Thursday, February 2, 2012

DownSpout Extensions-Why and How

For many Indiana homeowners, extending your downspouts away from your home can have many benefits. Especially when installed correctly. One benefit of extending your downspouts away from your home is that it will greatly reduces your chance for potential foundation issues down the road. When downspouts are not extended the water is dumping usually right next to your foundation. This excess amount of water will expand, and erode soil around your foundation, which in return can cause structure foundation issues such as settling. Extending the downspouts can also help cut down on the amount of water or moisture that gets into your crawl space. As mentioned before, when not extended, downspouts allow large amounts of water to be dumped next to your homes foundation. This water can also tend to seep thru the foundation and into the crawl space. To give you an idea of the amount of water your downspouts can produce consider this. One inch of rain on a 1200 sq.ft. home produces about 750 gallons of water. That is a lot of water to be dumping right next to your homes foundation. Also you want to be sure that the downspout extensions your installing are done correctly. A few things to stay from when installing downspout extensions. First thing I would recommend would be to always use a solid form of pipe or tile to extend your downspouts, whether you extend them underground or above. I have seen many houses who have downspout extensions running into a perforated pipe or tile. This still allows the water to seep out next to the foundation. A solid pipe or tile will prevent this seepage from happening. Be sure to extend them far enough away so that the water isn't making its way back toward your foundation. As far as what type of solid pipe or tile to use really depends on your preference. I typically would recommend a solid 4" PVC type of pipe, such as a schedule 40. I recommend this because this type of downspout extension has a few more benefits than other forms of solid pipe, such as flex tile. Downspout extensions can tend to get clogged with roof debris and leaves. With a solid PVC type of downspout extension, they can easily be snaked to relive any type of clog. This is much harder with a solid flex tile. Also, if your downspout extension is going to be installed underground in an area where heavy equipment or cars may be crossing over, a solid PVC type of downspout extension proves to be much stronger as well. To find out more information on downspout extensions and other crawl space issues visit www.swaincollc.com

2 comments:

  1. You can rest assured that you're getting the best possible service for your home and crawl space insulation

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  2. I really appreciate this! I've been trying to figure out how I do crawl space waterproofing in Chicago, and found this very helpful. Thanks for sharing this.

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