Gutters again

[nrc]

We finally got our gutters capped. The good news is that the Leaf Relief system seems to be working as advertised so far. The bad news is the the drains that carry the water away from the foundation turned out to be clogged -as we discovered during the next downpour.

I had a plumber I trust (former neighbor) come to clean them out. One is crappy thin wall PVC run to the curb. He was able to clean that out but based on the amount of broken pipe that came out with the roots it won't stay open long. Another was just drainage pipe which he wouldn't even attempt since his snake would just tear it to pieces. For now I've put some gutter at the base of the downspout to carry that away from the foundation.

His recommendation is to run new schedule 40 pipe from both sides of the house to the curb. He recommends schedule 40 based on the amount of tree roots that are around (like the ones crushing the existing pipe). His back of an envelope estimate on that was $3500 for estimated three days work - basically trenching and burying probably 200 feet of pipe and connecting to four downspouts.

I've been trying to do some checking on this to see whether it's a reasonable price but the figures I'm finding for schedule 40 pipe and plumber hourly rates are all over the place. Anyone had this kind of work done?

[Insomniac]

We finally got our gutters capped. The good news is that the Leaf Relief system seems to be working as advertised so far. The bad news is the the drains that carry the water away from the foundation turned out to be clogged -as we discovered during the next downpour.

I had a plumber I trust (former neighbor) come to clean them out. One is crappy thin wall PVC run to the curb. He was able to clean that out but based on the amount of broken pipe that came out with the roots it won't stay open long. Another was just drainage pipe which he wouldn't even attempt since his snake would just tear it to pieces. For now I've put some gutter at the base of the downspout to carry that away from the foundation.

His recommendation is to run new schedule 40 pipe from both sides of the house to the curb. He recommends schedule 40 based on the amount of tree roots that are around (like the ones crushing the existing pipe). His back of an envelope estimate on that was $3500 for estimated three days work - basically trenching and burying probably 200 feet of pipe and connecting to four downspouts.

I've been trying to do some checking on this to see whether it's a reasonable price but the figures I'm finding for schedule 40 pipe and plumber hourly rates are all over the place. Anyone had this kind of work done?

That seems like a long time. three days of work. Is he digging the trenches with a shovel?

[nrc]

That seems like a long time. three days of work. Is he digging the trenches with a shovel?

No, he mentioned a trencher, but I imagine he'll be doing a fair amount of manual work to avoid cutting any major roots on the trees (plus gas, electric, cable, etc). He'll also be going under one walk and cutting the curb on the side where it's not already done.

[Insomniac]

No, he mentioned a trencher, but I imagine he'll be doing a fair amount of manual work to avoid cutting any major roots on the trees (plus gas, electric, cable, etc). He'll also be going under one walk and cutting the curb on the side where it's not already done.

Ohhh, OK. Lot more work than I guessed. I've never had it done by itself, so I can't say much on the cost, but if you trust him, it should be reasonable (and the work he's telling you that you need should be correct). Maybe another person could undercut him, but you may not be happy in the end.

Could another option be to use extenders and let the water go out onto the lawn? You could install a sump pump in your basement to remove any water that is under your foundation. I know ideally you would like it to go out to the street.

[Insomniac]

Just to add to the sump pump thing, when I lived in WV, we had a couple heavy rain storms a year and the house had the downspouts hooked up to PVC pipes that drained directly into the drainage system but our basement did occasionally still get some water in it.

After moving to KS, this house drains the gutters right out onto the lawn and has a sump pump in the basement (which also just empties on to the lawn) and the basement has never had any water in it. I also think we get more heavy rainstorms here.

[nrc]

We do have a sump pump and it's preventing any major problems. But during the time when the gutters were clogged and we had a lot of run-off around the foundation we were getting some seepage at the base of a couple of walls in the basement. So far since the gutters have been cleared and capped that has not been a problem. I just want to make sure it's carried well away from the foundation to keep it that way.

An extender is working on one corner for now, but we have some areas in the lawn that tend to get marshy in wet weather so I'm not sure that's a good long term solution.

[cart7]

A cheaper alternative might be having dry wells put in for the downspouts. Basically you need a couple 55 gal drums with a bunch of holes punched in them. a circular hole is dug in the yard deeper and wider than the drum. Put the drum in the hole. The downspout drain pipe is run into a hole in the upper end of the drum. Fill the drum with course rock along with the space around the drum. Cover the ground above with topsoil and sod. Would be a heck of a lot cheaper than $3500 and you could get Racegrl to dig the holes. ;)

[G.]

A cheaper alternative might be having dry wells put in for the downspouts. Basically you need a couple 55 gal drums with a bunch of holes punched in them. Use this to punch the holes...

http://www.hkpro.com/image/mp5-10proto.jpg

[dando]

Dude, we're in the midst of a moderate drought (-6.5" since April), and yer worried about gutters? :saywhat: :gomer: ;)

-Kevin

[nrc]

A cheaper alternative might be having dry wells put in for the downspouts.
I was reading some web stuff about dry wells. I'll have to look into whether we have an appropriate place for that given our drainage and trees.


Dude, we're in the midst of a moderate drought (-6.5" since April), and yer worried about gutters? :saywhat: :gomer: ;) I think there's a parable about that somewhere. :)

[oddlycalm]

A cheaper alternative might be having dry wells put in for the downspouts. Not the best tool for the job anywhere the ground stays saturated for weeks at a time, where the spring runoff from snow melt is significant, for heavy soil with poor percolation, where there is bedrock close to the surface or where an inpenetrable layer like the concrete-like caleche that they have in parts of the Southwest.

On the other hand if you live on a sand ridge dry wells are all you'll ever need.

The whole water / gravity thing is a PITA at times. My take on the money is that $3500 is reasonable Ohio price considering that some of it will be hand dug. No bargain having a gypo operator kill one of your trees with his backhoe or get the grade wrong to save $500-$1000. It would be more in this area and it would be hard to find someone with open time to do it that wasn't a complete flake.

oc

[nrc]

We have new neighbors moving in soon. This morning they had workers from a basement waterproofing company working around the house. Looks like they're running drains for the gutters and probably sump pump to the curb. This may have been a remedy they requested as part of their contract. Hopefully they're not having a lot of other work done so that I can compare notes with them.

I think this may rule out a dry well. Even if the soil will support it and it's not against code, the new neighbor may shoot me if he spends a bunch of money on basement waterproofing and I run my drainage into a hole near the propertly lne. :)