7 Easy Steps in Installing a Landscape Pop-up Drain

Rainfall or stormwater can be of great help to your landscape.

For starters, it’s like having free watering to your plants and lawn grasses. Great right? As a result, you are cutting down your own water bill.

However, everything backfires when suddenly, you see a portion of your landscape eroded or in a very messy water puddle.

Read more: How to Achieve Better Landscape Drain

The downspout water seemed to have washed away some mulches of your garden beds and even from the foundation of the house! This does not bode well for your entire landscape.

And then you ask yourself, is there a middle ground where you can still maximize the use of rainfall without destroying your garden?

Well, you are in luck because the landscape pop-up drain made this possible.

What is a Pop-up Drain and How Does it Work?

Think of an entire system of drainage in your house, specifically one that involves your landscape.

This system is made from interconnected parts. Every single part or installation serves a specific function.

The most basic part, the one that every single house has, is a gutter drain or downspout.

The gutter is placed to collect rainwater from the roof and then is released through the downspout.

Typically, this vertical downspout is a pipe that ends towards your garden and landscape. This is where a problem can emanate from.

The continuous flow of water being released to the lawn or your garden bed has a high chance of eroding or washing away the mulch.

A worse thing that could happen is the integrity of your house’s foundation might also be affected.

And this is where the pop-up drain comes in. It is an extension or an additional part of your basic drainage system.

By using this, the water collected from your gutter is released to an area you can strategically choose like the lawn with grasses.

Furthermore, through a pop-up emitter, water is spread out almost equally in the entire space you wanted.

Basically, the only thing that will be seen visibly on the yard is the emitter itself. During heavy rainfall, the gutter which collects rainwater from the roof will release it down the downspout then into the drain pipe.

Through hydrostatic pressure made possible by the continuous flow of water, the lid of the pop-up drainage emitter opens.

This emitter then releases the water into your lawn or to wherever you placed it away from your plant boxes and house foundation.

Benefits and Advantages of Having a Pop-Up Drainage Emitter

Maintenance

Maintenance of the pop-up drain would not be much of a problem to you.

The lid or the visible body of the pop-up emitter that you see stays shut whenever there is water coming down from the downspout.

Therefore, debris such as leaves, grasses, soil, and stones would not be able to clog the drain.

Cheap Price and Accessibility

You don’t have to spend too much with this landscape pop-up drain.

The emitter alone can be as cheap as $10. Meanwhile, you have to spend a little more with the drainage pipe connected to this emitter.

Likewise, you can buy it anywhere. It is available in your local Home Depot or can be bought through online stores.

Installation

Having this drainage system installed is also quite easy if you are used to digging and landscaping.

Design

There are quite a few designs and colors of this that you can choose from. However, we would recommend something that will easily blend in your landscape or lawn.

Since the only thing that is visible here will be the emitter, you don’t have to worry about having an eyesore in your yard.

How to Install a Pop-up Drain and Emitter?

Surprisingly, the installation can be quite easy.

You can either do it alone or have some landscaping services do it for you.

Tapping the services of a professional landscaping company is needed if you think you might run into some issues in digging over your already polished garden.

1. Assess your gutter and downspout. If the downspout ends towards the house’s foundation or a garden bed, you are definitely in need of pop-up drainage.

2. Plan where you will place the drainage pipe and pop-up emitter. Logically, you would want it placed away from the house or probably have it placed somewhere on the grassy lawn. This is a very important step because digging will be a part of the process. You should take into consideration if you want to dig in a specific area of your landscape.

3. Surf the internet for additional tips. Chances are some blogs that have some “dos and don’ts” about this.

4. Find a store where you can purchase the materials needed. The basic materials needed here are the pop-up emitter, drainage pipe, downspout adapter, and some pea gravels. These are all available in online shops and physical stores.

5. Once these steps are all done, you may now proceed into doing the actual work. The trench you have to dig needs to be at least 1.5ft (45.72 cm) deep. The length of which will depend on you and the length of the drainage pipe you chose. The part where the emitter will be placed should be deeper than the rest of the trench as you will place some pea gravels here.

6. After digging, you may now place and lay the drainage pipe. The downspout connector will link your downspout and the drainage pipe. Then you may now connect the pop-up emitter.

7. Lastly, cover up the drainage pipe and the trench you dug with soil. Make sure that the lid of the emitter is above the ground and is free from debris.

When the next rainstorm hits, you don’t have to worry about soil erosion in your flower beds anymore.

Learn more about these tips by calling us at Big Easy Landscaping.