Sewage coming up into a tub, shower, or floor drain in a Salt Lake City home means the main sewer line is blocked between the house and the street, so wastewater from every fixture is escaping at the lowest opening. Stop using water in the house, keep people and pets out of the room, and call Reliable Plumbing at (801) 803-0847, any hour, for a camera look before anyone digs.
Why does sewage come up in the tub and not the toilet?
Because the tub and the basement floor drain are the lowest openings in the system. When the main line is blocked, wastewater backs up the pipe until it reaches the first place it can escape. In most Salt Lake homes that is a basement shower, a floor drain by the water heater, or the lowest tub. The toilet on the same floor may gurgle, drain slowly, or rise when you run the washing machine. Those are the same problem seen from a different fixture.
What should I do first?
- Stop running water anywhere in the house. Every gallon you send down adds to what is coming up. That includes the washing machine, the dishwasher, and flushing.
- Keep out of the water. Raw sewage carries bacteria; if you must walk through it, wear boots and wash after.
- Open a window and run a fan if the room has one. Do not use bleach on standing sewage; it does nothing useful and creates fumes in a closed basement.
- If your home has a cleanout, a capped pipe usually near the foundation outside or in the basement floor, do not open it inside the house. An outside cleanout can be opened to relieve pressure and let the line drain into the yard rather than the basement.
- Call. Tell us it is a sewage backup, which fixture it is coming from, and whether it started after heavy rain, a big laundry day, or nothing in particular.
What usually causes a sewer backup in this valley?
Roots are the most common cause in the older neighborhoods. Mature trees in the Avenues, Sugar House, and the east bench send roots into any joint in a clay lateral, and once inside they grow into a mat that catches everything. Second is the lateral itself: clay and Orangeburg pipe from the 1940s to 1970s cracks, sags, and eventually collapses. Third is what went down the drain: wipes that say flushable, grease, and paper towels. Spring runoff makes all three worse, because saturated ground shifts old pipe and groundwater finds every crack. Our sewer line repair page covers each of these in detail.
How does a plumber find the actual problem?
With a camera. We run it from the cleanout down the lateral toward the street and watch the screen. In a few minutes you can see whether it is a root mat at one joint, a sag holding water, a crack, or an offset where two sections no longer line up. The camera also tells us exactly how far down the line the problem is, which is the difference between clearing a clog, repairing one section, and replacing the lateral. We show you the footage before we recommend anything, and you approve the plan and the price before work starts.
Can it be cleared, or does the line have to be replaced?
Most first backups are cleared. A cutting head on the auger removes roots, and hydro jetting scours grease and buildup off the pipe walls. That gets the house working again the same visit. Whether it stays fixed depends on what the camera showed. A line with a single root intrusion at one joint can be cleared and then treated or spot-repaired. A line with several cracks, a sag, or a collapsed section will back up again, and replacing that section is the honest recommendation. We do not recommend digging until you have seen why. Our drain cleaning team handles the clearing, and the sewer team handles the rest.
How do I keep it from happening again?
If roots were the cause, plan on a camera check every year or two and clearing before the mat closes the line. Keep wipes, grease, and paper towels out of the drains, even the ones labeled flushable. If your lowest fixture is a basement floor drain, a backwater valve stops the street from pushing wastewater into your house during heavy runoff. And if you are buying an older home in Salt Lake City, a sewer camera inspection before closing is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. More answers are in our plumbing FAQs.
Is a sewage backup an emergency?
Yes. Wastewater in the house is a health issue and it keeps rising as long as anyone in the house uses water. Stop water use, keep out of the room, and call. We take these calls at any hour.
Should I try a drain cleaner or a plunger first?
No. Chemical cleaners do nothing against roots or a collapsed pipe and make the standing water hazardous. A plunger on a tub full of sewage just moves it around. The fix is downstream of anything you can reach from the fixture.
Does the city or the homeowner own the sewer lateral?
In Salt Lake City the homeowner is typically responsible for the lateral from the house to the connection at the main in the street, and the city maintains the main, but the rules vary between cities, so check with yours. If the camera shows the problem is in the main, we tell you and you call the city.