Funny, I clicked on your profile because on my phone your avatar looked like Jeffrey Epstein, maybe I have pareidolia or Parepsteindolia . I wonder if more people are seeing Epsteins face in places.
I don't think the water would stay long enough for mosquitos to develop. It'll either get flushed with the next rain or it will dry out within a few days.
I could see the benefits of both ways. If you have enough slope you might want to install it this way to prevent erosion. If you don't have enough slope turn it around to stop it from draining into the foundation
It's to prevent soil erosion. Due to building height, the water will come down with enough force to go over the bump. Turning them "the right way" will quickly result in the soil eroding and in just a million years you'll have to put up with living in a Niagara Falls-like tourist destination.
This is very common, especially on multilevel buildings, and most of these comments don’t know.
Water moves fast especially from height. That facing like this is going to cause a natural ripple or break, preventing a single ravine being created. This is the better placement unless landing on concrete or tied into a system.
Edit. Just noticed this is on raw dirt. The contractor throwing these in is doing OP’s landlord a favor here.
One explanation for you. Water coming down the spout develops velocity. Putting it this way creates a baffle to slow it down. It slows down erosion, even on hard surfaces which wear away over time and can result in expensive repairs. I do this at my home because if I don’t, the water makes holes in the lawn and washes away the mulch.
Definitely the ones one I've seen. I had no idea this was bad until reading these comments.
I guess I've never really looked closely at it, but I see the problem now lol
When i lived in Indiana, i saw this a lot. I said it was absurd. They told me it helped with erosion....stopped water gushing out of the thing (WHAT?!?!).
The entire point of this thing is to move water away from the structure.
Apparently (just from what I've read online) it should be done *temporarily* when a house is built and the ground is still soft to prevent erosion. Once grass grows in and the soil is no longer unsteady, you're supposed to turn it back... I assume some people were just told "this is to help combat erosion" and left it without questioning it any further.
I was about to say how nice it is to see someone on reddit finally understanding how learning works, then theres the chud who responded to you earlier to even it out lmfao
It's not especially obvious from the original picture, but there's a lip on one end of the concrete splash guard and not the other. The way it's placed in the picture directs the water to drain back toward the foundation rather than away from the building as it should. It's rotated 180° in the wrong direction.
The guard you see has a wall across the back so water doesnt reverse and go behind the downspout and start seeping into the basement or around the foundation. It's to prevent erosion and other issues (leaking, flooding). Having the guard like this prevents erosion and splashing directly at the end of the downspout. But it does a lot worse. It needs to be turned around so the water is directed toward rhe angled side of the runway part of the guard and directs it away from the foundation.
The purpose of gutters and downspouts is to move water away from the buildings foundation. Still water sitting around the foundation can damage the concrete over time which will lead to serious structural issues. In the picture, it is placed backwards.
The secret is it doesnt matter. That's an erosion prevention tool rather than a water movement tool. Its not large enough to move water away from the house.
From what I understand from this and other comments: it’s not backwards. Ideally your foundation is on a slight slope so the water is still going to go downhill and away from the home. But even if not, the force from going down the pipe will send it away from the house anyway. The lip won’t stop that but can prevent the water from going quite so fast (except in extreme downpours), which better protects the soil beyond from erosion and damage.
That would explain why OP keeps seeing this “everywhere” - because he just doesn’t understand that it’s actually correct and there is a purpose to it. (Apparently there are some models designed not to have this lip, and that’s correct too. But it’s not the only way to handle drain output.)
It helps dissipate the torrent of water from a heavy rain. It cuts back on some of the erosion but obviously won’t stop it. They’re generally intended to be the other way with the opening downhill, but that why people do it as shown in the picture.
I understand that logic, I really do, but every* gutter contractor I’ve spoken with over the years has told me facing them away from the building is correct. For my own sanity I’ve also looked at random gutter installer websites that have information/instructions about them. I’m open to my mind being changed but having them face the building doesn’t make sense to me.
Yeah, that's the correct way by code. We just had a new house built, and all the downspouts were what I call "backwards", but that's the say they're supposed to be, to break the flow of the water, otherwise it washes away the soil at the end of the splash guard
If you turn it the opposite way, it doesn’t slow down the water and erodes the dirt in front of it. If you turn them around, they need gravel in front of them to prevent erosion, and apartments aren’t spending money on that if they won’t even spend the money to pipe drainage away from the building.
I do my down spouts coming from the 2nd story roof this way. Helps slow the water before it splashes out. The whole point is erosion control so yeah....
