Are you going to get down and dirty doing this yourself or tell someone else what we told you? There's a difference in how to go about it.

@klem1, I'm running dangerously low on funds, so this will be me doing the dirty work :-/ Insurance paid to replace half of the gutters so the other half came out of pocket.

I'm disappointed that the gutter company left pipes just laying on the ground, it's just going to wash out the mulch the next time it rains.

@Stax, I tried that today with no real success :-( Tore my hands up doing it, too!

It turns out that the majority of the clog is granules from the asphalt shingles. I had to reach in kind of backwards, but I scooped out handful after handful until I could reach in to my shoulder and couldn't get any more.

I pulled out tons of roots, too! Not a huge surprise considering that I've seen trees take root IN my gutters! LOL These yellow pine trees would literally grow in anything :-/ There's one root in there that I can feel, but can't get it to pull out.

But anyway. After I scooped out for as far as I could reach I tried the water hose (with and without a sprayer), but it just backed up and overflowed. It started out muddy so I let it go for awhile, then saw it was just washing out clear.

Then I tried a wet/dry vac to suck out what I could. Not much came out with it, though.

Then I tried forcing water in and sucking it out at the same time, with no real result.

Next I tried using a 4' bamboo garden stake to poke holes in the silt, but that didn't really do anything.

I tried my 230mph leaf blower to try to force things through, that didn't seem to do anything.

Kinda running out of ideas. Maybe a sewer jetter? I'm guessing that this will connect to any pressure washer:

https://www.amazon.com/Sewer-Jetter-Kit-200FT-Waterproof/dp/B0BKFXLRPP/

Forget chemicals,they cause more problems than they solve plus they are nasty. First step is doing as Stax suggested with a water hose in all pipes which should give you some indication of which are clogged. While running water in pipes check for water coming out the terminal end you already located,multple drains might be interconnected. If water flows freely but doesn't exit the expose pipe,look for water bubbling up or wet ground in other areas. If some lines are clogged and hose doesn't unstop them try a Drain King Unclogger or similar. They come in sizes to fit all drains. If you own a pressure washer you can buy a jetter attachment from Amazon that works well for sewer lines. Good luck

If some lines are clogged and hose doesn't unstop them try a Drain King Unclogger or similar. They come in sizes to fit all drains. If you own a pressure washer you can buy a jetter attachment from Amazon that works well for sewer lines.

@klem1, I just now ordered both! Prime with free returns, so I'll try the Drain King first ($25), and if it works then I'll return the jetter ($112).

The Drain King is a pretty cool looking contraption, definitely something I'll want to keep on hand!

Drain King is way cool and something I recommend every homeowner buy a set of BEFORE they have a problem so they can unplug a drain in less time than it takes to call a plumber.

Good news and bad news!

Good news first: that Drain King is awesome! All I had to do was screw it onto the garden hose and push it in as far as it'd go, turn on the water, and in about 10 minutes the clog was clear :-D

Bad news: turns out that the drain is only about 6' long, so it just ends in dirt anyway. I figured that out when I saw water bubbling up under my stepping stones! LOL Well, I guess it could actually have just corroded away at the 6' point, but everything else in my house was really slapped together so probably not.

Plumbers would prefer Drain King was never invented. LOL All isn't lost,just clear soil from around end of drain and at least water doesn't pond next to foundation to cause foundation shifting.

I don't know if you saw my other thread, dealing with people that are supposed to be grinding stumps and grading the front lawn? If that ever gets done then I plan to rent a trencher to run lines for my sprinklers, and I can use that to run this drain line to the woods, too.

The drain end is currently buried under about a foot of soil, and is aimed at the roots of my tulip magnolia. Digging it out would be particularly ugly, and would really just wash the garden away every time it rained! So I'm going to have to run the line to a better location.

I'd honestly be tempted to leave it as-is, but the original gutters DID overflow all the time. I always thought it was due to the old gutters being too small (5", I think) and not leveled properly, but maybe the drains were filling up and THAT's why it was overflowing? Since I'll be renting the trencher, anyway, I think it's worth the cost of drain pipe and the time invested to just make sure it's all good.