Burying Downspouts Underground

Straight up front: this is not work we do. We install and repair gutters and downspouts above ground. Buried drainage is a different trade with different equipment, and Rick has no experience with it, so we would be learning on your house.

This page exists because it is a genuinely good question and you deserve a straight answer before you spend money on it.

What it is

Instead of the downspout discharging onto a splash block or an above ground extension, it connects to a pipe that goes underground and carries water away from the house. The far end is usually one of:

• A pop up emitter, a small lid in the lawn that lifts under water pressure and releases at a low point.
• A dry well, a buried gravel filled pit where water collects and soaks away.
• The street or a storm connection, where local rules allow it.

Why people do it

It looks better. No pipes across the lawn, nothing to mow around.

Nothing gets disconnected. The most common failure with above ground extensions is that somebody moves one to mow and never puts it back. Buried lines cannot be kicked loose.

It moves water genuinely far. An above ground extension takes water a few feet. A buried line can take it right across a yard, which matters on a house where the ground does not fall away nearby.

The trade off worth understanding

Buried lines block. Over years, shingle grit and silt settle out where water slows down, and underground the pipe is flatter and the flow slower than in a downspout. Roots find joints. Ground settles and a pipe can crush or pull apart.

The problem is that you cannot see any of it. An above ground extension that blocks is visible in ten seconds. A buried line gives you no warning until water starts backing up out of the top of the downspout or surfacing at the foundation, which is exactly what the system was installed to prevent.

Clearing one properly usually needs a camera to find the problem and a jetter to shift it. That is specialist work.

Questions to ask whoever you hire

1. What is the fall on the line? It needs continuous downhill run to the outlet. A flat or dipping line silts up quickly.
2. What pipe, and what fittings? Ask about how joints are made, because joints are where roots get in.
3. Is there a cleanout? An access point makes a future blockage far cheaper to deal with. Skipping it saves a little now and costs a lot later.
4. Where does it actually discharge, and is that legal here? It has to daylight somewhere sensible, and it must not dump onto a neighbor.
5. What happens in a Nebraska winter? A shallow line with a pop up emitter can freeze at the outlet. Ask how they handle that.
6. What does clearing it cost if it blocks? Get that answer before, not after.

The cheaper thing to try first

Before burying anything, check whether a simple above ground extension solves your problem. It costs very little, you can do it yourself, and it tells you within one storm whether moving the discharge point further out is the answer.

If a few feet of extension fixes the wet spot, burying the line buys you tidiness rather than performance. If it does not fix it, you have learned something useful and you can decide about burial knowing more.

Also check the grading first. If the ground slopes back toward your house, no discharge method fixes that, buried or not. The water comes back.

What we can help with

The above ground part is ours. Making sure the gutter is sized right, the downspout count matches the run, the trough is actually draining, and the discharge is going somewhere sensible is work we do.

If you ring us about buried drainage we will tell you it is not our trade rather than take the job. If you are not sure whether your problem is above or below ground, describe what you are seeing and we will help you work that out either way.