What to Do When Your Sewer Line Backs Up
When sewage or dirty water comes up through a tub, shower or floor drain, the main sewer line is blocked. Stop using water in the house right away, open your outside cleanout if you can do it safely, and call a plumber. A main line clog won’t clear on its own, and every flush makes the backup worse.
How to Tell It's the Main Line
A single slow sink is usually a local clog in that fixture’s drain. A main line problem shows up in several places at once. Toilets gurgle when the washing machine drains. Water rises in the shower when you flush. The lowest drain in the house, usually a ground-floor tub or shower, is where sewage shows up first.
The First Few Minutes
Stop Using Water
Tell everyone in the house not to flush, shower or run faucets. Stop the dishwasher and washing machine if they’re running. With the line blocked, every gallon has nowhere to go but back into the house.
Open the Outside Cleanout
Most homes have a capped pipe in the yard near the foundation called a sewer cleanout. If you can loosen the cap safely, the backed-up water may drain out there instead of inside. Stand to the side when you open it, since the line can be under pressure. If your home doesn’t have an accessible cleanout, it’s worth adding one, and we explain why on our sewer cleanout installation page.
Skip the Chemical Drain Cleaners
Store-bought drain cleaners won’t break up a main line blockage. They sit in the pipe, can damage older cast iron and plastic, and make the job more dangerous for the plumber who has to open the line afterward.
Keep People and Pets Away
Sewage carries bacteria. Keep kids and pets out of the area, wear gloves if you have to touch anything, and wash well afterward. Throw out anything porous that soaked up sewage, like bath mats.
Why Sewer Lines Back Up in Our Area
Once the line is open, a sewer camera inspection tells us why it happened. In Long Beach, Rossmoor, Los Alamitos and Seal Beach, the same causes come up again and again.
Tree roots are the most common. Many older homes have clay sewer pipe laid in short sections, and roots find their way into the joints. The mature street trees that make these neighborhoods nice are often the source.
Grease is next. Cooking fat goes down the drain as a liquid and hardens in the pipe, catching everything that comes after it.
Wipes are a growing problem. Even wipes labeled flushable don’t break down the way toilet paper does, and they knot together in the line.
Broken or sagging pipe is the last. Old cast iron cracks, clay pipe shifts, and settled soil creates low spots where waste collects.
Fixing the Cause
Roots and grease can usually be cleared with hydro jetting, which scours the pipe wall to wall with high-pressure water instead of just punching a hole through the clog. A broken or sagging pipe needs sewer repair, and in many cases that can be done with trenchless methods that leave your yard and driveway intact.
Who Pays for the Sewer Line
In most Southern California cities, the homeowner owns the sewer lateral, the pipe that runs from the house to the city main. The city maintains the main in the street. Rules about exactly where your responsibility ends vary by city, so check with your local public works department if you’re unsure. Homeowners insurance may cover water damage inside the house from a backup, but often doesn’t cover repairs to the pipe itself, so it’s worth reading your policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a sewer backup an emergency?
How do I keep it from happening again?
Can I snake the line myself?
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