Indoor flooding is an unfortunately common occurrence, and there are many ways for water to enter your home. However, few floods are as dangerous as sewage backups. When this happens, raw sewage rushes into all connected drains and plumbing appliances. Sewage backups expose residents to many harmful biological and chemical contaminants. Read on to discover why cleaning up these messes on your own is never a good idea.

Water Gets Trapped in Air Pockets

During any flood, water saturates porous building materials. Even when floors, drywall, and other building elements seem dry, they’re likely harboring significant amounts of moisture within their air pockets. If left unchecked, this hidden moisture can leave your home overly humid and set the stage for mold and mildew development.

During professional sewage cleanup, restoration professionals set up heaters, air movers, fans and other drying equipment. These preliminary actions completely dry the affected building materials and ensure the success of future treatments. This way, efforts to deodorize, sanitize, and prevent or mitigate mold won’t fall short.

Anyone Who Touches Sewer Water Can Get Seriously Ill

Touching raw sewage and allowing the many pathogens and chemicals it contains to saturate your clothing could result in serious illness. Raw sewage can be especially harmful to:

• Small children
• Elders
• People with compromised immunity
• Household pets

In the event of a sewage backup, what you can’t see really can hurt you. It’s far better to hire sewage cleanup professionals who will wear the proper safety gear, use the right equipment, and follow all relevant health and safety regulations.

Poorly Treated Sewage Backups Can Destroy Your Home

All backup events diminish the value and marketability of houses. However, how you respond to these events can greatly affect how much value you lose. Responding too slowly, tackling these problems on your own or hiring unlicensed handymen to do the job could result in long-term structural damage, lingering mold infestations, dangerously low indoor air quality (IAQ) and other issues that might make your home uninhabitable.

The water that gets trapped in building materials during a flood doesn’t just increase indoor humidity and create the ideal conditions for mold. It also undermines the integrity of wood and wooden structures and could result in warped, bowed or structurally unsound building elements. The sooner you hire a professional sewage cleanup team, the easier it will be to avoid these problems.

Prevent Cross-Contamination

Professional restoration teams can also prevent cross-contamination by carefully sifting through your water-damaged items and disposing of items that aren’t salvageable. You can preserve more of your belongings and avoid having germ and moisture issues spread throughout the building.

Hiring a reputable restoration service after a messy backup event will give you lasting peace of mind. For professional sewage cleanup in San Jose, CA, give H & L Remediation a call now.