So just purchased my first house a fee months ago. Talking to the neighbor he said the front left side of our finished basement gets "damp" during heavy rains. My house is 1942. Not sure how old the city storm sewer system is. Mine, as well as a majority of the neighbors on the street's gutter downspouts drain into those old 4 in. diameter 4 ft. deep concrete pipes and i think it drains to the city storm sewer.

I noticed the dirt and rocks around that drain on the front left side of the house was eroding away, 4 inches around and about 7 inches deep. The end of the downspout also had plastic bags stuffed into it to lessen the drainage. Put in my bore scope and found the pipe is cracked in half about 3 ft. down. Rocks and dirt from the top are completely clogging the drain which goes to the sewer.

I'm wondering if i should just cap off that pipe, fill it with concrete and reroute the rainwater to the middle of the yard or the flowerbed right next to it. Or should i try to clear the debris and see if i can patch and reuse the pipe? What else should i look for?

 

Tough to really understand what you have but if you have a drainage pipe to route water from gutters that is by far a better set up than dumping the water in the yard or a bed.

Personally I'd be trying to figure out what is going on a try to repair!