Roof water, piped away from the house
Tallahassee Yard Drainage Underground Downspout Drainage in Tallahassee
Every downspout that dumps beside the slab is pouring a roof's worth of rain into the soil your foundation sits on. This is usually the cheapest fix on the list.
- Tallahassee, Bradfordville and Crawfordville
- Written price before any digging
- Licensed, insured local contractors
- Priced for Red Hills clay and karst sand
Tallahassee Yard Drainage arranges underground downspout drainage for homes in Tallahassee, Bradfordville and Crawfordville. Each gutter downspout is connected to solid pipe, buried at a steady fall, and run to a pop-up emitter or another outlet well away from the house. It is the first thing to fix on almost any drainage job, because roof water is the largest single source of water at most foundations.
Piping a downspout underground runs $400 to $1,200; a downspout that has spent ten summers splashing against the same corner of the house is how a homeowner ends up paying $8,000 for rotted sill plate, fascia and slab-edge repairs.
$400 to $1,200 per downspout
Underground downspout drainage in Tallahassee typically runs $400 to $1,200 per downspout, depending on the length of the run and the outlet. Piping a whole house with four to six downspouts usually lands between $1,600 and $4,800, a little less per downspout when lines can be combined.
Get a price: (850) 604-5871Signs your downspouts are causing trouble
- A bare, muddy fan of soil or washed-out mulch below each downspout
- Splashback stains on brick or siding near the ground
- Water standing against the foundation right below a downspout
- Plastic splash blocks that have sunk or been knocked aside
- Flexible extensions that get moved for mowing and never put back
- A soggy strip along a side yard that only appears after rain
How much water one roof makes
An inch of rain falling on 2,000 square feet of roof is roughly 1,250 gallons. Tallahassee gets close to 60 inches of rain in a normal year, and summer thunderstorms can drop two inches in an hour. Four or five downspouts concentrate all of that into a handful of spots beside the house. Nothing else in the yard produces that much water in so few places.
That is why piping downspouts is so often the answer to a problem that looked like it needed a French drain. Take the roof water away and the soggy strip dries out on its own.
Solid pipe, not perforated
Downspout lines should be solid-wall pipe, usually three or four inch PVC or smooth-wall drain pipe, glued at the joints. Perforated pipe in a downspout line leaks roof water back into the ground along its whole length, which is the opposite of the point. Corrugated black pipe is cheap and flexible, but it crushes, collects debris in its ridges and cannot be jetted clean as easily.
The line needs a steady fall to its outlet, and a cleanout or a debris filter near the downspout so leaves and shingle grit do not collect in the pipe.
Not sure which of these your yard needs? Describe it on the phone and get a straight answer.
Call (850) 604-5871Choosing the outlet
Most downspout lines end at a pop-up emitter at least ten feet from the house, where the lawn falls away. Where the lot is flat, a line can run to a dry well, a swale or a ditch. Lines combined from several downspouts need a larger outlet than one emitter.
Downspout water cannot simply be sent at the neighbor's fence line. Florida's reasonable-use rule applies to roof water like any other surface water, and tying into a street or storm system in the right of way needs a city or county permit.
Downspouts and French drains together
It is common to see downspouts connected straight into a French drain. That overloads the drain with roof water in a storm and fills it with gutter debris. Better practice is separate lines: solid pipe for the roof water, perforated pipe for the groundwater, even if they run side by side in the same trench to the same outlet.
Water pouring beside the foundation every storm?
Downspouts are usually the cause and the cheapest fix. Call and count them for us.
Call (850) 604-5871Questions people ask
How much does underground downspout drainage cost?
Typically $400 to $1,200 per downspout in Tallahassee, or about $1,600 to $4,800 for a whole house, depending on run length and the outlet.
How far should downspouts drain from the house?
At least ten feet from the foundation, onto ground that falls away from the house and not toward a neighbor.
Should downspouts connect to a French drain?
Not directly. Roof water overloads the drain and fills it with debris. Run solid pipe for the downspouts, separate from the perforated French drain pipe.
What pipe should be used for underground downspouts?
Solid-wall PVC or smooth-wall drain pipe, three or four inch, glued at the joints with a debris filter or cleanout near the downspout.
What are the signs my downspouts need to be piped underground?
Muddy bare fans below each downspout, splashback stains on brick, water pooling at the foundation after rain, and extensions that keep getting moved.
Often done together
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Pop-up emitters
The green cap in the lawn that lets a buried pipe release water. When it fails, everything upstream of it fails too.
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Foundation drainage
The house is the one thing in the yard that must stay dry. Foundation drainage moves water away from it before it can soak the soil the slab rests on.
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Dry wells
A dry well stores storm water underground and lets it soak away slowly. In the right soil it is an elegant outlet. In the wrong soil it is a buried bucket.
Talk it through before anyone digs
Describe where the water sits and where it comes from. You will hear which fix fits the yard, what it usually costs, and whether you need one at all.
Call (850) 604-5871