Sewage Rising, Stop Water

Sewer Backup Repair: Emergency Service Any Hour

Stop running water until the backup clears completely.

Licensed and insured plumbers. Open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Based in the South Metro.

Stop running water anywhere in the house.

Floor drain
Sewer service line
City main

Sewer backup repair starts with one rule: stop running water anywhere in the house, since every added drain pushes more volume into a line that is already blocked. Charli’s Emergency Plumbing takes sewer backup calls across Dakota and Scott counties. Call 952-521-0880.

Stop making it worse first

Stop running water anywhere in the house. Every drain in the building shares the same sewer service line, so a dishwasher cycle or a load of laundry can push a slow backup into a fast one.

Do not flush toilets or run any faucet, the dishwasher, or the washing machine until the line is clear.
If sewage is already on the floor, keep people and pets out of that room.
It carries bacteria, not just water.
If the backup is coming up through a floor drain, do not attempt to plug it yourself.
A plugged drain with pressure behind it finds another way out, usually a lower fixture.
Photograph the damage before anything gets cleaned up, for your own records.
Call 952-521-0880.

A single gurgle from a floor drain when the washing machine empties is worth noting and worth a call, but it is not the same situation as sewage actively rising in the house. Both start the same phone call. They do not carry the same clock.

Then call 952-521-0880.

Call Now: 952-521-0880

Is this yours or the city’s

Not every sewer backup is a plumber’s job. In the cities in the directory that publish a sewer boundary, the city maintains the main and the homeowner is responsible for some or all of the service lateral, the pipe that runs from the house to the connection at that main. Where that responsibility line falls varies by city. The South Metro water emergency directory shows what your city publishes for after-hours water and sewer problems. The full breakdown, city by city, with each city’s own published wording, is on the South Metro water emergency directory.

The general shape holds everywhere: a backup at one fixture is almost always your line. A backup at several fixtures, or at the lowest drain in the house, at the same time, is the sign worth checking against your city’s own main-line procedure before assuming it is a plumber’s job. The full triage framework for that decision is on the FAQ.

Signs of a main-line vs. a service-line backup

One clogged drain with everything else in the house working normally points at a simple, local clog in that fixture’s own line.

Multiple drains backing up at the lowest level of the house at the same time points at the service line or the main, not one clogged fixture. So does a floor drain that backs up whenever an upstairs toilet flushes, because that is the sewer gas and pressure from the flush finding the path of least resistance back into the house.

If a city crew checks the main and finds it clear, the blockage is in your service line.

What sewer backup repair involves

A plumber starts by opening the cleanout, the capped access point near the foundation or in the basement floor, and running a camera down the service lateral to find exactly where the blockage sits and what caused it. Roots working through an aging clay or cast-iron service lateral, and grease buildup narrowing the pipe over years, are two of the causes that camera can find.

Once the camera finds the blockage, the line gets cleared, usually with jetting, a high-pressure water process that scours the inside of the pipe rather than just punching a hole through the clog the way a hand snake does. If the backup happened because a backwater valve failed or was never installed, that becomes part of the conversation too, since a backwater valve is what stops the city main from pushing sewage back into your house during a surcharge.

Honest answer on timing: it depends on distance, weather, and how many emergencies are running at once. The person you speak with will give you a straight picture for your address.

Do not run water until it is cleared

This is the one instruction on this page worth repeating on its own. Every fixture that drains adds volume to a line that already cannot move water fast enough. A single load of laundry run out of habit, before the plumber has arrived, can turn a contained backup into standing water on a finished floor.

Cleanup, briefly

Sewage-contaminated water is not the same cleanup job as a burst supply line. Anything porous that touched it, carpet padding, drywall below the waterline, upholstery, is generally not worth trying to save. Hard, sealed surfaces can usually be cleaned and disinfected. This page covers the plumbing side of a backup, finding and clearing the blockage, not the cleanup or restoration side, which is a separate call if the damage is significant.

Sewer backup repair across the South Metro

Related: drain cleaning for a single slow drain that has not become a backup, water line repair if what looked like a backup turns out to be a supply-line break instead, since the same city-versus-homeowner responsibility split applies there too, and the full FAQ for the citywide responsibility question in more detail.

Call 952-521-0880. We are open right now.

Call Now: 952-521-0880

Questions about sewer backup repair

How do I know if a sewer backup is my problem or the city’s?

Your home’s plumbing is your responsibility, and in the cities in the directory that publish a sewer boundary, so is some or all of the service lateral that runs from your house to the connection at the sewer main. The main itself belongs to the city. Multiple drains backing up at the lowest level of the house, especially with no single obvious clog, is the classic sign of a main-side or service-line problem rather than one clogged fixture. Each of the ten cities in the directory publishes its own procedure for reporting a suspected main problem, listed on the South Metro water emergency directory.

Is a sewer backup ever something that can wait?

An occasional gurgle from one floor drain, with no water or sewage actually appearing, is worth a call during the day. Sewage actively rising in the house, at any hour, is not a wait until morning problem. Stop running water and call.

What clears a blocked sewer line?

The work usually starts at the home’s own cleanout: a camera finds the exact spot, then jetting scours the line clean rather than just punching through the clog. Root intrusion in an aging clay or cast-iron lateral and grease buildup are two of the causes found this way.

Why does a backwater valve matter?

A backwater valve is a one-way valve installed in the service lateral that lets wastewater flow out toward the main but closes if the main tries to push back in, which happens during heavy rain when city sewer systems can surcharge. A home without one, or with one that has failed, has no protection against that specific scenario, even if the home’s own line is perfectly clear.

Sewage does not wait for a convenient hour

Open 24 hours a day. Stop running water, then call 952-521-0880.

Call Now: 952-521-0880