# Gutter connected to FRENCH DRAIN



## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

You are right - It should never be done. The water from the downspout can easily flow into the french drain and out holes into the soil. It can also carry debris in from the roof (roofing granuals, pine needles and seeds) that may not drain out fast enough.

Dick


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

What should I do now, to repair this pull out the Gutter? There is now also a hole in the French drain


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

concretemasonry said:


> You are right - It should never be done. The water from the downspout can easily flow into the french drain and out holes into the soil. It can also carry debris in from the roof (roofing granuals, pine needles and seeds) that may not drain out fast enough.
> 
> Dick


 
I was thinking of pulling out gutter, filling whole with drainage stone?


----------



## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

gioman said:


> I was thinking of pulling out gutter, filling whole with drainage stone?


Ayuh,... I'm thinkin' divert the downspout, 'n put a single Rock on the hole left...


----------



## concretemasonry (Oct 10, 2006)

gioman - If you had posted your location in your profile you might get better answers for your question.

One other solution is to disconnect the downspout and run it into a buried solid wall pvc pipe to a "pop-up" this is an area that drains it where the surface flow is away from the house. I have one to spread out my roof discharge.

If you are in a cold climate, us a 4" pvc and make sure to is straight with no bellies in it and is sloped away and as steep as possible. It will drain better and faster and freezing may not be a problem. I encountered a couple of years with no early snow and light snow for the rest of the winter. Because of the lack of insulating snow, it froze when the daily melting snow from the edge of the roof and the gutters ran off and froze. No problems with a normal snow cover (30" with an average of 45"). Because if this I put in a surface discharge that I could switch over to when there was little early snow. I have only switched it over once even though we have been below average for the last five years. - If we were 75 miles south or 75 miles east, we would have had plenty of snow, but we do not get the bad snows.

Dick


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

Bondo said:


> Ayuh,... I'm thinkin' divert the downspout, 'n put a single Rock on the hole left...


 
Actually the gutter is a flexible extension, runs about 3 ft straight
in the ground through the french drain, my concern is filling that 
3 ft void , and what about the hole/tear in french drain?


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

concretemasonry said:


> gioman - If you had posted your location in your profile you might get better answers for your question.
> 
> One other solution is to disconnect the downspout and run it into a buried solid wall pvc pipe to a "pop-up" this is an area that drains it where the surface flow is away from the house. I have one to spread out my roof discharge.
> 
> ...


Hi Dick 

I am from Montreal Canada
Actually the gutter is a flexible extension, runs about 3 ft straight
in the ground through the french drain, my concern is filling that 
3 ft void , and what about the hole/tear in french drain? 

I can send you a pic, do you have an email


----------



## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Forum bug made a double post when I tried to edit.


----------



## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Where does the French drain lead to so the gutter water can be gotten rid of?

An underground perforated pipe system that is supposed to accept water including from above ground gutters and let the water dissipate into the surrounding soil is called a leach field.

An underground perforated pipe system that is supposed to collect water that otherwise saturates the surrounding soil and channels that water to some drainage facility such as a sump pump pit is called a French drain.

If you pour gutter water into what should be a French drain and it overflows, the water may find its way back towards the house and seep up into the basement. Leach fields are only designed to accept so much water and those associated with septic tank systems will fail (overflow) if you also add gutter water.


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

AllanJ said:


> Where does the French drain lead to so the gutter water can be gotten rid of?
> 
> An underground perforated pipe system that is supposed to accept water including from above ground gutters and let the water dissipate into the surrounding soil is called a leach field.
> 
> ...


 
It is connected to a french drain which is just behind a retaining wall
so I guess it would be a leach field?


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

AllanJ said:


> Where does the French drain lead to so the gutter water can be gotten rid of?
> 
> An underground perforated pipe system that is supposed to accept water including from above ground gutters and let the water dissipate into the surrounding soil is called a leach field.
> 
> ...


 
By the way I have pics, do u have an email I can send?


----------



## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

If this pipe system under the retaining wall:
1. Does not connect to any similar pipes at the foundation of your house, AND
2. Does not connect to any part of a septic tank system, AND
3. Is not near your house, AND
4. Does not overflow

then you can probably leave it as-is. But keep an eye on your basement for possible flooding.

You may be able to take care of an overflowing underground pipe system by digging a dry well at the low end and not close to your house. While the feed pipe to a dry well is solid rather than perforated, you don't have to rip out the perforated pipe and put in solid pipe provided that the dry well does fully solve the overflowing problem.

Email to [email protected]


----------



## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

Does the water from the gutter all pour out somewhere for example the French drain low point is an opening onto the driveway?

For example, pour a gallon of water down past the downspout where it enters the drain pipe reaching the surface against the foundation. Does all of the water pour out immediately down below.


----------



## gioman (Sep 18, 2010)

I removed gutter from the French Drain and placed the gutter so water will flow straight into drain, now I can sleep better


----------

