Downspout Placement: Why It Matters

Downspouts protect your home from rainwater or melted snow. They form a connection between the roof and the basement of your home, providing a channel for water to flow safely away from your home and ultimately prevent water damage.

That said, you should be mindful of the placement of your downspouts. If they are incorrectly placed, they won’t be effective in diverting water away from your home.

How Can Downspout Placement Affect My Home?

When downspouts aren’t strategically placed, they won’t be able to direct water away from your home. This can cause pooling near your home. If you have plants and shrubbery around your home, they can become waterlogged, which can cause the leaves to turn yellow and unsightly. Apart from that, standing water can also create a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Furthermore, water can eventually leak into your basement. When this happens, you might have to deal with wall cracks and mold growth. Your home’s foundation can be at risk of structural damage, too, as water seeps into it.

So, How Can You Correctly Place Downspouts?

To ensure the correct placement of your downspouts, you should work with an experienced and knowledgeable roofer. Here are some guidelines to downspout placement to give you an idea of how it should be done:

• One downspout should be placed for every 40 linear feet of gutter. This ensures adequate drainage and prevents gutters from overflowing during heavy rain.
• Downspouts should not discharge water where it may pool close to your home and the foundation. Check for paving stones or walkways that may not have been properly pitched from the exterior wall. These can act as dams that cause water to back up and create more ground seepage and infiltration into your basement.
• If you’re unable to relocate the downspouts to a position that would allow it to drain water properly away from your home, you can install downspout extensions instead. Make sure the downspout extensions are long enough that they would be able to discharge water at least four feet away from your home.

American Roofing & Construction, LLC is a trusted company with over 15 years of experience in the industry. We perform a variety of roofing jobs, including roof repair and replacement, hail storm damage, gutters and downspouts, and more. Call us at (910) 964-0114 (Southern Pines) or (919) 917-2118 (Raleigh). You can also fill out our contact form to request a free estimate.