Get your downspouts throwing water 4+ feet out
One-time · best done March–October
Why it matters
Your gutters can be spotless and still ruin your foundation if the downspouts fire all that roof water straight down at the base of the wall. The job isn't done until the water lands 4–6 feet away, moving away.
This card is the working end of your grading walk: grading tells you where water goes; this makes the biggest water source land somewhere harmless.
What skipping it costs
$1,200–$8,000
A single downspout moves hundreds of gallons per storm. Dumped at the corner of the house, that water works down the foundation wall on repeat — and a year or three later it's drainage correction at $1,200, or foundation and basement repair at $8,000+. The fix being this cheap is exactly why it gets skipped: nobody believes the $30 answer.
Two ways to get it done
Do it yourself
You'll need: Tin snips or hacksaw (sometimes), Screwdriver or drill with 1/4-inch hex bit, Downspout extensions, 4–6 ft per downspout (~$10–15 each), Or splash blocks (~$10) where an extension would cross a walkway, A few sheet-metal screws.
- Walk every downspout and look at the ground where it ends. Bare dirt splash crater, mud streaks, or a green algae stripe at the wall = that spout is doing damage.
- Attach extensions so each one discharges at least 4 feet out, aimed with the slope, not into a flower-bed dam or back at the neighbor's foundation (they'll mention it).
- Where an extension would cross a walkway or mower path, use a splash block, a hinged flip-up extension, or a roll-out sleeve instead.
- Screw extensions on with a sheet-metal screw — friction-fit ones end up in the shrubs by the second storm.
- During the next real rain, take a 5-minute umbrella walk and confirm each one is throwing water where you planned. Water finds the flaw in every theory.
Hire it out
$100–$350National fair range — local labor moves this number.
A gutter or handyman crew will extend every downspout for $100–$350 — fine value if ladders and hardware stores aren't your thing, and they'll spot crushed or disconnected spouts while they're at it.
Where to keep your hand on your wallet: this tiny job sits at the bottom of a very profitable escalation ladder — extensions, then buried drains, then French drains, then excavation-and-membrane. Each rung has its place, but each costs 10× the one before. Make them prove the cheap rung failed before you climb.
Ask the tech
- Where does each downspout discharge now, and where should it? Walk it with me.
- If you're quoting buried drain line: where does it daylight, and what happens when it clogs with roof grit?
Red flags you're being upsold
- A downspout question that becomes a French-drain quote. French drains solve groundwater problems; downspouts are a surface-water problem with a $15 solution. Exhaust the $15 fix first.
- Buried extensions with no cleanout and no visible daylight outlet — an invisible clogged pipe quietly returns all that water to your foundation.
Second opinion time: Any drainage proposal over $2,000 that started with water near the foundation — the escalation ladder from splash block to excavation has a lot of profitable rungs, and most houses get off at the first one.
The call
DIY — it's hand-tight screws and plastic pipe. This is the best dollars-to-damage-prevented ratio anywhere on your house.