What to Do First After a Sewage Backup
Your first job isn't cleaning. It's keeping people safe and keeping the problem from spreading. Here's the order that makes sense, and what to leave alone.
Start with safety
Raw sewage can contain bacteria, viruses and parasites. Before you think about cleanup, think about who's exposed and what the water is touching.
Stay out of the water if
The water is near outlets, appliances, a furnace or the breaker panel. Don't wade through it to reach anything, and don't touch electrical equipment that's wet or sitting in water.
Stop adding water
Stop using toilets, sinks, showers, the dishwasher and the washing machine. Everything you run goes into the same line that's backing up, and it will come out at the lowest opening.
Keep people and pets away
Children, pets and anyone with a weakened immune system should stay out of the affected area. Close doors to limit spread, and don't track water through the rest of the house on shoes or paws.
If you must go in
Wear waterproof boots and gloves, and avoid touching your face. Wash your hands and forearms thoroughly afterward, and keep contaminated clothing and boots out of living areas. Anything that touched the water should be treated as contaminated until it's been cleaned.
Document before anything moves
Photograph or film the water, the drains or toilets it came from, and the damaged items, from as safe a distance as you can. Note when you found it. Records made before anything is moved are the most useful ones, and they help with any insurance claim. Documenting a backup for insurance explains what else to keep.
A short written timeline helps too: when you first noticed a smell or slow drain, when the water appeared and what you did next.
What not to do
- Don't run a household vacuum or fans in the contaminated area.
- Don't wash sewage down a floor drain.
- Don't mix bleach with other cleaners, since some combinations release toxic gas.
- Don't put wet, contaminated materials in finished living spaces.
- Don't assume clear-looking water is clean.
Can I clean it myself?
A small, contained spill on a hard surface is sometimes something homeowners handle with protective gear. A backup that reached carpet, drywall, insulation or a finished basement isn't in that category. Porous materials hold contamination you can't see, so they're normally removed, and what stays needs proper cleaning and drying.
The gap between what looks clean and what is clean is why most people call for help once anything porous is involved.
When to call for cleanup
Call if wastewater reached floors, walls or belongings, if it's still coming up, or if you aren't certain how far it spread. Emergency sewage cleanup explains what happens next. If it's only a smell with no water, sewage odor removal explains what to check first.
You can also read how a full cleanup runs on the basement page.
A simple order of operations
If you only remember one thing from this page, make it this sequence.
- Get people to safety. Gas, sparks, wet wiring or illness means leave and call 911.
- Stop water use. Every fixture in the building.
- Keep people and pets out of the affected area.
- Document from a safe distance, and write down the time.
- Call for cleanup, and tell your landlord or insurer if that applies.
- Wait for guidance before moving or throwing anything away.
How long the first hour really is
"First hour" is shorthand. What matters is the order, not the clock. Stopping water use takes a minute, and photographs take a few more. What people skip, and later wish they hadn't, is the note about when things happened. A backup discovered at 6 a.m. that started overnight is a different loss from one that began ten minutes ago, and both your cleanup team and your insurer will ask.
If you're not home when it happens
If a neighbor, tenant or building manager calls to tell you about a backup while you're away, ask them to stay out of the water and stop using fixtures, and get the address and unit number to the cleanup team by phone. Don't ask anyone to start cleaning. If the building has a main water shutoff that's reachable without walking through contamination, that's a reasonable thing to ask someone to close.
What happens after the cleanup
The space is cleaned and dried; see basement cleanup, drying and mold prevention and odor removal. Then it's worth working out why it happened. That might mean drain cleaning, a camera inspection or, if the public sewer was involved, following up with the city. The guide to why sewers back up in Lakewood explains how to tell.
Related
What Category 3 water means, and how a toilet overflow differs from a main-line backup. If you rent, rental and multi-unit cleanup covers what tenants and landlords usually do, and the FAQ answers shorter questions.
Need help now?
Call and tell us where the water is and whether it's still coming up.