water percolates down in your soil. Many people wind up winging
> it and just use a 55gal drum with one end cut out. They also don't
> last forever and over time can fill up slowly with silt, as the roof
> water will contain some dirt, leaf particles, etc.

Ok, a neighbor pointed out a far more obvious solution.

I am going to run a pipe (drain pipe even, since it need not be structurally
supportive of ground over it) along the edge of the foundation following the
natural grade out to the back. Then onto a brick for dispersal, like the
rest of my downspouts.

I may paint the thing brown to match the ground and mulch and half burried
it. Or find something brown (like perhaps the brown flex pipe, which I
don't like the looks of), or half-bury brown PVC. But in any case, the
problem is pretty much solved.

Thanks all!!! PARTICULAR thanks to those of you talking me OUT of a
dry-well!!!!!!!!