This page carries no price list, and that is deliberate. None of the sources used for this page publishes a figure for a sewage cleanup job, so any number here would be invented.
What public sources do publish is a set of factors that push sewage cleanup cost up or down. Knowing them lets you ask better questions of whoever looks at your basement.
The CDC divides the house into things that can be washed and things that cannot. Hard surfaces such as flooring, concrete, countertops and plumbing fixtures can be cleaned with hot water and detergent. Mattresses, carpeting, carpet padding, rugs, upholstered furniture, pillows, books and wall coverings are on its list of items to throw away if they cannot be cleaned or dried.
The Allegheny County Health Department's flood booklet agrees on carpets, saying most soaked floor coverings should be thrown away. Every item that moves from the clean pile to the discard pile is something to remove, haul and eventually replace.
Drywall and insulation contaminated by sewage or floodwater should be removed, says the CDC. A 2018 CDC document goes further and says the removal should include material a foot higher than the high water line. The county health department explains why: wallboard acts like a sponge, drawing water up above the flood level.
The CDC recommends drying a home within 24 to 48 hours if possible, and its rule for porous items is blunt: remove anything wet for more than 48 hours that cannot be thoroughly cleaned and dried. The county booklet notes that contractors with large fans and dehumidifiers can dry a house in a few days, while warning that drying could take several weeks. More days of equipment is one more line in the estimate.
Cleanup is one job and fixing the pipe is another. Pittsburgh Water answers for the main when that is the part at fault, while the lateral belongs to the property owner, and the owner handles cleanup after a heavy-rain backup that drains away. It adds that damages are generally not something it is liable for. When a lateral is the cause, repair of the pipe is a separate expense from the cleanup.
The Pennsylvania Insurance Department defines a deductible as the amount a policyholder pays up front before covered benefits are payable, and an endorsement as an added form that changes the base policy. Pittsburgh Water cautions that a homeowner's policy may not pay for sewage backup cleanup, and that this protection may have to be purchased on its own. See the page on sewage backup insurance for the details.
The steps for the first stretch are on the sewage backup guide. Because Sewage Cleanup Crew, LLC only refers homeowners, any estimate comes from the contractor you are matched with. An outline of that arrangement is in the homepage summary.
