How to Clean Up Sewage in a Crawl Space
By: 911 Water Damage Experts
One thing you may never have thought you’d be searching for online is “how to clean up sewage in a crawl space.” Because a broken sewer line in a crawl space is the last thing you probably want to be dealing with right now, but it’s something that happens more often than you might think.
If you have found yourself in this inconvenient situation, keep reading.
What Causes Sewage Trouble In Your Crawl Space?
Any number of things can lead you to have to clean up sewage in your crawl space. In almost all situations, though, a broken sewer line is to blame.
If your home is old, your sewer outlet pipes are at risk of rusting, leaking, and cracking. If your crawl space is under-insulated or not heated, it may also be at risk of freezing – then bursting.
If you or close neighbors have large trees, then they may also be to blame. Their roots can lead to blockages that eventually damage the pipes until they break.
In saying that, it’s not always your property that is to blame. Aging city infrastructure can cause pipes to back up and rupture.
Why It’s Important To Clean Up Sewage Immediately
Having a sewage leak in your crawl space may not seem like a big deal or at least one that requires immediate attention. After all, it’s affecting your living space, right? You may not realize but immediately cleaning up sewage is crucial.
It can release toxic fumes that may worsen the symptoms of people in your household suffering from respiratory conditions. Raw sewage odors can also lead to nausea, vomiting, and general discomfort.
Raw sewage in your crawl space also poses a significant risk to your health because the pathogens and parasites within it can enter your home.
The moisture can also lead to mold growth, with the spores entering your home and causing health issues.
Then there’s the fact that liquid sewage can severely degrade your property’s structural integrity. The sooner you take care of the problem, the safer your home and family can be. But how do you clean up sewage in a crawl space?
Follow these steps below.
1. Locate the Leak
Before entering your crawl space, make sure children and pets are secure in your home with supervision to stop them from following you. Locate the damaged pipes and repair them. If you cannot fix them yourself, contact experts immediately who can.
You may also be able to reduce the volume of toxic fumes entering your home by putting plastic sheets on the overhead joists.
2. Remove Dirty Water
We recommend leaving this step in the capable hands of an expert. Use a submersible pump to remove sewage and any standing water from the crawl space flooring. You may also be able to use a shop vac for minor spills.
3. Remove Sewage
Any solid sewage left behind after removing liquid can be taken care of with shovels and plastic bags.
Make sure you use heavy-duty plastic bags and seal them tightly once they are full. You can then take them to a licensed waste disposal facility.
4. Use Drying Equipment
After you have removed all the waste, you are likely left with a damp environment. Left in this condition, it may become a breeding ground for mold that affects the health of your loved ones.
Remove plastic sheeting you may have set up, and start using air moving and dehumidifying gear to dry out the space. This process may take several days or even more than a week.
5. Clear Out The Space
If you have used your crawl space for storage, it’s time to clear it out. If you have any non-porous items, you can clean them with a bleach and water solution.
However, if any porous items like fabric furniture and cardboard boxes were damaged by sewage, these will need to be packaged up and thrown away.
6. Make The Crawl Space Safe
You may have removed the waste and dried out your crawl space, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. It’s in your best interest to spread lime throughout the area and mix it into the soil.
Lime can reduce further moisture in the crawl space while also speeding up the breaking down of organic materials. You may also find that lime in powder form discourages insects and rodents from venturing into the area.
7. Make Repairs
After a sewer pipe cracks or breaks, leading to sewage in a crawl space, you likely need to make some repairs. These could be to the pipes themselves or to the building materials surrounding them that were damaged by the sewage.
You may need to inspect wood joists for rot, remove mold with the help of a mold restoration company, and improve the ventilation of the space. These are all things that can be imperative for the health and safety of your family going forward.
8. Get Rid Of Smells
Even after taking these seven steps above, you may notice that your crawl space still smells terrible. This will improve with time and ventilation upgrades, but you can do a few things to improve it.
You may like to spread line in the crawl space periodically, including a layer of baking soda. Activated charcoal can also be helpful for odor reduction.
I Don’t Want To Do Any Of This
Cleaning up sewage in a crawl space is no one’s idea of fun. Even though you are the homeowner, you may not want to be tasked with such a job. You may not even feel that you are up to it, either.
In that case, you can call sewage cleanup service providers. They can handle all parts of the process. You can also rely on mold restoration experts if the moisture from your sewage problem leads to unhealthy mold growth.
Whether you choose to handle the problem on your own or with the help of an expert, it’s essential to tackle the problem as soon as you identify it. Delays could end up impacting your family’s health and causing significant property damage.
If you have any questions about emergency sewage water removal and restoration call us anytime at 1-833-WE-DRY-IT 24/7/365 or chat with us in near real-time on our Facebook fan page.
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