Gutter connected to FRENCH DRAIN

gioman

I just had a retaining wall built next to my driveway(its a slope down driveway) A flexible french drian was placed in back of wall, and they
also connected 1 of my roof gutters into the drain, I am worried
this might cause excess water flow towards the wall soil area ?

It is only one gutter from the front of house which they connected

concretemasonry

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

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

gioman

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

Bondo

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

concretemasonry

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

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

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

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

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The disadvantages of crab apple trees. In summer, the apples are too sour to pick and eat. In winter the birds come and leave dropping all over the place.

AllanJ

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.

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The disadvantages of crab apple trees. In summer, the apples are too sour to pick and eat. In winter the birds come and leave dropping all over the place.

gioman

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

gioman

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

AllanJ

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 ajaynejr@aol.com

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The disadvantages of crab apple trees. In summer, the apples are too sour to pick and eat. In winter the birds come and leave dropping all over the place.

AllanJ

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.

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The disadvantages of crab apple trees. In summer, the apples are too sour to pick and eat. In winter the birds come and leave dropping all over the place.

gioman

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