Guide on How to Prevent Sewer Backup
Sewer backup happens when the sewer exceeds its capacity and the waste flow back to the drain line of your house. The backup can come out of your basement, shower drain, and toilet. The sewer backup is contaminated with various types of chemicals and bacteria that can be hazardous to your health. As a homeowner, there are 6 things you can do to prevent sewer backup problems.
1. Don’t Throw Grease Down the Kitchen Sink
When using the kitchen sink, always remind yourself not to pour cooking oil and grease. Oil and grease can solidify when they are cooled down and create blockage in the drain and sewer lines. You should do your best not to allow food scraps, hair, egg shells and etc to go down the drain. You can install a garbage disposal to catch everything that is washed down the sink.
2. Don’t Flush Everything Down the Toilet
The toilet should not be treated as a place to discard all kinds of rubbish. The toilet can be blocked when you simply flush things down. It is only designed for flushing down human waste and toilet paper. Other items like wipes, cigarette butts, diapers, food scraps, and other personal hygiene products should not be flushed down the toilet.
3. Install a Backwater Valve
You can install a backwater valve to prevent the sewage from flowing into the basement when there is a backup on the main sewer system. It has a flap that can close when the water flows backward. You can ask a plumber to inspect your plumbing system and see if a backwater valve suit you.
4. Install Plastic Piping
You may want to consider replacing your clay and cast iron piping to plastic piping. Plastic piping has special joints that make it more durable against tree roots. Clay and cast iron piping is common in houses in the early days. You can have your plumber check your sewer pipe and see if it is necessary to replace with a plastic piping.
5. Clear Your Sewer Line
Not only that, you should also take the initiative to clear your sewer line at least once every 2 years. This is especially if you have trees around the sewer line. You can also get a professional plumber to clear the sewer line. When the plumber is clearing your line, you can ask about how backup your sewer is. If it is just a little backup, you can schedule cleaning once a while. On the other hand, if it has a heavy backup, it means that you need to schedule more frequent cleaning to maintain your sewer line.
6. Disconnect the Downspout
When there is heavy rainstorm, lots of water will flow on your gutter and downspout into the sewer system. This will increase the chances of overflowing of the sewer which will backup on your basement. To prevent this, you can disconnect your downspout. In addition, you can install an extension to your downspout so that the water is absorbed by the garden and not on the driveway.