We’re in beautiful Oakland Township, Michigan and we’re installing buried downspouts for a 3 x 4 x 4 gutter. So it takes a four inch pipe. That’s what that means. We’re moving so much water off this roof.
For this project pulled up some brick pavers because we need to bury these downspouts under a driveway. Originally we were going to go around the driveway but Francisco recognized that he had a real nice slope going this way. We’re going to have a lot more fall which is always key for a roof runoff system – even if it means we need to go under a paver or concrete structure.
What we’re going to do is run the the 4 in. virgin pipe from the house and then run it through 6 in. dual wall once we get to the driveway. Here’s why.
In the wintertime, the virgin pipe expands during the freeze and thaw. It’ll raise the pavers, creating an unsafe situation. It’ll be a trip hazard. You’ll have a little hump right in the middle of the driveway. So we’re running this four inch corrugated pipe through a six inch dual wall, and remember dual wall is culvert pipe. So it’s smooth on the inside, corrugated on the outside.
Now in the event that we ever have to service this drainage system, it’s super easy to pull out the old pipe and put in a new pipe. I can’t foresee it ever happening, but I thought since we’re pulling up the pavers, going through all this work, let’s leave the man with something that he could put say landscape lighting, low voltage wire through.
So again, six inch dual wall, which we have figured out how to ship this in seven foot lengths. So if that’s something you want to do, we got you covered.
We’re going to run these two downspouts right through that sleeve. That’s what that’s referred to when you’re talking with contractors – a sleeve. So we sleeve that so that we can feed pipe through it and go under the paver driveway.
Then we’re just going to discharge the system into an inlet basin. It’s an inlet basin as well as an outlet basin, but we’re going to put in one of those 16 inch tall, 12 inch round basins. Drill a bunch of holes in it so water doesn’t sit in it. We got a lot of slope to this location. The bottom of this basin, or let’s just say the top of this basin, is so much lower than the pipe up there, there’ll never be any water in it.
Shop FDM’s Drainage Supplies:
Inline Catch Basins for Downspouts
Need FDM to Bury Gutter Downspouts Under a Driveway?
French Drain Man’s goal is to make things easy for the DIYer by creating helpful how to videos and providing a one stop shop for all your drainage supply needs. But if you prefer full-service downspout installation, don’t hesitate to call the FDM crew and get in our schedule. Remember, when you want it done right the first time, give French Drain Man a call!
