When a sewer line is obstructed, the sewage that is thick and dark can be dangerous to your health. This sewer waste is extremely unclean, containing contaminants like bacteria, viruses and pathogens. All of these dangerous germs can pose a serious health danger and cause many illnesses if humans or animals suffer exposure. If it happens that you experience sewage backup on the property of your home or business, or a toilet backup in either location, repairing either one is of the highest priority. Having this dirty sewer waste in your home is not safe and should be removed quickly. Furthermore, to know what is causing the sewer obstruction may aid in stopping this potentially hazardous situation. To help you in managing sewage backups in your home or business, here’s a list of things that can help:

Sewage Backup Causes

  • Considerable Rainfall – Excess flooding can overwhelm your town or city’s storm sewer system. If this happens, the waste can expand into the attached sewer lines bringing your home or business in possible risk of water backflow. Growing rivers and streams, hurricanes and other relevant events can cause flood and sewage waters to blend and present serious health related problems. You should be immensely cautious when walking in this sort of water, and even stay cautious after the water recedes and dries up. It’s possible for the organic matter to turn aerosolized and respirable, meaning there’s a chance you could inhale it into your lungs. To stop contact or risk of breathing in these contaminants, appropriate PPE should be used at all times.
  • Roots from Trees – Trees can have long roots that grow into water or sewer pipes and crush or break them. Damage to pipes and a sewage backup can also be induced by tree roots that aren’t even on your premises. Be keenly aware of any tree roots that can reach your water and sewer pipes that lead to the main sewer line or septic system.
  • Old/Aging Sewer Pipes – Older and aging sewage structures are susceptible to crumbling and cracking, inducing sewer backups, sewer filled basements as well as entire home flooding. The older your area or dwelling may raise the chance of this type of catastrophe occurring.
  • Clogged and Blocked Drain Pipes – If your home or business’s main sewer pipes or drain pipes become clogged, sewage may back up inside the building. A good example is: if a single toilet causes a sewage backup, the lines connected to that toilet, or the main drain pipes of more toilets, will also become backed up.
  • Old and/or Damaged Lines – Aging sewage systems have a tendency to fail and crumble, leading to sewer water influx and flooded dwellings full of sewage. If your home or area is older, the probability is greater that you’ll experience impaired sewer lines than newer ones.
  • Heavy Rain – Heavy and rapid downpours can overwhelm your local storm sewer lines rapidly. If these public sewer lines can’t deal with excess rainfall, water can backup and progress into connected sewer lines. This can put your home or business at risk of backflow problems. Local flood waters from events like surging rivers and creeks, hurricanes, or any rainy weather events can cause clean water to mix with sewage water and other chemicals and contaminants that cause serious health difficulties. Use extreme carefulness when moving on foot in this type of waste, but also remain cautious once it dries. The dried organic waste can turn airborne and turn respirable. The right PPE needs to be worn at all times to prevent contact and risk inhaling polluted air.
  • Blocked/Clogged Sewer Lines – A clogged pipe or sewer line can cause sewage to back up into your home or business. If only one toilet becomes blocked, the sewer water backup can spread on to the sewer pipes and affect all linked toilets on that line.
  • Roots from Trees – Tree roots can be harmful to water and sewer pipes. The roots from large trees can make their way into and around the pipes and damage them excessively. If the roots around your property are not the culprit, roots from nearby trees can extend under property lines and harm your sewer pipes, causing a sewage complication. Be super aware of all tree roots that could affect your mainline sewer pipes and/or pipes leading to your septic tank.

PuroClean’s sewage cleaning and sanitation process in Lindenhurst, NY

Our cleaning and remediation procedures for Category 3 water (which describes sewer and contaminated water backup) according to the standards put in place by the IICRC industry are:

1. Ensuring safety for all employees and occupants by placing restrictions on site access to remediation personnel only in order to prevent health related occurrences.

2. Health and Safety survey and assessment of the workplace.

3. Ensure all remediation employees are supplied with and use the required personal protection equipment (PPE). This includes, but isn’t limited to the following:

  • Rubber boots with steel toes and shank
  • Full-face respirator
  • Full body suit protection
  • Nitrile and cut resistant gloves

4. Establish engineering controls, critical barriers if suitable to prevent cross-contamination.

5. Eliminating any and all probable safety risks if possible.

6. Disposal, removal of bulk sewage water, soil, and contaminates.

7. Removal of all contaminated porous and semi-porous materials that are not salvageable, which can be but are not limited to:

  • Carpet, rugs, pad, or underlayment
  • Padded and upholstered furniture
  • Drywall materials
  • Vinyl flooring and underlayment
  • Wooden flooring

8. Implement cleaning methods and use of EPA registered biocides and antimicrobials

9. Physical cleaning of all remaining structure material

10. It is suggested to hire a third party Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) for a safety clearance test to ensure the jobsite is returned to pre-loss state for health and safety.

11. All items and structure affected by the flooding to be dried and returned to pre-loss dry conditions

12. Post remediation cleansing of all equipment used

13. All demo materials removed from the building

For the Perfect Professional Lindenhurst, NY Sewage Cleanup Company, Call PuroClean Today!

PuroClean technicians utilize state-of-the-art equipment and cleaning processes to effectively restore and clean the unsound building materials and items from your house or business. If a sewage drain line backup from blockage is your problem, call our technicians for sewage removal and cleaning services.

We have proved time after time that our methods and our technicians are top quality, efficient, and work with care and compassion for all involved. PuroClean is your ideal damage restoration and cleaning firm and we pledge to do whatever needs to be done to rescue and restore all properties in the communities we serve.

*Not all PuroClean offices provide sewage cleanup and sanitation cleaning services.

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