Where to direct gutter drainage with a flat front yard?

Hey folks, my first post here. You all seem extremely knowledgeable and helpful and I look forward to participating more down the line. Having bought my first house recently and being raised without a father figure around I find I'm in over my head with a lot of this handy type stuff. Also please forgive me if I broke any etiquette with this post, I read all the rules and I think I got it though.

Here's my actual question. Prior to buying the house, the inspector pointed out these gutters draining right in front of the house, with a very slight down slope (more due to mulch) directing the water back towards the house and causing some leaks in the basement. I was just going to flatten it out a bit with a shovel and call it a day, but started considering some kind of extension, possibly leading to a pop up drain or something like that. But I don't know if that's A) the best option or B) if so, where/how far to direct the extension into my yard. It's pretty much totally flat in the front yard including the driveway. They're both level with the street, which has no storm drains or curb. Everything I read about these kind of extensions advise to have the extension run at a downward slope, so for me to do that, would I just have to dig the hole deeper towards the end where pop-up drain would be, thus creating my own slope? And would it be better for the end of the line to be in the yard with the grass, or should I end it more in the garden (which is little more than some old mulch and neglected plants at the moment) so the yard doesn't get swampy? Am I totally off base by even thinking an extension/popup is the way to go?

I hope that's enough information and I was coherent enough. Any and all advice you folks can provide would be enormously appreciated. Below are some pictures of the areas I'm talking about. Maybe in the future I can figure out a way to direct both spouts towards the back yard, which has both a slope and a creek at the bottom of it. At the moment I don't think that's within my capability though.


Maybe worth noting that the stone path there isn't cemented in or anything, just loose stones, so digging under them wouldn't be a problem.

Thank you very much!
-J.P.

 

You don't need to dig up anything to give an extension a downward slop. Just attach the extension elbow about 6" to 12" up on the downspout drain from the fground. Then use a downspout pipe and extended about ten feet away from the house. You'll need to remove it when cutting the grass but use it only during the wet season.

 

Welcome to the forums.

If you check the big box store on line sites for "downspout extensions" , you will find many options. Most are inexpensive. The main thing is to have the water discharge as far away from the foundation as possible.

 

I had the same situation and i have a lot of clay in my soil also so the water would just collect on the surface during heavy rains. I used a post hole digger and dug a 12" wide x 6' deep hole and inserted a 6'long x 6" wide drainage pipe then filled around pipe with rock. Then I ran the drainpipe from gutters into pipe and the water dissipates deep into the ground partially due to getting past the clay and partially due to the pressure of the water filling the drywell above. I did this 14 years ago and have had no problems with water run-off since. I did this at each corner of the house where the down spouts are. YMMV