Storm, sewage & biohazard
Sewage backup and category three water
Contaminated water gets a different job with different rules. Most of what it touches is removed rather than cleaned, and most of the cost is the removal, not the labour.
Category three is water that is grossly contaminated — sewage backups, water that has come up through a drain, or any clean-water loss left standing long enough to turn. It is assessed on the day, because a clean loss can reach the same category on its own within about three days.
The handling follows the label. Containment goes up, protective equipment goes on, and porous materials the water reached — carpet, underlay, drywall to a line above the tide mark, insulation, soaked upholstery — come out rather than get cleaned. Hard surfaces are cleaned, then treated.
What comes out, and what gets cleaned
A carpet that has taken category three water cannot be made clean in any useful sense — the contamination is in the fibre and the backing, not the surface. The underlay beneath it is thrown away without discussion.
Drywall is cut back to a line above the highest mark the water reached, because the paper facing wicks contamination upward past the waterline, and the insulation behind it comes out entirely. Hard surfaces — tile, sealed concrete, sealed timber — are the exception: washed, rinsed, then treated with an antimicrobial as a final step, never sprayed over a surface that is still dirty.
Whose pipe backed up
Most of what we are called to in a Woodside or Corona basement is a main backing up rather than one fixture failing — water rising through a drain, a shower and a toilet at once points to a blockage downstream of all three.
A blockage in the private lateral is generally the owner's line and cost. One in the city main is a different party's problem. A backup that only happens in heavy rain usually means a cracked or root-blocked lateral taking on groundwater — a drain contractor's job, not ours, and we will tell you so.
What it costs, and the question we will not answer
Most sewage jobs land between $2,600 and $11,000, and most of that is disposal and replacement rather than time on site. We put the number in writing before anything is removed.
People reasonably ask whether this will make them ill, and nobody on this crew is a physician. What we can tell you is what we measure: the water is grossly contaminated, which is why materials are removed rather than cleaned, and protective equipment is worn throughout. A symptom question belongs to your doctor.
Nobody here is a doctor. Nobody here is a doctor, and nothing on this website is medical advice. We will not tell you that mould in your home has made you ill, that it has not, or what any symptom means — those are questions for your physician, and a contractor who answers them is selling something. What we can tell you is what we can measure: where the water is, how far it has travelled, what is growing and over how large an area. If you are worried about your health, ring your doctor first and us second.
Included as standard
What the job actually includes
Containment set up first
Protective equipment on before any water is touched.
Category confirmed on arrival
Assessed on the day, not assumed from the source.
Contaminated water extracted
Pumped out of the building rather than pushed around it.
Porous materials removed and disposed of
Carpet, underlay, affected drywall and insulation — not cleaned and kept.
Hard surfaces cleaned, then treated
Washed and rinsed first; antimicrobial applied as a final step.
A written cause finding
Fixture or lateral, and which trade fixes it if it recurs.
When to call us
Signs this is the job you need
- Water backing up through a floor drain, a tub or the lowest fixture, rather than arriving from outside
- More than one fixture backing up at the same time
- A backup that specifically follows heavy rain
- A basement drain that gurgles before it backs up
- Standing water with a smell that does not belong to anything in the building
- Water pooling in a basement with no supply pipe nearby
Sewage backup and category three water — what it costs
- Includes removal and disposal of porous materials, which is most of the cost.$2,600 – $11,000
This is the range this job actually lands in, not a headline figure. The low end is a straightforward version of the work; the high end is one with a hard access problem, an old service, or something that has to be opened up before anybody can be certain. We tell you which one you have after we have looked, and the written quote says where the price could still move and why.
Questions we are actually asked
Sewage cleanup — frequently asked
Is this our pipe or the city's problem?
Sometimes one, sometimes the other. More than one fixture backing up at once usually points to the lateral, which is generally the owner's line and cost. A backup that only happens in heavy rain is a different clue and a drain contractor's job, not ours.
Can any of our belongings be saved?
Some, not all. Porous items sitting in category three water — soft furnishings, cardboard, anything with foam — generally cannot be made clean and are disposed of rather than kept. Hard, non-porous items usually can be cleaned, and we will tell you which pile a thing is in first.
Is this going to make us sick?
That is a question for your physician, not us — nobody on this crew is medically qualified. We can tell you what we measure: the water is grossly contaminated, which is why materials are removed rather than cleaned, and protective equipment is worn throughout. If you are worried, please ring your doctor.
Related work
Often needed alongside this
Basement flooding
Pumping out, drying down, and the honest conversation about why it filled up in the first place.
$2,200 – $9,500
Water extraction
Getting the standing water out on the first visit, because everything that follows gets cheaper the sooner it goes.
$650 – $2,800
Antimicrobial treatment
Applied to cleaned surfaces as a final step — not sprayed over a dirty one instead of cleaning it.
$450 – $1,800
Mould remediation
Containment, removal and cleaning to an independent assessor's plan — never to a plan we wrote ourselves.
$2,400 – $7,800Somebody who does the work will come and look
Book a visit
Telephone and you will get somebody on this crew rather than a call centre, at any hour. The emergency assessment is free inside our service area and you keep the written findings whether or not you use us. If what you describe will keep until the morning, we will tell you that instead of sending a van.