Emergency Sewer Backup in Washington, IL

What Should You Do, and Not Do, While Sewage Is Coming Up?

Safety comes first because sewage carries bacteria. Keep this list close.

Do:

• Stop all water use: no flushing, laundry, dishwasher or showers
• Keep children and pets out of the wet area
• Wear rubber boots and gloves if you must walk through it
• Lift valuables and boxes off the floor
• Photograph the area before you clean
• Open windows for airflow if the weather allows

Do not:

• Pour drain cleaner into a backed-up line
• Mix bleach with other chemicals
• Run the washer to see if it clears
• Stand in water if outlets or the panel are wet
• Use a wet-dry vacuum on standing sewage

If sewage reaches wiring, an outlet or the panel, leave the room and call your electric utility or 911. If you smell gas, leave the house and call Ameren Illinois or 911 from outside. Then call us at (209) 563-1400.

What Is Included in an Emergency Backup Visit?

Our part is the line: getting sewage moving away from the house again, and telling you why it stopped. Clearing the blockage is the service.

• Finding a way in through a cleanout, or a pulled toilet when there is none
• Cabling the main line with a cutter sized to the pipe, through roots or a grease plug
• Clearing to the city main, so the restriction does not stay in place
• Proving the flow with running water before we pack up
• Naming the cause and the likely next step, from nothing at all to a camera look

Cleanup and sanitizing are not part of this visit. Once the line runs, the wet floor remains yours or a restoration company's, and the section on cleanup below points to the health advice. If the blockage is in the public main, the fix belongs to the city, and we tell you that as soon as the line shows it.

Is It the Main Line or Just One Drain?

Only the main line produces an emergency. A single clogged fixture stays local. Several fixtures that misbehave together point to the line they all share.

Signs of a main line backup:

• A basement floor drain gurgles or rises when the washer empties
• The toilet bubbles when the tub drains
• Water comes up in the lowest tub or shower when an upstairs fixture runs
• A sewage smell near the floor drain

The lowest drain backs up first. In a Washington basement home, that is usually the floor drain, so it is the first place to look. Do not run more water to test it.

Why Do Sewers Back Up Around Washington?

The usual causes are roots, grease, paper products, a belly in the pipe and rain. Roots lead on older streets. About 13% of Washington's housing units date to 1939 or earlier (Point2homes, citing Census data), and houses of that age often have clay tile sewers with joints every few feet that roots can enter.

Rain adds load. Washington gets about 38 to 39 inches of precipitation a year across roughly 108 days (BestPlaces). When the public system is full and a lateral is already partly restricted, a storm can push a marginal line into a backup. Our post on sewer backups after heavy rain covers the pattern.

Sump pumps are part of it too. A proposed Washington ordinance would bar sump and perimeter tile discharge into sanitary sewers and allow city inspection of private laterals. It is not confirmed as law, so check its status with the city. Either way, clear water in a sewer line adds to the load during storms.

How Do We Clear a Sewer Backup?

The goal is to restore full flow, not only to make the water drop.

1. Find the cleanout or work through a pulled toilet if there is none.
2. Run a cable machine with a cutter sized to the pipe, stepping up for roots.
3. Clear to the city main, not only until the water moves. Terry S. described a line cleaned this way.
4. Flush and test with running water to confirm a full flow.
5. Show you what came out and explain the cause.
6. Talk through next steps, which may be nothing, a camera look or a repair plan.

Repeat backups call for more. A sewer camera inspection shows a belly, an offset or roots at a joint. A routine pass is covered on the sewer line cleaning page, and a failing pipe moves to sewer line repair.

Who Pays, Who Is Responsible, and What About Cleanup?

Responsibility usually splits at the property line. The private lateral is normally the owner's, and the main in the street is the city's. Rules vary by town, so ask Washington's public works office where the line is yours.

Insurance often excludes sewer backup unless you added coverage. Read your policy, and see our post on whether homeowners insurance covers sewer backups.

For cleanup, the Virginia Department of Health's sewage backup fact sheet is one example of the advice health departments give: wear gloves, boots and eye protection, and discard soaked porous materials such as carpet and wallboard. Hard surfaces can be disinfected. Large losses are a job for a restoration company, not a plumber.

What Illinois Rules Apply to the Sewer Under Your Yard?

The Illinois Plumbing Code, 77 Ill. Adm. Code 890, gives the pipe its names. Section 890.120 says the building drain ends 5 feet outside the foundation wall, and the building sewer carries on from there to the public sewer. It does not say who pays; the city's rules decide that.

Section 890.1320 allows a backwater valve, a one-way flap that stops sewage coming back, in the building drain, and it must stay accessible. That is worth asking about after repeat backups.

The Illinois Department of Public Health says anyone who repairs plumbing must hold a license under 225 ILCS 320, so ask for the number before a repair. A sewer repair that means digging also calls for JULIE at 811, at least 48 hours ahead, not counting weekends or holidays. Locating is free.

How Soon Can You Get Here for a Backup, and What Will It Cost?

On Google we are listed from 7:15 AM to 6:15 PM all week. Reviewers describe a Sunday morning sewer job, a Sunday afternoon call and a late Saturday backup. Those are past events, not a response-time promise. Call, tell us which fixtures are backing up and ask when we can be there.

The price depends on access to the cleanout, the length of the run, what is in the line and any follow-up. We quote it clearly and upfront, before the machine runs. No single flat figure fits every sewer line. These variables do the sorting in Washington:

• Cleanout access. A yard or basement cleanout is direct. With none, a toilet comes up first, and that adds time.
• What is blocking it. Grease or paper clears sooner than a root mass that needs a second, larger cutter.
• Length of the run. A deep lot or a long lateral to the city main means more cable and more time.
• Age of the pipe. Clay tile joints or scaled cast iron in a pre-1940 Washington house call for more care than plastic in a 2000s build.
• Follow-up work. A camera look or a repair plan is separate from clearing the line, and it is quoted on its own.