How To Identify a Sewage Blockage in Your Home

Your home’s functionality and comfort rely on many moving parts, from water access to foundation stability. One of your home’s most essential operating systems is your sewage situation. Adequate drainage, plumbing, and waste management affect your comfort, health, and daily habits in many ways, making sewage blockages a critical issue. Any waste that your system doesn’t properly take care of increases health risks and disease spread. It can also create a horrible mess. Learn how to identify sewage blockages in your home and keep your home’s operations moving smoothly.

Slow Drainage and Standing Water

The main purpose of a drain is to direct waste and water from one place to another. When drains struggle to transport such substances, the water and waste drain slowly or stay stagnant in a pool at the top of the drain—indications of a sewage blockage.

Blocked drains create multiple barriers for sewage to pass through, slowing down movements through the drain and causing a backlog at the drain’s mouth. Like traffic during a roadblock or crash, too many barriers in the drains cut off the direction of movement, causing standstills for those on the path.

Gurgling Noises

Aside from hearing rushing water or sewage move through the drains, any other noises, such as gurgles, hint at a sewage blockage. Gunk and other barriers in a sewage blockage don’t just block sewage waste. Blocked drains and pipes also trap air.

When water passes through the drains and moves, some of the blockages around the air pockets shift and release air through. As the air escapes and passes through the water waste, it lets out a gurgling and bubbling sound. If your drains or pipes are louder than usual and making strange noises, you might have blocked sewage.

Sewage Smells

Between the decomposition of organic matter and anaerobic bacteria activity, sewage waste releases an intolerable odor. Breathing in sewage exposes you to toxins and leads to many health concerns.

Functioning sewage systems prevent you from inhaling the toxic smell by removing and breaking down the waste and source of the smell away from you. Blocked sewage lets the smells grow stronger as they remain untreated and keeps them within close, detectable proximity.

Lingering Flies and Insects

Sewage might be toxic and unpleasant for humans, but insects and flies love it. Certain pests thrive in the same environment that bacteria grow in. They like place that are moist, stagnant, and rich in organic material. Sewer flies, fruit flies, gnats, and cockroaches love the filth of blocked sewage. Seeing an increase or sudden population growth of certain insects and flies, especially around your drains, is a common identifier of a sewage blockage.

A sewage blockage is one of the many signs it’s time to call an emergency plumber. Letting the situation escalate can put your health at risk and cause many issues in your home’s functionality and comfort. Knowing how to identify sewage blockages in your home allows you to quickly call up for help and prevent any other problems from coming to fruition.