Gutters and more
This is a long one, so get comfy folks. We own a three story brownstone in BK. Like many of you, when we had tremendous amounts of rain, storm water used to back up through the main trap of the building and into our basement. I’m talking a LOT of water. Disgusting. We were told…
This is a long one, so get comfy folks. We own a three story brownstone in BK. Like many of you, when we had tremendous amounts of rain, storm water used to back up through the main trap of the building and into our basement. I’m talking a LOT of water. Disgusting. We were told that the location of our building at the intersection of several storm drains was to blame. Our neighbors have similar problems. At the advice of several plumbers, we installed a check valve in the waste line. Thankfully, no more storm water in the basement. However, where am I supposed to send the roof water? Currently, the downspout is improperly rigged to direct all the water from the roof onto the back patio from where it drains, slowly, into the waste line that runs under the building. When we get a lot of rain, the patio floods and water leaks in through the basement door. There is also a small extension off the first floor and honestly. I’m not sure where that roof water goes. There is a small drain on this roof that I suspect hooks up to the waste line somewhere inside the building. The real dilemma is, if the check valve is engaged, temporarily blocking water from coming in or out of the building, what is the best way to deal with the volume of water coming off the roof? Is it possible to create a system where it drains into the waste line but can be diverted into the yard if that line is full? I know a few other people on the forum have confronted this problem. What was your ultimate solution?
We’d appreciate your advice.
A green roof is our next step. The extra run-off has not been more than our garden can handle, even when we only had one barrel.
Perhaps too expensive, but installing a green roof will dramatically cut down your storm runoff – the plants and growing medium soak up the water which takes a longer time to leach into the drainpipe, net of plant usage and evaporation.
1 inch of rain on a 1,000 square feet roof yields 623 gallons of water.
18′ X 40′ = 720 sq ft
(720/1000) * 623 gallons = 448 gallons of water per 1 inch rain.
mshook,
With 880 sq ft, your looking at almost 550 gallons per inch of rain. Your 2 barrels setup can only ‘handle’ 1/4 inch of rain. Anything more than 1/4″ and your dumping it back into the yard.
The overflow really should be connected back into the sewer line and should be 3 inches. I’ve seen many designs where the overflow is simple connected to a garden hose. That’s a flood waiting to happen.
I did a setup for a friend of the family that consisted of 4 60 gallon barrel connected in series for a total capacity of almost 240 gallons. They have a pretty large garden and wanted to harness the water for later use.
Here is a rough idea of what i’m talking about, http://www.aquabarrel.com/images/Double%20_Barrel_Kit/link_2barrelsIMG_0157.jpg
Hmmmm…. I would have to be at home to give you a real measurement, but my estimate would be: garage roof – 35’x 13′, house – 25′ x 17′, plus we don’t know if our neighbour’s roof also drains onto our garage (water collects and drains off the garage, and off the main roof down onto the same garage drain pipe). We have 2 60 gallon rain barrels, one of which was half full at the beginning of monday’s rain. At least with the overflow hose we are now able to direct whatever there is that the barrels can’t take. And the dog sure liked sticking her face in it!
Assuming my math is correct (Big Assumption):
18′ X 40′ = 103,680 square inches
103,680/6 inches per 1″ cube = 17,280 cubic inches
17,280 cubic inches ~ 75 gallons per 1 inch of rain.
Does this sound right?
Thanks for all the ideas everyone. To the above commenter ‘mshook’, may I ask how large your roof is? I’m interested in the rain barrel idea, but as our roof is pretty large, maybe 18′ x 40′, I wonder if the barrels will fill up in a matter of minutes and then the yard has to handle the rest. It already tends to be a bit soggy in the wet weather.
We used those pellets last year, but did see tons of larvae in the water. I did recently read that those pellets somehow inhibit the larvae from maturing, so maybe that was ok, but we thought they weren’t working. I did some more reading online and found that a layer of oil floating on top will prevent them, too, so we’re trying that now and we’ll see how it goes…. I also read that using those pellets in water you use for gardening may mean you kill friendly bug larvae (I think they are bacteria which eat larvae).
I keep mosquito tabs in my rain barrels, birdbath, etc.
I thought code was to not have the rain gutters go straight into the drain, because it does overflow the sewers during rains like we had the other night.
Also RE the rain barrels: I like this idea, but wonder what you do about mosquitoes throughout the summer. Is there a fix for that?