To avoid the water from collecting near your home where it can cause damage to the foundation or footing of the house and to keep the water out of your basement you can extend the downspouts to a set of drainage pipes that lead further away from your home.

The gutters are designed to channel the water off your roof after that the downspouts will channel the water away from your home. When the rainwater or water from melting snow and ice that gets carried off the roof by the downspout does not get channeled far enough away from your home, it will gather against the foundation and footings and it can eventually get into the crawlspace or basement.

Extending a downspout

Installing a couple of extended downspouts is a simple plumbing job that nearly any homeowner will be able to handle. First, you will need to buy a few parts and gather a few tools from your DIY toolbox. Placing the pipes that will extend a downspout is basically done in 3 easy steps.

1. dig the extension trench
   
2. place the extending pipe
   
3. fill up the trench to cover the pipe
   

4-inch PVC Pipe

The typical PVC pipe that is used for extending downspouts is 4-inch non-perforated Schedule 40 PVC pipe. Sometimes a particular plumbing job may require you to use a more flexible drainpipe to extend the downspout with, which is useful to easily get around obstacles.

Couplings and Fittings

Apart from the actual drain pipe, you will need a few PVC elbows, some T-fittings, Couplings, adapters and other fittings to properly install and connect the various sections of drainage pipe. And a can of PVC primer and PVC cement to keep the pipes, couplings and fittings in place.

External References

• How to Extend a Downspout (thisoldhouse.com)
• Extend Downspouts for Better Home Drainage (doityourself.com)