Right now
- Stop running water anywhere in the house: no flushing, laundry, dishwasher or showers. Every gallon has to go somewhere.
- Keep kids and pets out of the area.
- Do not try to clean it with household cleaners and a mop. Sewage carries bacteria and viruses, and wet porous material like carpet and drywall usually has to be removed.
- If you are on public sewer, call your utility (the City of Cumming or Forsyth County Water and Sewer, depending on where you live) to check whether the blockage is in their line.
- If you are on septic, call a septic company to pump the tank.
How sewage cleanup works
Sewage is the dirtiest category of water damage, and the cleanup follows stricter steps. The crew extracts the water, removes carpet, pad, drywall and other porous materials that touched it, cleans and disinfects hard surfaces and framing, and then dries everything. Workers wear protective gear and contain the area so contamination is not tracked through the house.
Expect more to come out than with a clean-water leak. That is normal.
Have this ready when you call
- What is leaking, if you know: a supply line, the water heater, a toilet, the roof, a crawl space or a drain.
- Whether the water is clean or looks and smells like sewage.
- Which rooms and floors are wet, including the crawl space or basement, and about how long it has been wet.
- Whether the main water valve is off and the power to wet rooms is off.
- Your road or subdivision in Cumming or Forsyth County, so a crew close to you picks up.
Most calls take a couple of minutes. Stay on the line and you will be matched with a local company that can send someone out.
Free to call. You are not signing up for anything.
Sewer and septic backups in Forsyth County
Around Cumming you can be on either system. Homes inside the city and in many newer subdivisions are on public sewer. A large share of Forsyth County, especially older homes and larger lots in the north end of the county, still runs on septic tanks.
On public sewer, backups usually start with a clog in the line between the house and the street: tree roots, grease, or wipes that do not break down. When the main line is blocked, the lowest drain in the house overflows first. In a home with a basement, that is often a floor drain or a basement bathroom.
On septic, a full tank or a failing drain field sends waste back toward the house, usually after heavy rain soaks the field or after a holiday weekend with a full house. Red clay soil drains slowly, which makes saturated drain fields more common here than in sandier parts of the state.
Either way, the cleanup inside is the same and should be done by a crew with the right equipment. Fixing the cause belongs to a plumber, the septic company or the utility, and the company you reach can help you sort out which.