When storms come, most homeowners think about roof leaks, fallen trees, and flooded yards. They don’t usually consider sewer lines, but yours can pose a serious threat to your home if a deluge of rainwater overwhelms your system. If you’re not prepared to deal with all that extra water saturation, you’ll find yourself in the midst of a messy backup. This is inflow.
Problems With Inflow and Infiltration
Many municipal sewage systems are designed to carry wastewater away from homes and keep it separate from storm runoff. But infiltration happens when water pressure builds up around your sewer line because of major ground saturation. If it has any cracks, water can seep into your sewer line, overwhelm your plumbing, and lead to a major backup in your home.
Some older homes have sump pumps or gutters that connect improperly to the sewer line. All this extra water can quickly fill up your pipes. There won’t even be room for your wastewater, which will cause a backup to erupt in your home in short order.
Backups in Municipal Sewers
Municipal sewers do a great job with handling lots of rainwater during bad storms. But occasionally they start backing up. This is especially true if it has been raining hard for a significant period. When the sewers back up badly enough, the water has nowhere else to go except into residential sewer lines. Then, backups erupt from toilets and sinks. This highly unsanitary raw sewage can ruin your drywall, warp your flooring, create dangerous mold issues, and cause serious illness. Have a plumber install a backwater valve to keep water from the sewers from making its way into your home.
Saturated Soil Can Cause Your Pipes to Shift
Severe ground saturation can significantly change the structure of the ground that surrounds your sewer line. Intense pressure can cause the pipe to snap or sag. These conditions make your home more vulnerable to a plumbing emergency when the water rises.
How to Protect Your Home
Don’t believe that all is lost when the next major rainstorm comes. You can protect your home. Check to make sure your downspouts will keep water at least 6 feet away from the foundation. You must also make sure your gutter is free from leaves and debris that could contribute to water overflowing and saturating the ground near your sewer line. Hire a plumber to perform a camera inspection so that you can know if any problems are lurking in your sewer line. This way, you can fix them to reduce the risk of serious trouble.
Don’t put off doing everything necessary to make sure your sewer line is in top shape. By protecting your home from nasty backups, you can save yourself a lot of stress and money. When you need sewer line services in Laurel, MD, contact All Clear Plumbing & Drain.