Surface water downpipe question - Gutter drainage

[Nfoz]

Hello All.

I have a question regarding gutter drainage that I was hoping someone would be able to help with?

We have recently noticed that the downpipe, which is shared between us and our neighbour, was leaking. The water was making it as far down as the final join in the pipe and was seeping over the side. We cut out the pipe just under this and just above the ground level and the water made its way out onto our drive. Even though there were leaves in the gutter part we removed, we've made the assumption that the main blockage is in the pipe which is underground seeing as the water is sitting level with the top of this pipe.

We have just had our driveway done and had we had known about this before, we would have fixed the pipe before the works began.

My question is; Is it acceptable to have a new pipe running along the top of the drive level, but at the bottom of a raised flowerbed?
The driveway is made of parking grids with gravel, sand, a small layer of hardcore underneath and then soil. Will the water make its way through the raised flowerbed and into/under the gravel driveway? I will ensure that the end of the pipe is 5m away from the house but the driveway slants away from the house any way as we are on a hill.
The soil in both our front and back garden are very good with drainage. (Driveway was previously just soil on one side and soil and crazy paving on the other and in 10 years we have never had any problems with surface water, even with the blocked pipe).

I'd appreciate any answers/help that can be given.

Thanks in advance.

[seanandruby]

Ptry rodding back from IC, or manhole. Also see if it's flowing in them, could be blockage past manhole. Likelyhood is bend at base has failed.

[Tony McC]

If the driveway is simply cell-pavers filled with gravel, it's no big issue to install a shallow linear channel to take surface water from downspout to flower bed without having an exposed pipe at the surface.

But still, that first P-trap/rest bend at the base of the downspout wants investigating. It could be as simple as fitting a new bend and all would be back to how it should be.

[Nfoz]

Hi Both,

Thanks for the replies.

Seanandruby- Thanks! I will try this one evening this week and see if it helps.

Tony McC - There is around 3ft of solid concrete at the base of the house/downspout (assume this is part of the foundations). Am I okay to channel out part of this in order to install the shallow linear channel?

[seanandruby]

Best not to mess with founds'. Any photo's ?