Question
Hey Sean,

The existing patio in our house has a large number of depressed areas and holes. So we are going to relay. Our concern is that one of rain gutters empties directly on to it. (Unavoidable given the shape of the house).  The basement directly under that portion of the house is only a slab.  I was thinking about digging a deep hole and filling it with large rocks and running the gutter into that. This way the new patio does not get the run off puddle every time it rains. What do you think?

Thanks for your time.
Mike.


Answer
I like the idea. You could pull up your old patio and run a flexible drain pipe under it that turns up to intercept the end of the gutter.(cut off or remove the old elbow that diverts the water onto your patio...if you have one) Connect the other end of the pipe to your "dry well". But keep the dry well at least 10 feet from your house and patio. You should have a back up "pop up style drain that allows the water to flow onto your yard if the dry well over flows.
NDS has great line of products for this project and they are usually available at your local home store or landscape farm supply.

Cut and paste into your browser

http://www.ndspro.com/cms/index.php/6-DRAINAGE/POP-UP-EMITTERS/Detailed-product-...

http://www.ndspro.com/cms/index.php/6-DRAINAGE/FLO-WELL/Detailed-product-flyer.h...


Sean J Murphy, LA,ISA, LEED AP
Please check out my blogs and articles on landscape topics like this on my websites.
http://www.seanjmurphy.com
http://amenityarchitects.com