No, not for a heavy downpour, especially if you have clayey subsoils.

If you value your neighbors friendship, consider installing a small dry well. And you may even have a zoning problem with "water easement". This is a good time of the year to talk to landscapers about help for this project.

A landscape architect would be able to estimate the correct minimum size, and you may need to have some kind of overflow mechanism. But once it is in, you will not be able to see it. Consider it an upgrade to your house.

Thanks, both.

Beerbrew--what's the basis for your "no"? I'm not a hyrdologist, so I'm trying to figure out what's reasonable, also for if I divert.

tom-I'm probably going to put in some drainage pipes to move the water towards the front and back yards, which slope downhill as well. I'm not trying to be a jerk to my neighbor, but she started whining about the downspouts the day they were put up. I suspect a dry well would not really address the problem, because our house sits 2-3 feet above hers (hence the retaining wall), and dispersing the downspouts into the ground would likely cause just as much subsurface water problems as letting it soak in. (So far as I can tell water is not running along the surface).

FWIW, Washington DC is a "common enemy" state--that is, it's every person for themselves when it comes to water runoff.

dig a trench heading to the front or back yard, and install a drain line for the downspouts to run off that way. run a 6" or so PVC pipe in the trench and terminate your downspouts into the pipe. at some lower elevation simply leave the end of teh pipe sticking out the ground. you WILL get erosion around and below this, so you need to look into putting some big rocks there to slow the water and prevent this.

some people in my area even use the same pipe used for leach fields and put a layer of gravel a few inches deep in the trench. this way some of the water is shed before it reaches the end of the pipe.

BTW, at our other office the building next to us sat empty for several years. someone bought it and built a new building there and installed all their downspouts on our side. we would get 3-4" of water in our service bay after even a small rain! they quickly ran a drain line for this after gettign a letter from our attorney.

Maybe the downspouts can be relocated? I'm sure the gutter company wouldn't want to cause anyone grief.

My mom fueded with her neighbor for years about this kinda thing.
Life is too short. Please do what you can to keep the peace.

A one inch rain on a 400 square foot roof (20 feet by 20 feet) is approximately 33 cubic feet or about 250 gallons of water. On frozen ground, this will run right over the surface. Same thing for saturated ground.

You could wait for a hard rain and go out and have a look.

Just so I don't become the butt of a "bad neighbor" thread, I do plan to address the issue. My neighbor has been calling weekly to complain, even though we've had no heavy rain and I've told her that we'll address it when we finish construction and landscape in the spring.

I'll also look at the next heavy rain. After several lighter rains there is no apparent channeling of soil to suggest heavy run-off, and the ground is as wet (or dry) as everywhere else.

Though I am no professional in drainage issues, I would say this sounds like it could develop into a real problem for you. I think your neighbor has a very legitimate concern (there is only 6 FEET between the end of the gutters and her property line????), and you're pressing your luck when you say, "we've had no heavy rain and I've told her we'll address it when we finish construction." What if you DO get a heavy rain?

I think you should address this immediately, if not sooner.

I had the same problem - but I was on the other end. I bought a house where I was TOLD by the seller that there was a french drain in place between the neighbors house and the one I was buying. The first big rain proved that wrong. We don't have basements here in TX, so my house was flooded instead. 3 bedrooms and a bath on that side of the house had standing water.

The next weekend, my husband and I put in a french drain system. In this pic you can see my neighbors house (the higher one), their retaining wall, the new drain (designed like a creek bed) and my house is on the other side of the dry creek bed. Under the rock is a trench with landscape fabric and drain pipe and more rocks.

We've had some serious rain storms since I put it in and we have had absolutely no problems with it. It probably cost us about $300 in materials and a weekend worth of work, but we had no clue what we were doing. ;)
You might consider doing something similar with your landscaping. I've seen others here in TX simply design a small trench to take gutter run-off to the street. think like an extended downspout.

Running downspout drainage out to a drainage area via underground flexible plastic drainage line (4" or more, depending on the number of downspouts...) is very common in my area, and may even be code for new construction.

-Roger

eventfarm: That is really pretty. I might adapt something similar for my yard.

It was a lot of work, but really worth it. It also gave me a starting point in terms of designing my landscape. Nothing like a flooded bathroom to get you moving! :)

we did something very similar here, put a hand dug trench in the back yard, covered a portion with river rock, to allow for uphill runoff to enter. connected the downspouts into the same line and ran it around to the front yard, as mentioned earlier, needed to put some stone at the end of the pipe to breakup the flow, it knocks the grass down after a good storm but otherwise no damage. also, lots of clay in my yard.

I have two down spouts that need burried under ground. One is on the north side of the house and the other is on the south side of the house. My question is, #1 is it ok to run both into the same pipe? #2 Is flexable pip ok to use and how wide should the pipe be? #3 I live in Ohio so winters can get very cold, how deep should it be burried to escape the threat of freezing?

My contractor just sent me pictures of the new gutters on my beach house. The first thing I noticed is a drainpipe that empties right onto the property line (houses are close together), which is what lead me to this thread. It has to be addressed immediately. Sand is very easily dug for a trench, so it shouldn't be a big deal. My questions are similar to sue71754's - how deep, how wide, and is a flexible pipe ok? Also, can I have the pipe end in my front or back yard, far from the house? Contractor is concerned this can lead to a backup without a seepage pit. Would love some suggestions! Thanks in advance!

nicely done eventfarm. I loved the 'sock' that goes over the drainage pipe

to keep debris from clogging it up. don't have to use pantyhose for that

anymore.