[Ranger1227]

Years ago, we did an additon to the house. The contractor put in the downspout you see in the kitchen and another contractor did the deck later. (Don't ask). Anyway, it turns out that the deck guy did nothing to help with the under deck drainage. When it reains hard, the water all flows to the back stairs seen in the pics and it is a soggy mess. Mys on and I took up one of the deck boards today and saw that the sownspout just empties onto a splash block. We also discovered a lot of construction debris where the deck guys just left t heir scraps under the deck. This was almost 10 years ago.

Any ideas for getting the water out so it does not pool at the bottom of the stairs?

Thanks.

 

[whammytap]

Need more info. What material covers the area under your deck? Soil, gravel, or a concrete slab? Whatever is down there, it needs to be graded away from the house and away from the stairs.

It would be a good idea to regularly inspect the area under your deck anyway, for signs of pests (termites, etc), to check the part of your foundation that is behind the deck, and so on. If you had to pry up a board to see under there, that's a bad design. You need access to that area. Have you considered making an access door of some kind?

 

[Ranger1227]

It is dirt with landscaping fabric over it. The grade is great going away from the house. We are perfectly dry. It is just at the stairs I showed in the picture where the water gets dammed up and the rgrass in fronto of the stairs gets soggy.y

 

[DexterII]

I would hang PVC from the joists, to divert the water to whichever perimeter of the deck works best for you. Replace the 45 degree elbow at the bottom of the downspout with a 90 elbow, position the PVC so that the elbow extends into it as far as possible, and that should be all of the transition that you need. Give it as much pitch as you can, possibly shortening the downspout, in order to raise the elbow a bit, and let the end at the edge of the deck go to grade level.

 

[Ranger1227]

I had been thinking of something like that, although I did not think about hanging the pvc from the joists. What a job that will be to remove the the deck boards! I had thought abotught running the pvc or flexible hose from the downspout to the backof the stiars, opening a hole in the stairs and let the water drain out. We also thought about replacing the grass right in front of the stairs with some flagstone or some other stone, so that the water won't seep in right at the edge of the stair

 

[DexterII]

I wouldn't use anything flexible under there, as it will not be easy to clean out when it plugs up, but I would definitely try to route the water out of there completely, rather than dealing with it as it finds it's own way out. As for PVC, I can't see all of the details in the pictures, but it shouldn't be too bad. You should be able to slip the pipe in from the side, then either slide yourself in from the side, or, worst case, remove maybe three consecutive deck boards, and work your way in from the top. Have your straps and fasteners handy, as well as an additional length and glue if the run is over 10', and you should be done under there in no time. You may also want to cut your deck boards such as to leave an access when you put them back down, in case you ever need to clean leaves or whatever out of the line.

 

[Ranger1227]

Dexter:

Thanks. Your suggestions are great. I plan on putting a hole in one of the boards of the stairs, so that the PVC will pipe will drain out of the edge of the steps. I am going to replace my deck railing anyway, so it will be a good time to get in there as I will have easier access.