This is correct, and the foundation needs to be graded to slope away from the home. So this is a non issue and as I mention in another comment it is to reduce soil erosion, which would absolutely occur due to the lack of plant life I.e grass or whatever. There is nothing with roots to hold this soil in place.
I've never seen this, this way nor other way around. Is it like European/Central European thing to have gutters lead underground and directly to sewers? Or sometimes in gardens there might be optional opening to a barrel to keep water for plants? I'm from Czechia, btw.
Maybe on some old buildings, where there is drainage catch basin directly in front of it? IDK, never paid too much attention to this.
It's to slow down the flow of water and prevent erosion. It is still sloped away from the building,.but now has a speed bump for the water to slow it down
I used to build houses. This is how they are supposed to go. The idea is the lip at the end will fan out the water as opposed to it creating a channel for it to flow & over time erode a little creek
Could you link something that supports that? Every gutter splash guards/blocks manufacturer and seller I’ve seen has pictures with them facing away from the building.
In all fairness I’ve oversimplified a little bit. They’re called splash blocks. The placement depends on the material & the surrounding grade of the house. Steeper grades change how they should be installed. If you scroll down a little bit on this page it describes how to properly install a concrete splash block.
Edit: this information came from an old head I used to work with & was enforced by my project manager so it might be inaccurate & if it is i will concede immediately.
Could you link something that supports that? Every gutter splash guards/blocks manufacturer and seller I’ve seen has pictures with them facing away from the building.
Nah bro you’re not a dumbass, you just have a different life experience. I’m sure you could rattle off some facts about something that people in this comment thread have no clue about.
I just saw a YouTube video earlier today that did this. I've never seen it like that before either. The guy claims he did it backwards so that the water breaks on the bump and doesn't do as much damage to the soil/ mulch as it comes off.
Why do you suppose that might be? Could it be that if you place it the other way around you end up with a huge washout in the dirt at the end of the trough?
People do this to slow the water down so it doesn't erode a hole in the ground at the ends of them during hard rains. Water pooling 12" away in an eroded lake at the end of a splash block is almost as bad as water pooling right at your foundation, which the remediation of drip line erosion creating pooling water is the main reason gutters exist in the first place.
I understand the argument for keeping them this way so they disperse water better, but if you’re gonna put it this way you have to at least tilt it away from the building so the water doesn’t go straight down the foundation. At least that’s what I’d think, this can’t be good the way it’s currently placed
oddly enough, I've been in the AEC industry 20+ years, and almost every building I've worked on that had downspouts and splash blocks, has had them placed like that by the contractor. I also feel like that is backwards.
Could you link something that supports that? Every gutter splash guards/blocks manufacturer and seller I’ve seen has pictures with them facing away from the building.
They’re supposed to go that way. This way the water will come from the downspout and hit the stop at the end, them water deflects and flows away from the pan. This keeps the water from creating a stream where it flows.
Hey so you’re wrong. They do this to slow the flow so you’re not washing away soil during downpours. When it rains, the water moves over the lip without issue
The buildings where I live don't even have gutters. I luckily have a small gutter piece over my front door but it has no downspout it just has an open hole so the water gushes out of there like a waterfall.
I remember a video that some dude brought some tools and fixed a few bricks that were bothering him that were out of pattern on a sidewalk, at least that was the story I saw. I say flip them all around! I guarantee you that no one will notice, but at least you will feel better about it. I know I would haha
My house is rent has a drainage pipe randomly in the middle of the wall (apparently draining a low spot in the roof im told) that CONSTANTLY drains and when i moved in it had already made a nice drainage ditch leading under the (now crumbling) foundation.
My lease is almost up and I have renters insurance so bringing it up more than once was not my problem
I known that on my house they were installed like this on purpose to prevent erosion until the grass had grown in well. Then I was supposed to turn them around.
i know a place i looked at near me has them like that because they have underground drains to reroute water away from sidewalks and grassy areas and into a pond. it's not a closed gutter to ground system in case critters get in there, or at least that's what they said when i asked about it
Imagine that, every apartment complex you've lived at has had their splash blocks orient correctly. Yep, that lip is to slow the water flow down and prevent erosion. So it's not supposed to be tucked up behind the downspout, but at the end. Now that said, I drill holes in the bottom end of mine so that the water drains in a timely manner and no mosquito issues.
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u/BillMillerBBQ Jul 02 '26
Gotta have somewhere for the mosquitos to spawn.