Why would gutter contractors drain downspouts uphill?
Contractors sometimes route downspouts uphill or onto sloping walkways toward the house, causing water to pool against the foundation. This mistake leaves homeowners dealing with persistent water accumulation and foundation issues.
Core Friction Pattern
Analysis of 2 peer accounts across online developer and community forums reveals that “Why would gutter contractors drain downspouts uphill?” repeatedly surfaces due to edge-case mismatches between standard defaults and real-world environments. Standard troubleshooting frequently falls short, compelling practitioners to develop custom workarounds.
+4 alternative community-tested workarounds cataloged below.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Why would gutter contractors drain downspouts uphill?
- 1Moving the downspout to the downhill side of the gutter.Did this help you?
- 2Running the water into a buried pipe that carries it around the house to a lower spot.Did this help you?
- 3Jackhammering out the old concrete, regrading the soil, and pouring a new sloped slabDid this help you?
- 4Replacing the concrete with gravel and a waterproof membraneDid this help you?
- 5Using slab lifting to raise and retip the existing concrete slabDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I'm looking at buying this house, and the concrete walkway along the side slopes toward the foundation. You can see where water has been collecting and moss is growing.”source ↗
“Just had gutter contractors come by because we’re having issues with water in our foundation- they took the downspouts and made it so they drain about a meter up the hill behind our house.”source ↗
“In my brain, that’ll just mean that the water will come right back down the hill & into our foundation.”source ↗
“Awesome - I kind of figured, I’m not sure why they did it this way. Pretty frustrating.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to route roof drainage without underground pipes
- 4How to design a residential drain pipe layout
- 4How to backfill an exterior foundation drain without trapping water
- 4How to bury downspouts in a flat yard with no slope
- 5Why does the drain snake keep coming out the other drain?
- 5Water seeping under foundation in heavy rain