Surface extensions
Rigid aluminum or PVC extensions carrying water six to ten feet out. Cheapest real fix there is.
The downside is they're in the way of a mower. Hinged extensions that flip up solve that and are worth the small extra.
Grade correction
The ground should fall away from the house about six inches over the first ten feet. On plenty of older St. Louis homes decades of settling and mulch buildup have reversed that.
No downspout solution works against a grade that runs back toward the wall.
Buried solid PVC
Trenched below the mower line, solid schedule-40 or SDR-35 PVC with a proper fall, out to daylight where the lot drops off.
We don't use corrugated black flex pipe. It crushes, it holds sediment in the corrugations, and it can't be rodded out cleanly. Solid pipe with a cleanout can be serviced for the life of the house.
Pop-up emitters
Where there's no daylight to run to, a buried line ends in a spring-loaded emitter set flush in the lawn. Water pressure lifts the lid; it closes when flow stops so it doesn't fill with debris.
It needs to be at a genuinely lower elevation than the downspout, and it needs somewhere for the water to go once it surfaces.
Dry wells
A gravel-filled pit or chamber that lets a volume of water soak away over hours. Useful on flat lots with no discharge point.
It has limits in clay soil, which is most of this region — clay percolates slowly, so a dry well here is a buffer more than a disposal. We size it accordingly and we're honest about what it will and won't handle.
Questions people ask
What's the best downspout drainage solution?
Whatever gets water past the backfill zone on your lot. Extensions on a graded lot, buried PVC on a flat one.
Should I use corrugated or solid pipe underground?
Solid. Corrugated crushes and traps sediment and can't be cleaned properly.
Do pop-up emitters work?
Yes, when the line has real fall and the emitter is at a genuinely lower point.
Do dry wells work in St. Louis clay?
Partially. Clay drains slowly, so a dry well buffers a storm rather than disposing of the water. We size for that reality.
Free estimate
We measure, we look at the fascia, and you get a number in writing.
Talk to a real St. Louis gutter company
Third generation, family-run since 1947. Somebody picks up, day or night.