I have an "L" shaped ranch -- the long part ot the L is the house and
the short part is the garage. The entire inside of the L is filled
with driveway. There is one downspout at each end of the L and the
space between runs about 80 feet. In spite of 6 inch gutters, the
downspouts cannot handle heavy rain and the water comes gushing over
the top of the gutters near the downspouts in heavy rain.

Is it possible to put two downspouts next to each other? Is there any
kind of "supersized" downspout I could use instead?

Thanks for your thoughts.

I assume you have the standard 2x3 size downspouts? There are larger
3x4" or 4x5" (can't remember which) commercial size downspouts, but
you'd also have to make sure that the hole going from the gutter down
into the downspout is larger also, otherwise it would still bottleneck.

mariepierre wrote:
I have an "L" shaped ranch -- the long part ot the L is the house and
the short part is the garage. The entire inside of the L is filled
with driveway. There is one downspout at each end of the L and the
space between runs about 80 feet. In spite of 6 inch gutters, the
downspouts cannot handle heavy rain and the water comes gushing over
the top of the gutters near the downspouts in heavy rain.

Is it possible to put two downspouts next to each other? Is there any
kind of "supersized" downspout I could use instead?

Thanks for your thoughts.

I'd bet that your downspouts are clogged or they run into a clogged or
inadequate drainage system.

If your downspouts and drainage systems are working properly, they
should be able to easily take as much water as your garden hose can
throw at them all day long. Look into a open-end drainage system that
drains into a safe area far away from your foundation if you don't
have such a system already.

Downspout strainers would help keep debris out of the drainage sysytem.

On 13 Jul 2006 07:43:25 -0700, "mariepierre"
wrote:

I have an "L" shaped ranch -- the long part ot the L is the house and
the short part is the garage. The entire inside of the L is filled
with driveway. There is one downspout at each end of the L and the
space between runs about 80 feet. In spite of 6 inch gutters, the
downspouts cannot handle heavy rain and the water comes gushing over
the top of the gutters near the downspouts in heavy rain.

Is it possible to put two downspouts next to each other? Is there any
kind of "supersized" downspout I could use instead?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Sure you can.

Or you can just increase the slope.

I'm reading your post that the gutter is highes at the mid point of he run,
and slopes downward 40 feet in each direction to a downspout at each
extreme. High point may not be in the exact middle, but that is probably a
close enough estmate. It may be 60 feet for the hudse and 20 feet for the
garage, with the high point at the apex of the "L".

I had a "Z" shape gutter run with one downspout at one end, with a 60 foot
run. The little middle leg connecting the It was a disaster regarding
runoff.

I had to first "Roto Rooter" out the pipe to the dry well, then replaced the
gutter entirely with two separate runs, and add d three downspouts. Also
had to pipe runoff from
downspouts to a second drywell. It wasn't cheap and was a pain to do, but
livimg here in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Willamette Valley) we get a
lot of rain concntrated from late October through April.

Now have two straight sections, with a downsout at each nd of each section,
all piped to dry wells.

I am the third owner of this house, lived here since 1980. House built in
1968.

I'd really like to gett my hands on the original builder an architect. I
have two separate nooses with their names on them.
--
Jim McLaughlin

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If you really need to reply directly, try:
jimdotmclaughlinatcomcastdotcom

And you know it is a dotnet not a dotcom
address.
"mariepierre" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have an "L" shaped ranch -- the long part ot the L is the house and
the short part is the garage. The entire inside of the L is filled
with driveway. There is one downspout at each end of the L and the
space between runs about 80 feet. In spite of 6 inch gutters, the
downspouts cannot handle heavy rain and the water comes gushing over
the top of the gutters near the downspouts in heavy rain.

Is it possible to put two downspouts next to each other? Is there any
kind of "supersized" downspout I could use instead?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Here's an article that can help you calculate an optimal drainage
setup for your gutter:

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuild...ges/h00046.asp

Good site. Nice data.

I got lucky with my project, gut instinct got me a result a little more
efficient than that obtained by using the formulas.

--
Jim McLaughlin

Reply address is deliberately munged.
If you really need to reply directly, try:
jimdotmclaughlinatcomcastdotcom

And you know it is a dotnet not a dotcom
address.

wrote:
dpb wrote:
wrote:


If your downspouts and drainage systems are working properly, they
should be able to easily take as much water as your garden hose can
throw at them all day long.

I'm willing to bet OP's will take several garden hoses' full output as
they are--that is absolutely nothing in total output as compared to a
heavy downpour.
...

I mentioned garden hose flow (with the word "easily") to suggest a
quick test. If a downspout can't take a garden hose flow for an
extended time, there is definitely a problem with it or with what it is
connected to. Start with the simple and easy issues first.

Well, that wasn't (and still isn't the slant I got when I read your
actual wording, but ok. There wasn't any indication in OP's post of
any problem except in really heavy downpours nor that there is anything
except a concrete driveway on which they empty.

I was simply making the point that even if the downspout can accept the
output of a garden hose (or two or three) continuously that really
doesn't mean it won't backup in a heavy downpour. Of course, if it is
plugged up and a garden hose _does_ show it, yes, that's a problem...

And, OP told us roughly how long the gutter run was but nothing about
the size of the roof it was draining so there's no way to estimate the
accumulation rate during a frog-strangler...