Downspout "Bubblers" or drywells or...?

Hi all,
I'm preparing to submit a plan to modifications committee to make some mostly-cosmetic changes in my back yard (better safe than sorry) and would like to run the gutter downspouts underground to get the drainage away from the foundation. I've been reading on ways to terminate the drainage run and hit on two ideas - downspout "bubblers" that bubble the drainage water back up to the surface when it rains and they fill up, then permit remaining drainage to seep into the ground via holes in the base; and drywells, which seem to be essentially a small ditch lined with heavy landscaping fabric and filled with pebbles, covered with... landscaping, I guess, into which water flows and then seeps into the ground.

Anyone have experience with either of these and can offer an opinion, or any additional options I haven't thought of? I would assume running a drainpipe clear out to the road isn't going to fly with the modifications committee.

Thanks!

 

Without seeing what you propse, the only thing I can say for certain is that the runoff cannot adversely affect any adjoining property.

Good luck with your project.

Bob T. - Modifications Sub-Committee member

 

I did exactly what you describe as your alternative #1. I terminated the drainage runs with bubblers and they work just as you describe. The main advantage with this method was that I wanted to get the majority of the water away from the foundation. Where I wanted it to go further, I used solid corrugated tubing (that black 4" diameter stuff) and where I wanted some seepage, I used the perforated tubing so that it could add drainage along the way. When we get heavy rain, the water makes the bubblers pop up and drain the excess into the grass along the slopes of my yard and becomes part of the run-off.

All this was pretty easy to do and not expensive. You can find all this stuff at Home Depot. The only challenge I had was getting the bubblers (or poppers like we call them) attached to the 4" pipe. In the cases where I had to cut the pipe, it becomes hard to fit it in the end of the bubblers hard plastic.

But I am very happy with the the way this works.

 

Really? So, what happens if it does and you find out AFTER the project is done? The reason I ask - the folks in back of my house put in a sprinkler system, the drainage takes their run off, and passes it through my "lower yard" into the neighbor's yard and down the drain. So, the grass in the lower yeard is lush & green, but most of the plants in the back bed are being drownded. This is not the fault of the home owner as it is the way the properties were graded.

 

If it is the original grading then any potential issue would have to be brought up with VM.

 

Is it worth it? I mean, do you think they'll actually DO anything?

 

you might want to get some pictures of that - if you can while it is happening. So that you can show the water draining, or not. Does there seem to be the same thing happening when you get a hard rain?

 

HA HA HA! WHEW! Good one! I needed that laugh after the "Gitmo" thread!

 

Glad I could make your day.

Zeratul - yes, the yards are designed in a way that water runs "down" it and into the storm drain in the neighbor's yard. It's so bad that if I go to the down side of the back bed, it's perpetually mud. If I shovel out some of the mud the standing water in the ground actually stinks.

Dang - hijacked another thread!

 

Truthfully tho, if the grading is intended to be for runoff, then there is not much that can be done.

As close as some of the houses are, it is something that some of us have to live with.

 

Great! I looked for the bubblers at Lowe's and didn't find them but have to admit, I really don't know what I'm looking for.

Regarding grading/draining, I really won't know what affect this will have other than moving the water away from the foundation of my townhome, which would benefit my neighbors as well. I know the ground is graded away from the house, it does not appear to be graded to either side but if it were, then the water is going into my neighbor's yard now and I'll simply be changing the point at which it flows under the fence. I can't imagine there will be much impact., other than watering his grass instead of his pebbles. (Boy, that doesn't sound right....) I won't be making changes soon, so if it's going to rain significantly any time soon, I'll try to get a look at where the water goes now.

Zeratul, so I could in theory use perforated tubing to carry water away (irrigating along the way) then terminate it in a bubbler somewhere near the other end of my yard? I think the run will be about 20 to 30 feet or so. Does the bubbler have a negative visual impact, or isn't it really noticeable? I thought about doing a slight re-landscaping to hide it behind some shrubs or flowers but if it's not ugly, I'll just take the easy route and leave the yard as grass.

Thanks!

 

We have a combo of bubblers and French drains through out our heavily landscaped property

Our side yard (Ridgeway) we used landscaping to cover the drain pipes

In our back and other side yard - we installed a dry rock/creek as well as multiple bubblers running parallel to Claiborne with a dozen or so evergreen Trees and shrubs.

Ditto on the suggestion to send in an application to the ARB..I just sent a PM to you

 

if the bubbler is terminated in the grass (like most of mine are) I think they look fine and are really not noticeable. They are green color of course and it is good to install them at ground level so that when you cut you do not interfere with them. And if you are doing a run that long, just try to get a gradual slope in your trench away from the house. I did the same thing at our townhouse that was near Mr Linux and my termination point was under our fence and then into the public drainage/wet area.

And yes, the other potential issue is the fact that you will be getting more water out of them in one spot and my grass near one of them is very "healthy". I have an irrigation system, so in general the color stays pretty even.

And when I got the bubblers at Home Depot, they were back in the corner near the other gutter supplies, in a green mesh bag. They have an elbow plastic tube (white) with the green bubbler top that pops up. They are 4" diameter and fit great with the corrugated pipe (the male end).

 

Just b/c I'm partially clueless (when I lived in FL I had to deal with HOAs and CondoAs, but never made any changes needing permission) is the ARB the same as the Modifications Subcommittee?

Thanx,
- A

 

Yes!

 

We have the same thing in our yard. Our neighbor behind us has a sprinkler system and we have perpetual mud in one area of our backyard. Even with the lack of rain we've been having it's still muddy. When they originally moved in 3 of us houses that are being affected complained and VM came in and actually regraded all of our lots 3 times trying to fix it. It's definitally only for rain that it works though. It's a double edged sword though. They re-graded it but then put completely different sod down that is from ohio or something like that and all of the sod they put down has now completely died and nothing I have done saved it.