Rain gutter drainage - how?

"Zootal" <nousenetspam at dead ice dot us> wrote in message
> The previous owner of my house took all of the rain gutters, ran them into
> a 3" pipe, ran the pipe 10 feet away from the house and dumped it into a 3
> foot deep hole full of rocks. He put a piece of plastic over the rocks,
> and covered it with dirt. The only way I found it was that the plastic was
> keeping water from draining and the grass above it was turning yellow -
> otherwise I would have to dig up 100' of pipe hoping to find where it
> drained to.
> Is the a good way to drain rain gutters? The water table here is only 20
> feet down, and if we get a lot of rain my basement starts to take on water
> (I found this out the hard way - my basement was a foot deep in water
> before I noticed lol). Dumping all of ths water 10 feet from the house
> just doesn't seem like a good idea.

> "Zootal" <nousenetspam at dead ice dot us> wrote in message

>> The previous owner of my house took all of the rain gutters, ran them
>> into a 3" pipe, ran the pipe 10 feet away from the house and dumped it
>> into a 3 foot deep hole full of rocks. He put a piece of plastic over the
>> rocks, and covered it with dirt. The only way I found it was that the
>> plastic was keeping water from draining and the grass above it was
>> turning yellow - otherwise I would have to dig up 100' of pipe hoping to
>> find where it drained to.
>> Is the a good way to drain rain gutters? The water table here is only 20
>> feet down, and if we get a lot of rain my basement starts to take on
>> water (I found this out the hard way - my basement was a foot deep in
>> water before I noticed lol). Dumping all of ths water 10 feet from the
>> house just doesn't seem like a good idea.

> Its a good idea for a few years but those seepage pits tend to silt up and
> become ineffective after a time.
> You could put a diverter in so that when the rain is heavy, it runs over
> the surface and is drained into a larger area of your yard.
> As for 10 feet, I don't know where else you have to choose from, you can't
> drain it onto your neighbors property but you probably can drain onto the
> street if that is nearby.
> You may need to dig up some of the pipe and the drain pit to get it to
> absorb what you need and replace or clean the drain rock of silt. Replace
> some of the solid pipe with drain pipe in a bed of drain rock.

"Zootal" <nousenetspam at dead ice dot us> wrote:

>> "Zootal" <nousenetspam at dead ice dot us> wrote in message

>>> The previous owner of my house took all of the rain gutters, ran them
>>> into a 3" pipe, ran the pipe 10 feet away from the house and dumped it
>>> into a 3 foot deep hole full of rocks. He put a piece of plastic over the
>>> rocks, and covered it with dirt. The only way I found it was that the
>>> plastic was keeping water from draining and the grass above it was
>>> turning yellow - otherwise I would have to dig up 100' of pipe hoping to
>>> find where it drained to.
>>> Is the a good way to drain rain gutters? The water table here is only 20
>>> feet down, and if we get a lot of rain my basement starts to take on
>>> water (I found this out the hard way - my basement was a foot deep in
>>> water before I noticed lol). Dumping all of ths water 10 feet from the
>>> house just doesn't seem like a good idea.

>> Its a good idea for a few years but those seepage pits tend to silt up and
>> become ineffective after a time.
>> You could put a diverter in so that when the rain is heavy, it runs over
>> the surface and is drained into a larger area of your yard.
>> As for 10 feet, I don't know where else you have to choose from, you can't
>> drain it onto your neighbors property but you probably can drain onto the
>> street if that is nearby.
>> You may need to dig up some of the pipe and the drain pit to get it to
>> absorb what you need and replace or clean the drain rock of silt. Replace
>> some of the solid pipe with drain pipe in a bed of drain rock.

>In this case, it lasted a few years and the pipe end itself because plugged
>with roots and silt. The pit itself was quite clear of silt, the rocks were
>clean. I discovered that the city recommends (requires) that you divert rain
>water runoff to the street or into the storm drainage system. In my case, I
>have to run a pipe to the curb, and then *through* the curb so that it
>drains into the street. I can't run the water down my driveway to the street
>because the driveway has sunk so that all water from it drains into the
>front yard - which has also sunken. Another source of water into the ground
>right next to my basement :(