The 10 Best Splash Blocks

For most downspouts, the Master Mark 30924 does the job for very little, and the box holds a pair. Each stone-pattern tray is molded from dense plastic, and its flared end fans water over the grass instead of drilling one hole. Master Mark has molded plastic in Minnesota since the 1960s, and the plastic shrugs off sun, chips and cracks. It's light, though, so a hard storm can shove it aside unless a rock or stake holds it.

Houses with downspouts on every corner can cover three at once with this Suncast SB24 set. The trays are a light taupe composite that sits quietly beside siding, gravel or mulch, and they need no anchors. Suncast, a big name in plastic yard gear, says the material resists chips and cracks. Each tray runs a little shorter than the name hints, and the light build can drift on bare soil in a downpour.

Recycled tire rubber gives the Rubberific Premium Rubber block enough heft to stay where you set it, even when a gutter is gushing. Rubber flexes rather than snapping in a hard freeze, and the gray stone texture looks natural beside a foundation. All of that rubber is recycled, and the block is produced in the U.S. You get just one per box, and a few have torn when a mower blade or shovel caught an edge.

Solid precast concrete makes the NuCast Precast Concrete block the one to buy once and forget. It won't blow away, float off in a flood or fade in the sun, and concrete like this often lasts for decades. It's cast in the U.S. and runs longer than the usual two-foot tray, which helps under a busy spout. The catch is the heft: moving it is a job for two people or a hand truck.

Gardeners who want the spout to look like part of the yard should see the Oakland Living Antique Bronze tray. It's cast aluminum with a bronze-tone coat, and a pond scene of a turtle, frogs and lily pads is pressed into the channel. Aluminum can't rust, and the coat is made to resist fading and chips. It's heavier than plastic, so it tends to stay put. The look costs several times what a plain plastic tray does.

Sloped, bare ground is where the Ogutter OG013 pair earns its spot, because each green tray has holes for the plastic stakes packed with it. Pinned down, the trays hold their line when a hard flow hits them, and the thick plastic is built not to bend or crack in rough weather. A gentle built-in tilt keeps water moving outward. The bright green can look odd against brick, and look-alike sets sell under several other names.

A four-pack of the EMSCO 2101-4 handles every corner of many houses in one order. The gray resin carries a granite texture that passes for stone from the street. EMSCO has made goods in America since the 1800s and is best known for plastic snow shovels, and it molds these trays in the U.S. too. They're light, and the maker doesn't give the width or weight, so measure the spot before you buy.

Lawns that get mowed right up to the house suit the Gutterworks Spiked Pad, a flat plastic fan that four metal spikes pin to the ground. It sits low enough to run a mower over, so there's nothing to drag aside each week. Gutterworks makes it in Iowa. It's a short pad rather than a channel, so it stops the stream from digging a hole but doesn't push water far from the wall.

A hand-painted gnome lounging on a hollow log makes the Design Toscano Stormy the Gnome a garden ornament first. The log slips over the end of a rectangular downspout, and rain pours out its front. It's cast from crushed stone and resin, with paint that resists fading. Round spouts and oversize ones won't fit, so check yours first. It aims water at one spot, so a few stones in front of it help.

Water gushes from the open mouth of the Wind & Weather Friendly Fish, a gray resin fish that slips over the bottom of a downspout. Every storm turns a plain drain into a small fountain, which suits a cottage garden or a kid's play area. The resin is made to stand up to the weather. It's a cap, not a tray, so it does nothing to spread water, and a plain block or stones under its mouth help.