Three Common Causes of Sewage Back Ups

One of the most unpleasant disasters home-owners can faces in the backup of a toilet or drain. With heavy rain or a clog in the sewer line, household sewage systems can become overloaded and backed up and can cause waste to be pushed back through the sewage line into the home through drains, toilets and even shower heads. The backup of sewers can cause severe health threats on human life and even on humans when they are indoors. Doing a sewage clean-up will make our surrounds much healthier.

Many homeowners that Sewage Cleaning technicians have worked with to remediate sewage system backups want to know exactly what can cause this horrendous scenario. Generally, sewer line backups are caused by one of the following issues in the city’s main sewer lines or your home’s sewer lines—or both:

• Blockage – Tree roots are the number one culprit when it comes to a sewer line backup in Australia. Roots can grow into pipes and create holes or cracks in them, or even wrap themselves around a sewer line. The more common culprits include figs and eucalyptus.
• Clogs – Clogs in your home’s drain pipes or the city’s main sewer line can cause a sewage backup, pushing waste that should flow into the public sewer system back into your home. Clogs can come from hair, an accumulation of cooking grease, or other solid materials that wastewater pipes are not meant to handle.
• Old or broken lines – Older homes in particular might experience deterioration of their drains and lines. When this happens, tree and shrub roots around the home can break or puncture pipes.

So what can you do to help to alleviate these common causes?

• Never wash cooking oil down the drain. Even if rinsed with hot water, grease solidifies once it cools and will accumulate in your drains, drain lines, or the main sewer lines, eventually causing a clog. Small food scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, old contact lenses, rocks, hair, or similar items should never be washed down the sink.
• Flush toilet paper only. The only items you should flush down your toilet are human waste and toilet paper, which is designed to disintegrate quickly. Even items such as facial tissue and feminine products should never be flushed. Other obvious no-nos are garbage, paper, paper towels, medicines and even flushable wipes. Flush toilet paper and human waste only.
• Replace your line with plastic pipes. Plastic piping, as opposed to clay or cast iron piping (used in older homes) has impervious joints that tree roots cannot penetrate.
• Install a backwater prevention valve. A backwater or backflow prevention valve allows sewage to go out, but not come back in. A plumber can check to see if your home has such a valve, and if not, can install this for you. Keep in mind that this will prevent backups originating from the main sewer line, but not from your own service line.

If you are faced with the unfortunate and messy problem of a sewage back up in your home, Sewage Cleaners Australia is here to help. Our certified and specialist trained technicians will quickly identify the problem, contain the contaminated area and place it under controlled air flow, take the necessary steps to remediate all damaged/contaminated structures in accordance with Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration standards.

Contact us today for an obligation-free chat and see how Australia’s #1 Sewage and Water Restoration Company can help you.