How to extend your downspout to right length
Downspouts play a vital role in protecting your home, but they often aren’t enough by themselves to guide rainwater away from the foundation. Water flowing out of the downspout can pool against your house and leak into the basement or even cause structural damage. The solution is to add an extender to the end of the gutter downspout. These tubes are about 4 to 6 feet long and direct water away from your home.
If rainwater is allowed to pool around a foundation, it can eventually leak into a basement or crawl space because water can weaken a concrete foundation and lead to cracks. Over time, water can also soften the soil around the foundation, resulting in uneven house settling.
Soil that stays wet also attracts pests, including termites.
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Signs You Need to Add an Extender
There are several telltale signs that your downspout isn’t directing water far enough. Mike Feazel, CEO of Roof Maxx, said if you’re seeing pooling, erosion, or moisture near the base of the home, then a splash block alone probably won’t be enough.
- Soil and mulch erosion below the downspout
- Hairline cracks on your foundation
How Long a Downspout Should Extend
An extender must be long enough to carry water from the downspout to a part of your yard that slopes away from the home. He added that an extender should direct water away from the foundation to ensure it doesn’t flow back or saturate the soil around it. In areas that have poor drainage or heavy runoff, you could push it even further out.
The type of soil in your yard plays a factor.
An extender can’t do its job unless it slopes downward from the connection point to the opening.
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“Slope it downward so water can continue to move away from the house,” Feazel said. “Even a small grade can help prevent water from sitting or flowing back toward the foundation.”
Extenders come in a variety of types including plastic tubes and trays that flip up. Corrugated flexible plastic tubes are ideal for working around landscaping. A flipper extension works well in lawns because you can flip them up when it’s time to mow. A splash block is a 2- to 3-foot-long rectangular concrete or plastic pad that sits under the downspout. Its main job is to prevent water from creating holes in the dirt and splashback onto siding. Since it only directs water about 2 feet away from the foundation, it often isn’t enough. The ground around a home must slope sharply away — about 6 inches in the first 6 feet — for a splash block to be sufficient.
The downspout elbow should hover about 6 to 12 inches off the ground to allow for enough downward slope.
If the elbow is too low, the extender won’t slope downward at a sharp enough angle. If you’re using a splash block, extend the downspout lower to the ground to prevent splashback onto siding.
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Add a Debris Catcher for Longer Extensions
Extenders are more susceptible to clogs from leaves, twigs, and other debris due to their length. If your gutters lack gutter
The Number of Downspouts You Need
As a rule of thumb, one downspout is recommended for about every 30 feet of gutter. Homes with steeper pitches should have one for about 20 feet, while homes with shallow roofs can get by with one for every 40 feet.
Place gutters at corners of your house or in valleys — where two roof planes intersect — as these areas collect high amounts of water. “What you want to ensure is that you can move water off the roof efficiently and away from the foundation as quickly as possible,” he said. Avoid putting downspouts above walkways or in heavy traffic areas where the ground could become slippery.
