How To Deal with Sewer Backup and Toilet Overflow!

It was a beautiful day and also Anne's first day off in two weeks. Anne sat down on her couch with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in her hand. Just as she was about to lift the cup to her lips for that first-cup-of-coffee satisfaction, she heard a startling loud noise. A threatening rumble appeared to be coming from the bathroom that was down the hall. She looked towards the noise and then it stopped. Relieved, Anne went back to her coffee and then, the unexpected happened! A rumble followed by more rumbles followed by an enormous explosion of sewage bursting through the toilet at an unbelievable speed. Before Anne could even put her coffee down, the brown water was flooding her entire bathroom, hallway and was headed to her bathroom. Anne didn't know what to do! The toilet seemed possessed! She quickly rushed to grab all of her towels, first concentrating on building a wall to her bedroom to prevent further damage. Rumbling, flooding, exploding and poor unsuspecting Anne scurrying around, completely freaked out!

And then, it stopped.

Although she was relieved, Anne's day was ruined. How would she ever clean up this mess? She stood in a couple inches of sewer water, disgusted and overwhelmed. What could she do except start to clean up? She fetched a pair of rubber gloves and a pail. She started to soak up the water and wring it out into the bucket. Anne was able to work quickly and gather up most of the wetness with the towels that she owned when all of a sudden, IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

Rumbling, explosion, brown sewer water and sewage everywhere!!!

Lucky for Anne, it did not happen again after the second time. Unfortunately, she had run our of towels by this point. Anne immediately called Advanced Restoration, Inc. for help and they sent out a crew to repair the situation. The crew cleaned the area and thoroughly disinfected it for Anne. Though obvious, it is important to note that sewer water is highly contaminated and needs to be taken care of appropriately. In addition to cleaning, they had to repair the damage that had caused the sewer damage in the first place. After some crafty plumbing magic, the crew was able to discern that two main things had caused the backup. First off, Anne's home was surrounded by huge trees and a tree root down the street had penetrated the sewer pipe leading to Anne's bathroom. Furthermore, there was a blockage being caused by several non-toilet paper items, including feminine hygiene products. It was safe to say that the blockage had been created over a length of time and was contributed to by several homes in the area.

So, how can you avoid a situation like Anne's? If you have large trees in the area, you have to be extra careful. A visit from a plumber or restoration company may provide you with some insight as to the health of your pipes. The single best thing you can do to avoid toilet overflow, back ups or sewer damage is to not put anything in the toilet except toilet paper. Just because it says "flushable" doesn't mean it can get past a root obstruction in the sewer line.

Anne, thank you for being a great customer. We hope you can get a good night's sleep again.

Thanks to Kris for this great inquiry on toilet backflow:

Dear 1-800-DRY-ME-OUT:

Is there anything one can do to limit the possibility of a toilet backup after one has already occurred?

One of my bathrooms has back flowed so I barely use it but I have guests in from out of town Tues to Thur next week and I am worried about them using it. When it back-flowed, I was able to stop it by turning off the water and plunging it.

Finally, when I turned the water back on, I didn't turn it up all the way - should I have?

Thanks so much! You are all the best!

Kris

Here is our response:

Hi Kris,

Thanks for your great question! I bet many people have the same question as you so if you don't mind; we'd like to post this to our blog.

Toilet backup is a common occurrence in homes, especially homes that are not new and especially vintage homes. Toilet backup will occur when there is a clog in the sewer drain pipe. As the toilet is used, toilet tissue and waste matter may collect somewhere along the sewer drain pipe. Over time, this blockage, coupled with grease, hair and other debris, may cause a slow drain that prevents the proper air flow through the line. When the plumbing line is unable to pull air from the outside, so that the water flows through the lines, the gurgling sound will occur. If the sewer line feeds into a septic tank, then gurgle and back up may indicate that a complete clog or overflow is about to occur. As the septic tank fills up, there is less room for air in the tank.

Kris, from your letter, may I assume you are on city sewer? Do you live in a single family home or apartment?

What you are describing sounds like a blockage to your main sewer line from that one toilet. The reasons can vary depending on your living quarters and include the reasons listed above. Another reason clogs occur in sewer lines is due to tree root intrusion.

In sum, there is nothing you can really do to prevent the toilet from backing up at home by yourself. Prevention comes in the form of calling a plumber or restoration company for an inspection. The sewage repair inspector can now put a camera and look down your pipes to see what the problem is. Just always be careful to work with a reputable company.

In the meantime, if you had a clog that you successfully dealt with and haven't had a problem since, you should be okay to have your guests use the toilet without problem. Regarding the water, yes, turn the water back on all the way to maximum. That has nothing to do with the clog issue. Also, whenever using a plunger, make sure your plunger is flanged (see here for example)

Finally, I would recommend calling someone to come and inspect the sewer pipe for further toilet clog prevention, peace of mind and because we don't want you to have water damage!

Hope that helps!

Thanks,

Josh
1-800-DRY-ME-OUT