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I was walking around my sister's new construction neighborhood the other day, and noticed all of the splash blocks below the gutters are "backwards." Meaning the opening is facing towards the house. Am I missing something here? Or are all the construction workers and yard workers these days don't even understand the point of a splash block?
A splash block is supposed to let water run AWAY from the house foundation, to avoid water rot issues for the foundation. Has anyone else seen this before? I attached a picture of what I'm talking about -the gutter splash blocks are put in this way for over 50% of the houses here. Take note, we live in NC where it's been raining a ton and very humid weather.
The only thing I have ever heard about that issue is that they are installed backwards when the yard is new to prevent erosion, then are supposed to be rotated back once the grass has established.
The photo shows what looks like new sod, though, so that theory may not apply.
I've read that splashblocks aren't the best solution anyway because 2' is the absolute minimum recommended extension and that's if there's already a good slope many splashblocks are 21-24" long. Three feet is better and 5 feet better yet if the slope is relatively flat.
The only thing I have ever heard about that issue is that they are installed backwards when the yard is new to prevent erosion, then are supposed to be rotated back once the grass has established.
The photo shows what looks like new sod, though, so that theory may not apply.
The photo is a stock photo from a website debating the direction of splash blocks. It also talks about turning them that direction to not upset newly planted seed, and then flipped back around once grass has been established.
As long as the end near the gutter is higher, they both should still function. I do notice that my splash blocks tend to float away a lot of mulch at the downstream end when positioned the way you'd think. I may try flipping them and see if it reduces this effect similar to the below pic
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