Sewage Cleanup · Brooklyn
Basement sewage backups, toilet overflows, storm backups, we extract the Category 3 water, remove what cannot be saved, and decontaminate.
Overview
A sewage backup is Category 3 water, a biohazard carrying bacteria and viruses, and Brooklyn's older, combined sewer areas back up into basements and cellars every time a heavy rain overwhelms the system. Add aging sewer lines in prewar buildings, blocked main lines, and toilet overflows, and it hits brownstones, apartment buildings, and multi-family homes alike. Below-grade apartments get it worst. We extract it in protective gear, remove porous materials that cannot be saved, and decontaminate to a genuinely safe standard.
How We Decide
On most backups we cut the drywall a couple of feet above the highest water line and remove everything below it. That is a flood cut, and it is enough when the water came and went fast.
It is not enough when sewage sat for days. The moisture moves up the wall and into the air of the whole basement, so drywall that never touched the water can still read wet and start growing mold. We take readings up the full height of every wall before we decide where to cut. If the readings say the whole wall is wet, the whole wall comes out. More on basement sewage cleanup.
It costs more to remove a full wall. It costs a lot more to close up a wet one and open it again in two months.
A lot of Brooklyn housing is a hundred years old or close to it, and the plumbing in the basement often is too. Cast iron drain lines crack and rust through from the inside. Clay laterals out to the street let roots in at the joints. Many row houses and brownstones still have a house trap, a U-shaped trap on the main line near the front wall with two cleanout caps on top. When it clogs, every drain in the house backs up to the basement first.
We clean up what came out of the pipe, whether it is a sewer backup or a cracked line inside the house. For the pipe itself, you need a licensed plumber, and we tell you what we saw so they know where to look. Once the basement is clean and dry, we also rebuild the walls and floors that came out.
Most of Brooklyn runs on combined sewers, which carry rain and sewage in the same pipes. In a heavy downpour they fill up, and the overflow comes back up through the lowest drain it can find. Blocks near Gowanus, Red Hook, Canarsie, Gerritsen Beach, Sheepshead Bay and Coney Island see it most. If your basement floods with every big storm, a backwater valve may stop it. NYC DEP recommends them for homes that get sewer backups. That is a plumbing job with a permit, so have a licensed plumber look at your line. Until then, store things in bins on shelves and hold off on laundry and the dishwasher until the rain lets up.
Where We Work
From Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst to Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, Flatbush, Park Slope, East New York, Canarsie, Cypress Hills on the Queens line, and the Red Hook waterfront, we cover all of Brooklyn 24/7. See our full sewage cleanup process, or call 646-543-2242 any time.
Good to Know
Most backups trace to one of a few causes, and knowing which one you have shapes the fix. The usual culprits are a blocked or collapsed main sewer line, tree roots that have grown into an older clay or cast-iron lateral, a buildup of grease, wipes and other debris flushed or poured down the drain, or a combined sewer that gets overwhelmed during heavy rain and pushes waste back up through the lowest drains in the building. A single-fixture clog usually stays local; a main-line problem shows up as backups at several drains at once. We identify the source as part of the cleanup so the same backup does not happen again a month later.
Questions
Yes. Sewage is Category 3 water, a biohazard. It needs protective gear and proper decontamination, not a mop.
Yes. Older combined-sewer areas back up in storms. We clean and decontaminate it and can talk through ways to reduce the next one.
Extraction, removal and decontamination usually happen in the first day or two. Drying takes a few more days after that, depending on how wet the walls and framing are. We take readings daily and pull the equipment when the numbers say it is dry, not before.
Not always. If the water came and went quickly, a flood cut a couple of feet up is usually enough. If sewage sat for days and the humidity got into the walls, more has to come out. We decide with moisture readings, not guesswork.
Often yes, if the backup is contained to the basement and the rest of the house has working plumbing. We seal off the work area so contamination does not track upstairs. If the only bathroom is down there, plan to stay elsewhere for a few days.
Water, fire, mold, or sewage, one call starts the recovery. We show up fast and we do not leave until it is done right.
Call 646-543-2242 Request ServiceRequest Service
We'll call you right back, and give you a free estimate. For an active emergency, the fastest way to reach us is by phone, day or night.