Overheard a neighbor rant about his downspout extension and it clicked for me

I was out front last Saturday pulling weeds when my neighbor two doors down starts yelling at his downspout. He was going on about how water was pooling right against his foundation after every rain. I got curious and walked over, he showed me how his extension was too short and just dumped water two feet from the house. I went home and checked mine, sure enough same problem. Picked up a 10 foot corrugated tube for like 12 bucks from the hardware store and rerouted it out to the alley. First big storm last night and I went out to look, bone dry along the foundation. Anyone else find cheap fixes like that actually work better than the fancy stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

uma_ellis6d ago

Wait, so you're telling me it was that simple the whole time? I gotta admit, I had been one of those people who thought you needed the fancy underground drain pipes or those expensive pop-up drains to fix foundation water problems. I mean, I saw my buddy spend like 200 bucks on a whole system with gravel and special fittings and it looked like a big deal. But honestly, after reading your story I went out and checked my downspout and yeah, same issue. Picked up a cheap black tube from the hardware store, snaked it out away from the house, and the next rain I saw the water just running clear down the driveway. No pooling, no soggy spots. It kind of made me feel dumb for overthinking it for so long. Sometimes the cheap stuff really does the job better than any fancy setup.

the_jennifer6d ago

Went out the next morning and stood there nodding at my downspout like I'd finally cracked some secret code. Guess all those fancy options were just to make me feel like I needed a degree in hydrology to keep my basement dry.