A professional sewage backup cleanup follows a set order: make the area safe, stop the source, extract the contaminated water, remove porous materials that can’t be cleaned, clean and disinfect everything that stays, dry the structure completely, and confirm it’s dry before anything is rebuilt. The sewage backup cleanup process is stricter than ordinary water damage work because sewage carries bacteria, viruses and other pathogens. Below is what each stage looks like and what you can expect to see in your home.
Before the crew arrives: what you should do first
Your job in the first hour is to keep people safe and keep the mess from spreading. Here’s the order:
- Stop using water. No flushing, no showers, no laundry or dishwasher. Every gallon you send down the drain may come right back up.
- Keep people and pets away from the affected area, especially children and anyone who is pregnant, older or has a weakened immune system.
- Turn off power to the area at the breaker if you can do it without stepping in the water. If the panel is in the wet area, leave it alone.
- Shut the HVAC off if return vents or ductwork are near the contaminated water, so you don’t spread odors and particles through the house.
- Close doors to the affected rooms and open windows in those rooms if weather allows.
- Take photos of the water, the drain or fixture it came from and the damaged items.
- Call a plumber and a sewage cleanup company. One clears the line, the other cleans the house.
Skip the mop and the household bleach for now. Spreading sewage around and mixing cleaning chemicals both make things worse.
Stages 1 and 2: Assessment, then gear and containment
Safety check and assessment
When technicians arrive, they start by walking the space. They’re looking for electrical hazards, structural concerns like sagging ceilings, and how far the water traveled. They’ll ask when it started and where it came from: a toilet, a floor drain, a tub, a basement shower.
They’ll also classify the water. Sewage is treated as the most contaminated category of water in industry standards. If you want the background on that, our post on the different categories of water damage explains how clean, gray and black water are handled differently. That classification drives every decision that follows, including what gets thrown out.
Moisture meters and sometimes a thermal camera help find water that wicked into walls or ran under flooring. Photos and readings get recorded at this stage, which helps with your insurance claim.
Protective gear and containment
You’ll see the crew suit up: gloves, boots, eye protection, respirators and often disposable coveralls. That isn’t for show. Sewage can contain bacteria, viruses and parasites, and the cleanup stirs things up.
If the affected area connects to the rest of the house, technicians typically build containment with plastic sheeting and may set up air scrubbers or negative air to keep contaminated air from drifting into clean rooms. They’ll set a path in and out so dirty boots aren’t tracked across your hallway.
Stage 3: Extraction and removing solids
Next comes the water itself. Truck-mounted or portable extractors pull out standing sewage, and solids are removed and bagged. This is the loudest part of the job and the part that makes the biggest visible difference fast.
Extraction isn’t the same as drying. The floor might look a lot better after this step, but carpet pad, drywall and wood are still holding contaminated water.
Stage 4: Tear-out of what can’t be cleaned
This is the stage homeowners find hardest to watch, so it helps to know why. Porous materials that soak up sewage can’t be reliably cleaned all the way through. Here’s what’s typically removed versus cleaned:
- Usually removed: carpet and carpet pad, drywall and insulation that the water wicked into (commonly cut a foot or two above the visible water line), upholstered furniture that got soaked, cardboard boxes and paper, particleboard cabinet bases, mattresses.
- Often cleaned and kept: tile, sealed concrete, solid wood framing, metal, glass, hard plastic, some solid wood furniture depending on exposure.
- Case by case: hardwood flooring, trim, solid wood cabinets and certain belongings. How long the sewage sat and how deep it soaked in make the difference.
It’s normal to feel like a lot is being thrown away. If you’re unsure about a specific item, ask. A good crew will explain why something can’t stay and will photograph it before it goes in the dumpster.
Stage 5: Cleaning and disinfecting
With the damaged materials out, every surface that’s staying gets cleaned first, because disinfectant doesn’t work well on surfaces still coated in grime. Technicians scrub framing, subfloor, concrete and any salvageable surfaces, then apply an antimicrobial or disinfectant product made for this work and follow its label directions, including how long it has to stay on the surface.
This is also when odor control starts. Most of the smell goes when the source materials leave the house, but air scrubbers and cleaning take care of a lot of what’s left.
Stages 6 and 7: Drying, final check and rebuilding
Drying the structure
Once things are clean, drying begins. Air movers push air across wet surfaces and dehumidifiers pull the moisture out of the air. In a basement or crawl space, this can take a while, especially in a humid Middle Tennessee summer when the air outside is already heavy. Technicians come back to take moisture readings and move equipment where it’s needed.
During this stretch, expect steady fan noise and a warm, dry feel in the work area. Keep the containment closed, keep kids and pets out, and don’t shut equipment off to get some quiet, even overnight. Turning it off sets the drying back.
Drying matters as much in a sewage job as it does in any other water loss. Leftover dampness invites mold, and you don’t want to close up walls on wet framing.
Confirming it’s dry, then putting it back
Before anything gets put back, the crew confirms materials are dry using moisture readings compared to unaffected areas. Some jobs also include a visual inspection and documentation that the area was cleaned. Then rebuilding can start: new insulation, drywall, paint, flooring and trim. We handle that through our reconstruction team so you’re not juggling separate contractors.
This is also the right time to think about keeping it from happening again. Depending on what the plumber found, that might mean a backwater valve on the main line, replacing a root-damaged section of sewer pipe, or simply changing habits: no wipes in the toilet (even ones labeled flushable), no grease down the kitchen sink, and a camera inspection every few years if you have an older line with big trees nearby. If your basement has a floor drain, ask whether a check valve or plug makes sense for your setup.
Two common ways backups happen around here
The basement floor drain during a heavy storm. Say a slow-moving spring storm sits over Sumner County and dumps rain for hours. The sewer system gets overloaded, and dirty water starts coming up through a basement floor drain. It spreads across a finished basement with carpet and drywall. In a case like that, the carpet and pad go, the lower drywall is cut out, and the slab is cleaned and disinfected before drying. A plumber may suggest a backwater valve to help prevent a repeat.
The main line clog in an older home. Now say you live in an older house with clay or cast-iron sewer pipe, and roots have been creeping into the joints for years. One morning the lowest toilet and tub start backing up when someone runs the washing machine. The spill is mostly on bathroom tile and a hallway rug. The tile can be cleaned and disinfected, the rug likely goes, and the baseboards and lower drywall get checked with a meter. The plumber’s camera finds the roots and the line gets cleared or repaired.
A quick checklist for homeowners during the process
- Keep a list of everything removed, with photos, for your claim
- Ask for copies of moisture readings and the scope of work
- Have the plumber tell you, in writing if possible, what caused the backup
- Don’t use the affected plumbing until the line is cleared and you’ve been told it’s okay
- Wash any clothes you wore in the area separately in hot water
- Wash hands well after touching anything from the affected area
- Check your policy for sewer or drain backup coverage, since it’s sometimes a separate endorsement
The CDC’s flood safety guidance also has good general advice about hygiene around contaminated water. For more on what sewage does to a house over time, see our earlier post on how sewage backup affects your home.
Areas we serve
We handle sewage cleanup across Nashville and Middle Tennessee, around the clock. In Goodlettsville and Hendersonville, our team is typically on site within about 60 minutes.
Dealing with a backup right now?
Stop using the water and call Water Damage Pros TN at (629) 250-3594. We’re open 24/7, our technicians are IICRC certified, and we’ll document everything for your insurance claim. You can also request a free estimate online.
