Massillon Plumbing Restoration After Sewer Backups and Basement Water

Clean Water, Gray Water and Sewage

Restoration professionals sort water damage by what the water contains, because it changes how cleanup has to be done. Water from a burst supply line is clean when it starts. Water from a washing machine or dishwasher drain carries soap and food. Water that came up from a sewer line or toilet carries bacteria and should be treated as hazardous.

When sewage is involved, porous materials it touched, such as carpet, padding and drywall, generally need to come out. That cleanup is a job for a qualified restoration company. Our role is to find and fix the cause, so the basement is not flooded again after everything is cleaned and replaced.

Why Massillon Basements Back Up

Massillon is an older city with a lot of houses built before the 1960s. Homes of that era commonly have cast iron and clay sewer laterals running from the house to the street. Over many decades, those lines can crack, settle, separate at joints and fill with tree roots. Grease and debris catch on the rough spots until flow stops.

The floor drain is usually the lowest opening on the house's drain system, so it is where a blockage shows up first. Heavy rain can make things worse, because the municipal sewer and the house lateral both carry more water during storms.

• Tree roots growing into joints of the sewer lateral
• Collapsed or offset sections of clay or cast iron pipe
• Grease buildup in kitchen drain lines
• A bellied section of pipe where water and solids settle
• Surcharging of the street sewer during heavy storms

Repairing the Drain System

After a backup, we clear the line and look at what caused the blockage. A one-time grease plug is a cleaning job. Roots and broken pipe point to repair or replacement of a section of the lateral. We explain what we find and give you a free estimate for the options. You approve the work before we begin, and we finish with a quality inspection.

For basements that back up during storms even when the lateral is in good shape, a backwater valve can help. It lets wastewater flow out of the house but closes when sewer water tries to flow back in. Whether one makes sense depends on how your plumbing is laid out, which we evaluate on site.

Other Basement Water in Massillon

Not every wet basement is a sewer problem. Groundwater coming through walls or the floor is usually a sump issue, and our Massillon sump pump team handles repairs and replacements. Clean water dripping from the ceiling or spraying from a wall points to a supply leak, which our leak repair service covers.

In homes where the old cast iron drains and galvanized supply lines are both near the end of their life, a larger repiping project may be worth discussing.

Prevention and Insurance

Keep grease out of kitchen drains, avoid flushing wipes even if they are labeled flushable, and pay attention to slow drains or gurgling toilets, which often come before a backup. If large trees grow near your sewer line, periodic cleaning can keep roots in check.

Sewer backup damage is often covered differently from other water damage in homeowner policies, so check with your agent. We provide plumbing damage inspections that document the cause with photos, which helps either way. We serve Navarre, Brewster, Canal Fulton and North Canton too; see our restoration overview for more.