How to Clean Sewer Water Damage in Your Bloomington Home | Restoration 1 of Greater Minneapolis

What most people don’t know about water damage restoration in Bloomington is that it can be broken down into three categories. These categories range from clean water to black water damage. Black water is the most severe and can contain harmful bacteria, viruses and parasites due to its source. Frequently, black water damage is caused by a sewage backup.
Knowing how to clean sewage water damage in your home can protect you from all manner of diseases, infections, parasites, and illnesses of every category under the sun. The key to remember is that you should never clean sewage water yourself. It’s not a DIY repair job. You need IICRC-certified restoration specialists — that’s all.

What to Do After a Sewage Backup

Regardless of how your sewage backup emergency came to be, what to do after remains the same. First and foremost, safety should be your number one priority. You’ll notice a number of our tips here are focused on preventing illness and reducing property damage.

• Evacuate all children, pregnant women, seniors and pets from the area until the damage has been reversed and the room restored.
• Call your utility companies and alert them to the situation. Have them shut down the electricity, gas and water to the entire home for the time being.
• Open up the windows to the affected room to begin ventilating the area.
• Remove any dry, uncontaminated goods from the space immediately.
• Add a little bit of chlorine bleach to the standing water to help disinfect and prevent bacteria from spreading to other portions of the home.
• Call your insurance company and alert them to the damages. You’ll likely need pictures of the sewage water and backup as proof for your claim.

How to Clean a Sewage Backup

Again, your best bet when dealing with a sewage backup is to let the experts deal with the mess. After all, sewage contains bacteria, viruses and parasites. We cannot restate that enough.
If you absolutely must enter the affected room and start mitigating sewage damage, then here’s how to do so safely:

• Wear personal protective equipment (PPE) including gloves, boots, coveralls and a respirator. You want to avoid skin contact with raw sewage and contaminated water.
• Remove excess water using a pump or wet vacuum; avoid using a mop and bucket or old towels.
• Shovel and solid waste into a strong storage bag and dispose of the entire thing promptly.
• Remove sewage-contaminated items and materials and throw them in an appropriately marked location or dumpster.
• Dry the area as soon as possible to avoid the spread of contamination or mold growth in the home.

Again, we urge homeowners not to handle sewage backups themselves. Call Restoration 1 of Greater Minneapolis for 24-hour sewage cleanup and removal at 612-268-1961 today!

About The Author

David Tynes is the general manager of Restoration of Greater Minneapolis. David has years of experience in home and commercial restoration, and he is certified as a restoration professional by the IICRC.