We were called by the homeowner based on a referral from a local plumbing company. This particular situation was a backed up sewer line into a basement of a very nice home in the Broadmoor area. The homeowner told Duraclean they had had a sewer backup and we were requested to come over and clean it up. We knew that the basment was finished, had 2 bathrooms, a living area, an office and was also used as a storage area. The affected area was 'disasterous' according to the owner, but we have heard that before. Anytime a home is hit by a sewer backup, the mental stress is usually much larger than the physical situation. In this case, the homeowner was very realistic of the situation.

When Duraclean first entered the home and went to the affected basement area. This was our first view. You can see the wet, damaged area, spreading from the bathroom entrance. Unfortunately, before Duraclean arrived, other persons had walked in and out of the bathroom and through the front entrance, tracking the sewage from the bathroom thoughout the main walking areas of the house.

If you want to see larger pictures, right click the picture and select "View Image".

This bathroom was one of three points in the basement that sewage came in. The drain in the boiler room and the other bathroom also allowed sewage to back into the house.

Here is a view of the sewer particulate that made it up through the drain below the water heater.

As you can see, this area has a lot of contents that will have to be removed and cleaned if possible. Permeable items, such as the cardboard boxes, have soaked up the sewage like sponges and will have to be discarded. If the items inside the boxes can be saved, they will be cleaned and disinfected.

There were items here that could not be cleaned. Unfortunately, these items must be thrown away. While we appreciate the fond memories that go with certain items such as stuffed animals and scrapbooks, most Duraclean clients tell us that the smell of sewage, the mold and the memory of the sewer damage, usually outwiegh the the other memories and they throw the items out themselves.

Here is another area of the basement with the contents removed. You can see the outlines of where the boxes were on the floor. Obviously, this is before we have done any cleaning. We removed the contents and put the contaminated items in the garage while we put the clean contents in a lockable storage container in the driveway.

At this point, we can being the serious cleaning and drying protion of the full mitigation process. Becasue the sewage touched almost the entire floor of the basement, Duraclean will have to remove drywall, insulation and the carpet and padding. Nobody wants carpet and padding that has had sewage strained through it...

The removal of pourous material is imparitive to a clean environment. Here, the bottom 3 feet of insulation is removed from the concrete walls in the boiler room. Duraclean follows the IICRC standards which state that materials must be removed 24" away from the affected area. In this case, sewage water had soaked up or splashed up 12 inches from the floor.

In the pictures below, the process of drying the affected area, removing affected material and applying antimicrobial are shown. Removal of the drywall up 24 inches from the base boards is necessary to meet IICRC standards.

During the drying process, a white antimicrobial agent is sprayed on the affected area when the material cannot be removed such as on the framing and studs.

This was not an overnight process. We were fortunate in this situation that the homeowners left on vacation right after we started our work. Restoration work is never a cookie cutter operation as each home or business has new challenges, new layouts and new disaster situations Duraclean takes pride in handling each and every disaster with the utmost care and respect for the homes and homeowners.

If you have a similar situation, please call us immediately at (719) 499-0306 (our 24hr. EMERGENCY number) to get us on scene to help save your home, your belongings and start saving your peace of mind.

If you would like to see how the residence looks when we have everything back in place, please go to the next article.