While mowing my lawn one day, I hit my concrete downspout pipe and notice that it had completely collapsed.  As I investigated by digging with a hand trowel, there wasn’t much of the pipe left and it was completely clogged with dirt.  A little unsure of how to proceed, I contemplated renting a power auger to try to clear the pipe.  This wouldn’t be a great solution since the pipe still needed to be replaced.  I could potentially slide a narrower pipe inside of the broken concrete one.  I checked the depth of another pipe on the same side of the house and determined I would need to go down 3-4 feet to hit the drain tile.  This could potentially open up a whole can of worms.  The gas line was also right there so I had to be careful.

I decided to continue to hand dig but also use my power washer and shop-vac to try to unclog the dirt from the broken pipe.  This combo actually worked pretty well.  I eventually hit something reddish in color thinking it was clay pipe.  It ended up being an orange plastic hockey puck which had probably been down there for 20 years.  Good thing I didn’t rent the auger.

With the path finally cleared, I needed to replace the pipe.  Having to choose between PVC and ABS, ABS was cheaper but not to be used outdoors since it degraded with sunlight.  I checked Lowes and found some inexpensive, corrugated drain pipe and fittings to adapt to both ends including one for the rectangular downspout.  It was surprising Home Depot didn’t carry this product.  The repair was finally completed after realigning the downspout and moving some utilities around.  I also took the opportunity to clear leaves and needles that were blocking the gutter.