Roofing, Gutters and Waterproofing - Buried drain pop-ups...do I need to worry about freezing?
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Skoorb
10-15-09, 05:51 PM
I live in Western NY. This summer I buried my gutters and they eject into pop-ups in the yard. These pop-ups have tiny holes at their elbow, the intent being that water drains slowly into the ground (since the drains are a 90 degree angle with the ground they hold water after a rain, naturally).
I have these pop-ups over gravel but they have already plugged up with grime, even just after a few months of use. So now after a rain--even days after a rain, basically no water drains out of these and they're holding a few gallons at the end of each one.
If this was to happen and then we had a week or two of freezing, they'd freeze solid. Is this going to crack the ends? And even if it doesn't crack them, I assume that if they did freeze at the end, temporarily blocking them, any subsequent rain would back all the way up to where the gutter goes in them.
If this is a legitimate worry, should I drill out their little weep holes to a much bigger size, thus increasing the "contact area" with their standing water and the ground so that it can soak into the ground faster? I'm not convinced that will do much good. I suppose I could manually drain them after every rain when it's winter-time but that seems a real chore and I'm positive my neighbors who have buried drains don't do that. I am not sure if they ever have freezing issues or not.
I have these pop-ups over gravel but they have already plugged up with grime, even just after a few months of use. So now after a rain--even days after a rain, basically no water drains out of these and they're holding a few gallons at the end of each one.
If this was to happen and then we had a week or two of freezing, they'd freeze solid. Is this going to crack the ends? And even if it doesn't crack them, I assume that if they did freeze at the end, temporarily blocking them, any subsequent rain would back all the way up to where the gutter goes in them.
If this is a legitimate worry, should I drill out their little weep holes to a much bigger size, thus increasing the "contact area" with their standing water and the ground so that it can soak into the ground faster? I'm not convinced that will do much good. I suppose I could manually drain them after every rain when it's winter-time but that seems a real chore and I'm positive my neighbors who have buried drains don't do that. I am not sure if they ever have freezing issues or not.