Common Causes of Sewer Backup on Residential Property

A sewer backup is caused by a clog in either the main sewage line for your city or in the private line that goes from your home into the main line, usually somewhere under the street in front of your home. When a line becomes blocked off the sewage has no choice but to reverse course and go back in the other direction. This kind of clog is almost always the cause of a sewer backup into a residential home.

You can be pretty sure that the problem lies within your own sewer line when your home is the only one in the area affected. If sewage comes back up through a toilet, sink, or other drain the cause is likely to be a clog at some point in your sewage line. The responsibility to fix the problem will be on you in this situation, since the city cannot fix clogs that are on your private property.

It is common for parents to laugh about small scale sewer backup problems that result from a small child flushing a hot wheel car or other small toy down the toilet. The clog in those cases is right there in the toilet and the water that floods the floor is almost always clean water without human waste. It is a rather simple problem to cleanup and many parents consider it just part of having children, but there are more serious sewer backup problems that can be caused human behavior that cannot be laughed away.

The most common causes of sewer backup into a residential home are items being flushed or washed down sinks and toilets which do not belong in the sewage system. Some people may not realize the hazardous consequences of their actions while others may feel it isn’t likely to happen in their home. The truth is sewer backup can happen anywhere, at any time, no matter who the person is or how careful they are. It can happen as the accidental result of something a child flushes down or even by teenagers who don’t understand the full impact of their actions.

Some of the items that often cause a sewer backup on private property may surprise you. Here is a short list of some random items often found.

*Underwear
*Baby Diapers
*Tampons
*Keys
*Cat Litter
*False Teeth
*Grease and Oils

Any item that can fit down a drain or toilet can cause a clog that brings sewage flooding into your home. How items like diapers end up flushed through a toilet can be difficult to imagine, but it does happen.

Grease and oil are among the most common causes of sewer backup into homes. Never rinse cooking grease down the kitchen sink because over time it will collect in your sewage line and harden off until you have at least a partial block. You will not even know this is happening until you have a sewer backup into the home.

Preventing a backup completely is not possible since it can happen in the main city line as a result of other people’s careless behaviors, but you can protect your own line and prevent it to a large degree.