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How to Protect Your Family After a Sewage Backup

A sewage backup is a frightening moment in any home, and the first thought is usually for the family: the children, the pets, the older relatives, everyone who lives in the house. The water on the floor is not ordinary water, and the steps that protect a family after a backup are simple, but they need to be taken straight away, before anyone has had a chance to step in the water or touch anything it has reached.

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This guide sets out those steps in general terms: avoid contact with contaminated water, keep children and pets away, do not enter contaminated water, and call a professional. It gives no do-it-yourself advice, and no health advice beyond avoiding contact. The steps here are about keeping people away from the hazard while professional help is arranged.

Avoid contact with contaminated water

The first rule after a sewage backup is to avoid all contact with the water. Do not step in it, do not touch it, and do not let it touch your skin, your clothes, or anything you will handle later. Sewage carries bacteria and other contaminants that can cause illness, and contact with it is the main way that illness spreads after a backup. If you have already stepped in the water, wash your hands and any skin that touched it thoroughly with soap and clean water, and change any clothes that got wet.

Avoiding contact also means avoiding the things the water has touched. Do not handle belongings that have been in the water, do not move furniture out of the affected area yourself, and do not try to mop the water up, because mopping spreads it across the floor and into grout and skirting boards. If the water has reached a room that the family uses every day, such as a bathroom or a kitchen, keep that room closed off until a professional has dealt with it. The sewage cleanup page describes the professional response in general terms, and it carries the same message: avoid contact, and call a professional.

Keep children and pets away

Children and pets need particular care after a sewage backup, because they are more likely to come into contact with the water and less likely to understand the danger. A young child will walk into a room without thinking about what is on the floor, will touch the water, and will then touch their face, their toys, and their food. A pet will walk through the water, drink from it, and then walk through the rest of the house, spreading the contamination on its paws.

Keep children and pets out of the affected area entirely, and keep the door to that room closed. If the affected area is a room the family needs to pass through, find another route, even if it is less convenient. Move pet beds, food bowls, and toys out of the affected area if you can do so without stepping in the water, and wash any pet bedding or bowls that may have been splashed. If a child or a pet has come into contact with the water, wash the skin thoroughly with soap and clean water, and seek professional medical or veterinary guidance if you are concerned. This guide gives no health advice beyond avoiding contact, and any health concern should be taken to a medical professional.

How to Protect Your Family After a Sewage Backup — California water damage restoration guide

Do not enter contaminated water

Do not enter a room where sewage water is standing, and do not wade through it to reach something on the other side. The water can hide sharp debris under the surface, it can be deeper than it looks, and it can be in contact with electrical outlets, switches, or appliances. If water is near any electrical item, do not touch the item, do not step into the water to reach a switch, and do not try to shut off power from inside the flooded area. Stay out and call for help.

The same rule applies to basements and ground-floor rooms where the water has pooled. A room that looks like it has only a shallow layer of water on the floor can still be hazardous, because the contamination is not visible and the floor beneath the water may be slippery or damaged. If you need something from the affected room, wait for the professional, who has the protective equipment and the means to enter the area safely. No belonging is worth the risk of contact with sewage water, and no shortcut through a contaminated room is worth taking.

Call a professional

Calling a professional is the step that deals with the problem, and it should come as soon as the family is safe and the affected area is closed off. A professional visit covers the removal of the contaminated water, the removal of affected materials where necessary, cleaning, and drying, and it is done with protective equipment and with the contaminated materials handled so that they do not spread into clean areas. The methods used are still to be confirmed with the operator, so no specific method is promised here.

While you wait, keep the affected area closed, keep the family out of it, and do not try to start the cleanup yourself. Take a note of when the backup happened, which rooms were affected, and whether the water is still coming up, because those details help the professional judge the job. The water damage restoration service covers the wider repair in general terms once the cleanup and drying are done. Homeowners in water damage restoration in San Francisco and across California can use the same steps after any sewage backup: protect the family first, keep everyone out of the water, and call a professional.

After the professional leaves

After the professional leaves, the room should still be treated with care, because the work is not finished until the drying has been checked and the room is ready to use again. Keep the affected area closed off, keep children and pets out of it, and do not move furniture or belongings back into the room until the professional says it is ready. Air the home in the ordinary way, and keep the rooms that were not affected in normal use, but do not try to speed up the drying by opening windows onto damp weather, or by using household heaters in a way that has not been discussed with the professional.

Check the room again in the weeks that follow, and watch for the signs that point to moisture left behind: a musty smell, a damp patch that returns, or paint that starts to bubble. If the smell returns after the cleanup, that is a sign the source has not been dealt with, or that contamination remains in the materials, and it needs another professional look rather than air freshener or cleaning products. Keep a record of what happened, when the backup occurred, and what was done, because the record is useful for the next visit and for any insurance claim, and it costs nothing to keep.

Going forward, the habits that keep a home safer after a sewage backup are the same habits that keep any home safer: knowing where the shut-offs are, checking drains from time to time, and reporting a problem promptly when it appears. A smell that returns after the cleanup, a damp patch that comes back, or a drain that starts to run slowly are all signs worth following, because they point to a source that has not been dealt with, or to a drain that is still blocked. Do not mask a returning smell with air freshener, because that hides the sign without dealing with the cause, and it makes the problem harder to trace when it is finally investigated.

Key Takeaways

The first rule after a sewage backup is to avoid all contact with the water.
Children and pets need particular care after a sewage backup, because they are more likely to come into contact with the water and less likely to understand the danger.
Do not enter a room where sewage water is standing, and do not wade through it to reach something on the other side.
Calling a professional is the step that deals with the problem, and it should come as soon as the family is safe and the affected area is closed off.
After the professional leaves, the room should still be treated with care, because the work is not finished until the drying has been checked and the room is ready to use again.

Your Next Step

If this guide matches what you found at home, the next step is a visit — not a guess. Call and describe what you found, and the visit is arranged from what you describe. The Sewage Cleanup page explains what that service covers, and the Water Damage Restoration page explains what that service covers, and the services hub lists every service in one place.

Do not use a household vacuum on standing water while you wait, and if water is still coming in, turn off the shut-off valve for that fixture where you can reach it safely.

Keep the guides on this site bookmarked: the first guide, the signs guide, and the preparation guide cover the checks worth repeating — after moving in, and after bringing used fixtures home.

Water damage help is available across California. See water damage restoration in Indio Hills, CA for one local example, or find your town on the service areas page.