Project - Gutter / Downspout

I can't believe it! Finally a sunny day, where I find myself at home, able to photograph some of my latest home projects! Living in this house for a couple months now has made me realize how I take some of my abilities for granted. The biggest one being, the ability to find a solution to make things work better. The next would be actually getting up and seeing the solution through, rather than sitting idely by doing nothing. Yea, it may not be perfect but I do not let the challenge of doing something new get in my way or slow me down. In fact, it is this challenge that makes me want to do it even more. Now when we see a need for a new couch I first ask, "hmmm I wonder if I can make a couch myself?". 

Anyways this project is, rerouting a silly gutter/downspout that looked very odd. See the image below and look for where the gutter meets the 2 story wall of the house. Now you can see a 6 foot downspout that travels downward just before bending at a random angle and traveling another 20', 8' of that is projecting into the yard. 

I didn't feel like mowing around it every week or watching people nearly trip over it when they came to visit. Instead I spent about $10 and a half an hour to fix the problem.

You now may notice the large white atrocity is now gone, but where does the water go?

A simple reroute to a lower nearby gutter takes care of this problem. I had about 26' of straight section to use and a couple used elbows but I did have to buy an elbo to make the transition from the gutter.

The roof that I was redirecting is minimal and I did not feel worried about adding its water to the other gutter. The gutter on the higher roof was relatively flat and all I had to do was open up a hole at the opposite end and plug the other side.

The light aluminum of the gutters was as easy to work with as a heavy sheet of paper. I marked out where I wanted the downspout to exit the gutter and made a mark equal to the size of the transition piece I picked up at lowes. Then I drilled a hole through the gutter and used a saw and plyers to literally tear a opening for the piece to sit in. I picked up a small tube of sealant for aluminum and thoroughly applied a bead around all the connector pieces. To ensure the downspouts didn't pull apart with a heavy rain or through potential ice formation, I put a few small screws through where the pieces connected. 

Now I have about 22' of left over downspout for my rainbarrel project!