How To Bury Gutter Drains

A tutorial on how to bury a gutter downspout to move water away from the house.

You pull out the ladder every few months and painstakingly pluck out all the leaves and debris from your gutters.

After making sure that all the gutters are running smoothly, you take pride in your hard work.

But while your gutters are essential to protecting your house from water damage, your home could still be at risk.

Take a closer look at how your gutter drain spout is configured. Is it broken, connected improperly or leaning too close to your house?

As my husband often reminds me, a neglected gutter problem could cause havoc on our foundation and basement.

And I know he's right.

During his years as a home insurance adjuster, he saw disastrous flood damage that could have been prevented with a few critical home maintenance projects.

And unless you have flood insurance, water leaking into your basement could drain your savings!

We had attached a downspout extension and connector to our gutters for months but it was not ideal.

It was doing the job but who wants a big, black tube lying across their yard?

After our grass did not come in as well as we wanted, we knew it was time to put the extension underground.

UPDATE: We decided to upgrade our gutter downspout to a french drain so be sure to see the updating tutorial on underground gutter drainage .

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TIP: Make sure your downspout extension and connector fit together and on your gutter.

STEP 1: DIG A TRENCH

BEFORE digging, CALL 811 to have utility lines marked.

First, you need to dig a trench. We researched and found that the trench needs to be 10-12 inches deep with about a 2-inch slope.

The length is how long you want it but far enough away from the building. We decided we did not want less than 5 feet.

If you are using a tarp, box, or bucket, you will need it next to the trench to put your dirt in, and to make the re-filling process easier.

Now, start digging…(You do not have to go straight out from the downspout, it could be better to go at an angle but depends on your house.)

STEP 2: DISMANTLE OLD GUTTER SPOUT

Time to remove the old angle from the gutter/downspout. Use a drill to remove the old screws.

Now, remove the angle connector.

STEP 3: CONNECT NEW EXTENSION TO GUTTER

Put your downspout extension and connector together before placing on your gutter.

Now, carefully screw them into place.

Grab your sheet metal screws (I found them in the gutter section at our local hardware store) and drill them into the connector and the gutter.

TIP: We found it was easier to drill a hole through the plastic connector and then screw on.

After you have attached the connector with screws, you will need to put screws in the connector and extension to secure them.

And because my husband likes to make sure it was never coming off, we placed 3 screws in each section but you would be fine with 2.

STEP 4: ADJUST THE DOWNSPOUT INTO THE TRENCH

Next, push the downspout into the trench and cut to the length of the trench using a razor blade.

SIDE NOTE: At this point, you should place some type of emitter. We did not do this in this tutorial but in our underground gutter drainage post, we did. The emitter allows access so the pipe can be cleaned out at a later date if needed.