Gwinnett & DeKalb County
Sewage Cleanup & Backup Restoration in Gwinnett County, GA
The one water job where the rule is not “dry it out.” Sewage is grossly contaminated from the first minute, so porous material is removed rather than saved, the area is worked under containment, and the waste has to be disposed of properly rather than put in a skip.
Before we get there: three things, and one big one
Sewage is the one situation where what you do in the first ten minutes genuinely changes the outcome.
- 1
Stop using water
The big one. Every flush, every sink, every washing-machine cycle adds to what is already backing up. If the line is blocked, water you send down it comes back up into the house. Tell everyone in the building.
- 2
Keep people and pets out
Close the door on the affected area. This is not a mess to walk through and inspect — and anything walked through it carries contamination into the rest of the house.
- 3
Do not run the HVAC
If a return or duct is anywhere near the affected area, the system will distribute what is in that air through the whole building. Switch it off.
- 4
Photograph from the doorway
You still need the evidence for the claim. Take it from outside the affected area rather than standing in it.
Why it backed up in the first place
Worth understanding, because the cause decides both who is responsible and whether it will happen again.
Tree roots in the lateral
The most common cause in older neighbourhoods here. Roots find a joint in the pipe, get in, and build a mat that catches everything else. Mature trees over clay-soil laterals is the classic Gwinnett setup.
Grease and wipes
Cooking fat congeals on the pipe wall and narrows it over years. “Flushable” wipes do not break down and catch on whatever is already there.
Municipal surcharge in heavy rain
When the public system is overwhelmed, the pressure has to go somewhere, and the lowest fixture in the lowest house on the line is often where it goes. This is why backups cluster after storms.
Collapsed or offset pipe
Older clay or cast-iron laterals crack and settle. A camera survey is the only way to tell this apart from a simple blockage, and it changes the repair completely.
Failed ejector or sump pump
Any fixture below the main sewer line depends on a pump. When it fails, the basement bathroom is where it shows.
Something in the line
Occasionally exactly what it sounds like. A camera finds it, and it is the cheapest of these to fix.
How a sewage job is actually run
The sequence is different from every other water job on this site, and the differences are all about containing what is there rather than saving it.
- 1
Protective equipment and containment
Suits, gloves, boots and respiratory protection before anyone enters, and the area sealed off with negative air pressure so nothing migrates into clean parts of the building.
- 2
Extraction and solids removal
Liquid out first, then the solids and debris. Dedicated equipment that is not the same kit used on clean-water jobs.
- 3
Controlled removal of porous material
Carpet and pad, wet drywall cut above the contamination line, insulation, particleboard, anything soft. Bagged inside the containment and inventoried as it goes.
- 4
Clean and disinfect what stays
Every remaining surface washed and treated, including the framing behind what came out. This is the step that decides whether the smell goes.
- 5
Dry, verify, then rebuild
Structural drying to a documented standard, a final check, and only then does anything get closed back up.
On disposal: contaminated material from a sewage job is not ordinary construction waste and is not going in a skip on your driveway. It is bagged at the source, carried out sealed, and taken to a facility that will take it. Anyone who does not mention this part has probably not thought about it.
What can be saved, honestly
Less than on a clean-water job, and pretending otherwise does nobody any favours. The dividing line is porosity.
Cleanable and stays
- Tile, sealed concrete, glass, metal, hard plastics
- Solid timber framing, once cleaned and dried
- Finished hardwood, sometimes, depending on how long it sat and whether it reached the subfloor
- Non-porous contents — crockery, tools, sealed containers
Comes out, no exceptions
- Carpet and pad
- Drywall below the contamination line, and the insulation behind it
- Particleboard, MDF and laminate substrate
- Upholstered furniture and mattresses that were in it
- Food, and anything stored in packaging that was touched
- Toys and soft furnishings from the affected area
Genuinely irreplaceable items are a different conversation — some can be professionally decontaminated rather than discarded. That is covered under contents restoration, and it is worth asking before anything sentimental is thrown out.
The insurance question is different here
Sewer backup is usually its own endorsement
Many standard homeowners policies exclude backup through drains and sewers unless a specific endorsement was added. It is a common gap, and people usually discover it on the worst possible day.
It is not the same as flood cover
Backup cover and flood cover are separate things and neither implies the other. Heavy rain can trigger both at once, which is where claims get complicated — see flood damage restoration.
If it came from the public line
Responsibility may sit with the utility rather than with you, but that is decided case by case and usually needs the cause documented at the time. Photograph and record everything before cleanup starts.
Check before you need it
We are not your insurer and this is general information, not policy advice. But the endorsement is typically inexpensive, and reading your declarations page today costs nothing.
Where we do this work
Nine cities across Gwinnett and DeKalb County — see the full coverage area.
Questions about sewage backups
Is it safe to stay in the house?
Usually yes, if the affected area can be sealed off and it is not near bedrooms or the kitchen. A basement backup with the door shut and the HVAC off is manageable; a ground-floor one across a living area often is not. We will give you a straight answer when we see it, and we would rather say leave than have you tough it out.
Why does this always happen when it rains hard?
Because heavy rain gets into the public sewer system through cracked pipes and manholes and overwhelms its capacity. When the main surcharges, the pressure finds the lowest opening on the line — often a basement floor drain or a downstairs shower.
Can the carpet be cleaned instead of thrown out?
No. Carpet and pad that sewage reached come out. The contamination is inside the fibres and the backing, not on them, and no cleaning process returns it to a state anyone should put a child on. This is the one place we will not offer you a cheaper option.
Whose responsibility is the pipe?
Generally the section from the house to the connection point is the property owner’s and the public main is the utility’s, but where that line falls varies. If a camera survey shows the blockage is on the public side, that changes who pays — which is why the cause gets documented before anything is cleared.
How do I stop it happening again?
Depends on the cause. Root intrusion needs the line cleared and often relined; grease needs habits changed; a surcharge problem may need a backwater valve fitted. A camera survey tells you which of those you are dealing with, and it is worth doing before you pay for a repair.
How long will the smell last?
It should go when the contaminated material goes and the surfaces are disinfected and dried. A lingering smell after a completed job almost always means something porous was left in place or something is still wet — both worth raising immediately rather than living with.
Sewage has come up into the house. What should I do right now?
Keep people and pets out of the affected area, stop running water anywhere in the house so nothing adds to it, and switch the power to that area off at the breaker if you can reach it without standing in the water. Do not try to clean it yourself — this is contaminated water, and the risk is what is in it rather than how much of it there is. Photograph it from a distance for the claim, then call.
Stop running water and call.
This is the job where waiting until morning costs the most. Tell us what you are seeing and where, and we will tell you what to do while we are on the way.