Unfortunately, houses don’t come with a ‘Check Engine’ light. If you don’t pay close attention to the flow of your house, problems can go unchecked until you’re ankle deep in sewage. Stay on top of everything and avoid potential (expensive!) disasters by keeping watch for these warning signs of a sewer system backup:
The toilet isn’t emptying properly.
A single flush should be enough to clear all waste from the toilet. If you often find yourself flushing two or three times to clear the toilet, you have a blockage in your drain lines that is just waiting to get a whole lot worse.
You’re standing in an inch or two of water when you take a shower.
Hair mixes with soap and grime to create some pretty gnarly blockages. Drain cleaners like Drano can help, but they also eat away at your plumbing and should not be used regularly. They’re also extremely harmful for humans and wildlife.
You smell sewage anywhere on your property.
If you get a strong, recurring whiff of sewage in a certain spot on your property, you may have a broken drain line that’s leaching sewage into the soil or under your foundation. These can be extraordinarily expensive problems to fix and early detection can save you a LOT of money.
Your toilet, sink or shower makes gurgling noises.
Blubs, blobs and glugs are a sign that you have a blockage preventing your water from flowing freely. Your plumbing should not talk back to you, but it’s saying “a sewer backup is on its way!”
There are random pools of water on your basement floor that have no obvious source
Could indicate a broken or damaged drain line under your concrete.
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