A toilet backup is one of the leading causes of water damage in your home. The damage could be severe, regardless of whether the tank is malfunctioning or the bowl is clogged. This is especially true if the bathroom is on an upper level and water is dripping down to the lower levels. You now have a 3 water loss. This means that water damage from the top has occurred, potentially affecting ceilings, insulation, and flooring systems. You have a huge mess that will require the assistance of an emergency company.
Assessment of the damage
We will assess the extent of any damage upon arrival at your property. It’s not as simple as you might think, as most of the damage will not be visible to the naked eye or feel for dampness. For the sake of this article, let’s assume that the damage occurred in a second-floor bathroom. The bathroom’s exterior wall is the wall. Most people assume that water flowed along their second floor. It’s easy to clean up and put fans. It isn’t true. These are just a few of the possible outcomes of a flooding emergency, as shown above.
Water travels down the exterior wall and soaks your insulation.
- Water wicks up the bathroom wall, ruining it (and possibly affecting any electrical wiring within the cavity).
- Water can get trapped under your bathroom cabinets
- Water drips through the subfloor, soaks the space between your first floor and second floor.
As a water damage contractor, we find that people underestimate the extent of their loss. This is especially true for toilet overflows. All of these are almost impossible to diagnose without the right equipment. We’ll give you an example of one of these dangers. This is a bathroom wall that was created after an overflow.
If you were honest, would it be possible to spot a problem in that wall? Even if it felt dry to your touch, you might be able to spot a problem. This is just one area of water damage. However, the image should be enough to give you some thought if you are considering doing the water cleanup yourself after a toilet overflow emergency .
What happens if water contains sewage
You will know that we don’t try be an alarmist if you regularly read our blog. While we don’t wish to scare you, we do want you to be educated. Sometimes, the scarier the situation is, the more you know. This is a good thing, because you won’t get lulled into false safety. The stakes are even higher when it comes to sewage cleaning services after a toilet overflow. If you return to a flood-damaged home with raw sewage in the water, turn off the supply line. You should immediately leave the property and call a certified water restoration company.
