It is critical that water is able to drain away from your home’s foundation, but who wants to have downspout extensions sticking out into their yard? I set out on a quest to replace my downspout extensions with something that I could walk and mow over without burying deep drainage tile.

I first looked at floor drain gutters, but they were surprisingly expensive ($25-$30 per foot). Then I saw how inexpensive plastic roof gutters were and the wheels in my head started turning. It took some trial and error to learn what worked, but in the end I am happy with the improvement to my drainage and landscaping.

Shopping list:
(2) 10-foot sections of simple 4-inch plastic U roof gutters
(4) end caps for the gutter sections
(1) 8-foot stick of plastic edging for FRP wall panels
(6) 1/2-cubic-foot bags of washed 1.5” river rock

Optional:
(1) bag of play sand (to help level the bottom of the trench you dug to lay the gutters in)
(1) bag of grass seed (to repair your lawn around the new miniature French drain)

Chapters
0:00 Intro
00:15 First Attempt
01:47 First Failure
03:23 Second Attempt
04:23 Second Failure
04:40 Third Attempt
07:01 Success!