The water’s way out.
A gutter only moves water sideways. The downspout gets it off the house — and where it lands decides the rest.
Size and placement
Enough drops, in the right places.
A long run with one downspout at the wrong end backs up before it can drain.
Drops belong where the roof sends water: the low end, under valleys, and often in more places than the house came with.
Standard is 2x3. A big roof draining onto a short run wants 3x4 and a bigger outlet.
That one change settles more overflow complaints than anything else we do.
Where it lands
Past the footing, not beside it.
- 01Off the foundation
An elbow and an extension that put the water out past the footing rather than against the wall.
- 02Away from the walk
So it is not splashing the path in July and icing it in January.
- 03Onto something
A splash block or a stone bed instead of bare soil that just washes into a trench.
- 04Somewhere you can see it
A drop you can check after a storm is a drop you will notice when it blocks.
Corner, drop, elbow, gone.
The last four feet are the part people skip, and the part that decides where the water actually ends up.
What it prevents
The cheap part of a foundation problem.
Water pooling against a wall finds a way in eventually: a damp basement corner, a settled walk, a bed that never dries.
Running a downspout four more feet out from the house is the cheapest thing anyone will ever do about that.
- Washed-out mulch or a trench under one corner of the house.
- A damp patch on an inside wall below a drop.
- Ice sheeting across a walk under a downspout in winter.
- Splash marks a foot up the siding.
Can you add downspouts to my existing gutters?
How far should the water go?
Can a downspout be moved to a less obvious corner?
Do bigger downspouts really help?
While we are there
Water sitting against the house?
Tell us which corner, and what it does in a heavy storm.
Get a quote
Ask about the drops.
Which corner, how many storeys, and where the water goes now.
- Call or text(703) 884-5479
- Based in81 Snyders Ln, Martinsburg, WV 25405
- Working acrossBerkeley & Jefferson County, WV — Martinsburg, Hedgesville, Inwood, Kearneysville, Shepherdstown, Charles Town and the towns between.