Sewage is pooling near a drain, or a toilet has just sent up something that belonged in the pipes. What you do next matters less than doing it in a sensible order, and that order is laid out below.
For any sewage backup Pittsburgh homeowners face, the steps lean on what Pittsburgh Water, ALCOSAN, the CDC and the Pennsylvania Insurance Department publish. Where those sources say nothing, this page says nothing either.
Pittsburgh Water's instruction is to keep out of the contaminated area until a professional has assessed the damage, because raw sewage can cause stomach illness, skin infections or rashes. The CDC adds that children and pets should be kept away until cleanup is finished, and that anyone who must be in the room needs rubber boots, rubber gloves and goggles.
Electricity comes next. The CDC says to turn off power at the main breaker if wiring or equipment is wet or near water, and to call an electrician if reaching the panel means stepping into standing water. Pittsburgh Water separately warns against handling electrical equipment in wet areas.
Older houses sometimes have a lone toilet out in the open in the basement, and the story of the open basement toilet explains why that fixture is the one that overflows when a sewer backs up.
Households often ask whether to stay or go; what agencies say about occupying a house weighs children, pets and affected rooms.
Madison, Wisconsin's engineering department gives homeowners a blunt rule for a backup: stop all water use in the home. Pittsburgh Water's dispatchers have a related question, which is whether the backup happens when water is used inside the building. Noticing what was running when the trouble began gives you a useful answer.
Before any water appears, the plumbing often gives notice, and a list of early warnings from utilities separates a single slow drain from a pattern.
Inside the city limits, Pittsburgh Water provides wastewater conveyance to every property. Its Report an Issue page lists a sewage backup among the urgent sewer issues to phone in to emergency dispatch, not to send through the website form. The numbers sit on the authority's own pages and are left off here on purpose.
Before you call, gather four details, because they are what the dispatcher asks for:
Pittsburgh Water says it sends a crew to assess the situation, and the crew's first task is deciding whether the sewer main or the lateral is at fault.
Live in a borough or township instead? Then the order changes. ALCOSAN treats wastewater from 83 municipalities, yet its FAQ says the local provider handles basement backups and points residents to the public works department or sewer authority of their own municipality for reports.
While waiting for a crew, Pittsburgh Water suggests contacting neighbors to see whether they are having problems as well. Whatever you learn is worth passing along when the crew arrives.
If neighbors report the same trouble, the cause may be in the shared line or the weather, and a fault-by-location breakdown lays out the possibilities.
Utilities draw the line between public main and private lateral in different places, and a comparison of several utilities' rules shows how much they differ.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department tells homeowners to take photographs or video before any cleanup or repair, to contact the insurer as soon as possible, and to keep damaged property until the adjuster says it can go. Pittsburgh Water adds a timing point of its own: cleanup can start after the cause has been corrected and the sewage has drained off.
Old trees and old pipes share a lot of ground in some neighborhoods, and a mature sycamore that took down a line shows what roots can do to a lateral.
Carpet is where many cleanups stall; when a rug or fitted carpet can be saved summarizes the rules from health agencies.
Wondering how long the germs last? What the health agencies say about sewage bacteria explains why there is no safe waiting period.
If the backup arrived with a storm, the page on basement sewage after heavy rain covers that pattern. The wider story of why pipes spill is on the Pittsburgh sewage overflow page.
When sewage comes up through the tub rather than the floor, an explanation of the tub as the weak spot gives the reason and the cleanup order.
After standing sewage is out, what to do with the floor underneath depends on the material: sealed surfaces, concrete or wood.
Washing alone does not finish a cleanup; the disinfecting step, in sequence explains product labels, strengths and contact time.
Sewage Cleanup Crew, LLC passes homeowner requests to local cleanup contractors and does not send its own crew. A request never stands in for the report to the pipe owner described above. For the broader picture of how the referral works, see the site overview.
Prevention is mostly about habits in the kitchen, bathroom and yard; a short list of habits that help separates what homeowners control from what they do not.
