{"id":319,"date":"2017-07-26T13:30:44","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T13:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/portland-me-water-damage\/blog\/how-to-handle-sewage-backup-in-a-basement\/"},"modified":"2017-07-26T13:30:44","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T13:30:44","slug":"how-to-handle-sewage-backup-in-a-basement","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/blog\/how-to-handle-sewage-backup-in-a-basement\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Handle Sewage Backup in a Basement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aside from spending time and money to fix a sewage backup problem, sewage flooding also presents serious health hazards. Sewage contains contaminants like bacteria, fungi, parasites, or viruses, which makes dealing with the flooding yourself a health risk.<\/p>\n<p>Not only is a DIY job dangerous, but moisture may hide behind walls and further problems like mold growth can follow. Calling a professional restoration company is your best way to deal with a sewage flood in your basement. However, here\u2019s what you can do to mitigate the damage in your basement before the restoration team arrives:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Evacuate the flooded area.<\/strong> Sewage contaminants are hazardous to pets as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Turn off electrical power<\/strong> in the flooded area. Electrical wires or appliances might come in contact with standing water or wet materials.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If the main circuit breaker is in the basement, be careful. <\/strong>If you can\u2019t safely turn off the power, don\u2019t go near electrical devices.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wear protective clothing<\/strong> like a facemask, eyeglasses, gloves, and rubber boots before walking through sewage water.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shut off the valve for the main water line<\/strong> of your home. Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/blog\/how-shut-utilities-during-disaster\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">how to shut off utilities during a disaster<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Notify your insurance company<\/strong> about the sewage backup. Remember that sewer backups are not covered by standard homeowners insurance, unless you\u2019ve purchased extra endorsements for sewers and drains. Learn more about homeowners <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/blog\/does-my-homeowners-insurance-cover-water-damage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">insurance and water damage<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Notify your municipal authority<\/strong> or sewer department if your home is connected to a public sewer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t use the water supply system<\/strong> in your home until the backup problem is fixed \u2013 don\u2019t flush toilets or drain tubs and sinks.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Open windows or doors<\/strong> to let fresh air in and ventilate the area.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Add some chlorine bleach to the standing water<\/strong> to disinfect it a little.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Learn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/blog\/top-causes-basement-flooding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">top causes of basement flooding<\/a> to help prevent these disasters in the future. Additionally, check out seven <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/blog\/7-key-tips-keep-water-out-your-basement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">key tips to keep your basement dry<\/a> and avoid mold growth and structural problems. Contact your local PuroClean office for mold remediation services and water damage repair.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding: 5px 10px;border: 1px solid #cccccc;line-height: 20px;text-align: justify;background-color: #eeeeee\"><strong>PuroClean<\/strong>\u00a0is a leading commercial and residential restoration franchising company.\u00a0 Founded in 2001, the company offers fire and water cleanup and restoration services, mold mitigation and remediation, and biohazard cleanup and removal throughout the United States and Canada through its franchise network of 240 offices.\u00a0<a style=\"font-size: 13px\" href=\"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\">Learn more.<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aside from spending time and money to fix a sewage backup problem, sewage flooding also presents serious health hazards. Sewage contains contaminants like bacteria, fungi, parasites, or viruses, which makes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19006,"template":"","blog-category":[13],"class_list":["post-319","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","blog-category-water-restoration"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"blog-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puroclean.com\/fort-worth-tx-puroclean-keller-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog-category?post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}