Without a doubt, a properly functioning sewer line is one of the most important and underappreciated parts of a home. When they are working right, we don’t give them a second’s thought. The minute something goes wrong, however? Well, at that point you probably won’t be able to think about anything else. Toilets, showers, dishwashers, sinks — take those out of commission and you’ve got a serious problem, one that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. So, how can you know if your sewer line is starting to back up? Here are a couple of warning signs you should look out for:

1) Multiple Clogged Drains

We all get the occasional clogged sink from things like hair, bits of food, toilet paper, whatever. But when you start to get more than one drain that seems clogged at the same time, it means that there is something obstructing your house’s main drain, which is your sewer line, and that clog is stopping everything from getting out. Just like all roads lead to Rome, all drains lead to the same pipe. And if that pipe doesn't drain, you’ve got serious problems.

2) Water Backing Up

The action from one sink or appliance should have minimal effect on others. Sure, turning on the sink might make someone take a colder shower, but other than that they are fairly separate. So, if turning on a sink makes your bathtub start to gurgle, sputter, or (worse) back up, then you’ve got water that has no place to go. This goes for anything in your house that uses water: running or flushing one thing shouldn’t cause it to back up somewhere else in the house. When this starts, you’re only one step away from those multiple clogs we just talked about.

3) Toilet Problems

When we think of sewers, we naturally think of toilets. So, when your toilets start acting strange, there’s a good chance you’ve got problems with your sewer line. Again, one toilet flushing slowly, bubbling, or gurgling is probably just a localized problem. But when drain cleaners and plunging fail to fix the problem, and it starts to happen in more than one toilet, then you’ve got a serious issue that you need to fix as soon as possible.

4) Bubbles

We just mentioned bubbles, and for good reason: bubbles and gurgling coming from your sinks, tubs, or toilets is never a good sign. Bubbles form when water tries to get past a clog, trapping air in the process. Keep an eye out to see if the bubbles are happening everywhere in all of your drains. . If so, then you’ve most likely got a problem.

When you start to notice problems like these, it’s important to get it taken care of as soon as possible. What starts out as slow drainage can quickly turn into overflowing toilets, water damage, and horrible smells that can ruin your house. And don’t think you can do this on your own: backed up sewer lines can be caused for many reasons, and they take expert knowledge to diagnose and fix. 

It it's too late, and you have a horrible mess to deal with, call a professional restoration and cleanup service like us.