Downspouts

[GinaC]

It's a handsome house. Why not just let the rain run off the roof? Is there a drainage issue in the back?

Eep! Just reading that scares me. My house only has gutters on the front, and I'm getting them put on all around. I do not want any chance of water hanging out near the foundation, even if the gutters do require maintenance.

My mother's 1960 house always had wet basement issues, so I am terrified of anything that could cause this to happen.

EDIT: And Paul, I was just admiring the little windows near your knee walls on the second floor. So cute!

[PaulJohnson]

Field stone foundation.
The antique portion of the basement gets a fair amount of water with gutters and downspouts. Without them it would be a mud pile.

Edit -
We love those windows and the louvered vent, too. I have to do some repair work on the frames - actually all of the window frames.

[nhguy]

Field stone foundation.
The antique portion of the basement gets a fair amount of water with gutters and downspouts. Without them it would be a mud pile.

Edit -
We love those windows and the louvered vent, too. I have to do some repair work on the frames - actually all of the window frames.

When we did a moisture mitigation project at my former historical society we dug out seven feet from the foundation. Then added crushed stone and sand laid an rubber membrane crushed stone to the drip line the soil and grass. The membrane extended five feet from the basement. We had no water in the basement after that. The building has no gutters. It does limit the amount of plants near the building, but typically the original builders knew they held water and would cause rot in time. You have nice shrubs around you place so this maybe a bridge too far. The humidity stood at 99% before the project and 53% after. We had to run a dehumidifier, it made a world of difference to the building and the archived materials.

[PaulJohnson]

Thank you for the ideas.
I smiled when you said you dug out 7’ from the foundation.- That is the width of my front lawn before the stone wall. Like most antiques we are very close to the street. The majority of our 2 1/2 acres is on the side and backyard.

To combat my basement moisture we put in a sump pump and a high end dehumidifier where the antique foundation meets the poured concrete. I rarely venture over to the dirt side. My shop is on the pour concrete side. Since the install water has not been an issue and the humidity stays at 55%.

While I would have loved to build a barn for the shop, the sump sump and dehumidifier was far less expensive.

68275A98-C334-4FAB-99D2-BB8B198A9CB5.jpeg (717.14 KiB) Viewed 466 times

[Manalto]

Field stone foundation.
The antique portion of the basement gets a fair amount of water with gutters and downspouts. Without them it would be a mud pile.

Paul, I didn't mean to be glib with my suggestion of eliminating gutters. I should have known you couldn't consider that option or you would have. It was your photo showing what appears to be a slope down to the street that prompted my hasty response. Now I know, à la Paul Harvey, the rest of the story.

An architect friend has a house about the age of yours on a low, flat piece of property. For years, I've been following his ongoing efforts to keep his cellar dry. It looked like he had solved the problem and then last year his new next-door neighbor, whose house sits on land ever-so-slightly higher than his, cut down several huge trees along the property line despite my friend's pleas to leave them. It became apparent this spring how effective those trees were in mitigating the excess water problem. There are too many variables to consider for an accurate estimate, but it's said that a large oak tree can transpire (take up and release as vapor) 50 gallons of water a day.

[PaulJohnson]

50 gallons - I had no idea ... wow.

My preference would be to skip gutters, too. I love the clean look without them. I did not find your suggestion glib. No worries at all.