How to Get Your Downspouts Ready for Winter

Are Your Downspouts Ready for Winter Weather?

I just want to remind everybody with winter bearing down on us before we know it, especially here in the north, you’ll want to inspect your outdoor drainage system.

1. Inspect Your Sump Discharge Line

You want to make sure that you’ve inspected your sump pump discharge line. Have a plumber come and run a camera through it. If you’re local in our area, call our office. We’ll run a camera through your sump line. I recommend doing it once every five years. If there’s iron ochre or mineral buildup in it, we can catch it, jet it out, before it ends up plugging the pipe solid. Once the mineral deposits get hard, it’ll become like concrete. We can’t jet it out once it becomes like concrete. So, every five years, make sure you inspect your sump pump discharge line.

2. Check All Your Downspouts

Now, you need to go around your home and check all your downspouts every year. Even the people that did their own downspouts, and I get it, you’re going, “All right, man, I’m already done. I took care of business. I got clean outs. It ran 25 feet away from my house.” Make sure whether it’s a popup, whether it’s a six-inch speedy basin, a 9 by  9, a 12 by 12, make sure the grass did not grow over it.

What’s going to happen if you don’t maintain those outlets for your roof runoff system, you’re going to end up with grass growing over the discharge and then when the water can’t outlet, it’ll just cascade over the gutter. You’ll actually end up with water in your basement because all that water off the rooftop is now just cascading down right along the foundation of your home. So, make that a routine. Every fall, check your downspouts, make sure that they’re able to outlet any water that’s coming off the roof.

Need Help Preparing Your Downspouts for Winter?

Again, get everything ready this winter. Make sure you’re protected. Make sure those downspouts have an outlet. and the grass didn’t grow over them, they didn’t get blocked. If you can’t find the outlet to your downspout, that right there tells you everything you need to know. You’re going to end up in trouble. So, you need to find that outlet or have somebody come run a camera through it or a utility tracker to track it or just plain have it redone.

If you’re local to the Michigan area, the French Drain Man team can inspect your sump line and downspouts and advise what needs to be done moving forward.

Call French Drain Man: 248-505-3065