Thank goodness I haven't at home. One advantage to living in the air ! However, at our workplace office about 7 years ago, one weekend the toilet sprung a leak in the office above us. But it was more than a water leak. All the umm. crap... ran down into our office. When I came in Monday morning it smelled worse than a port-a-potty. It was enough to cover feet. Yes, I stepped in it with one foot before I realized the extent. Peee euwww.

What are those three round things on the wall? Can't figure it out!

No but I worked at GBI years ago and their sewer backed up into the parking lot. The entire parking lot was 6 inches in left over body parts, blood, poop, pee you name it. It was the most disgusting thing in the entire world. I'm sure of it.

The week following our move into our new country home, my husband fell ill with a gastrointestinal flu (important). That weekend, I went down to our finished basement laundry room and discovered the sink was overflowing with waste that had run onto the floor and out the door.....EVERYTHING that had gone into the main line since day 1- - sinks, dishwasher, showers, toilets. Why? The construction crews had failed to connect the line from the house to the line from the septic system!

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I had that happen to one of my rental properties about 10 years ago. A tenant (that barely spoke English) informed me that the toilet was "stopped up". When I went over there, what looked like diarrhea and re-fried beans was oozing out the stool. I wiped away the base with a towel long enough to find the bolts to remove it. When I disconnected and lifted the toilet, pressure was released and all the contents rained on the floor and my feet, splattering in every direction. The 5 X 7 floor was now so slick I was sliding so the tenant tossed pillows down for me to walk on. Seeing that I was struggling to keep my balance, the tenant stepped in to help and lost his footing, dropped his side of the toilet and landed with the whole side of his body into the puddle. The toilet broke and when poor guy stood up, it looked like he had been in a mud wrestling contest. His wife handed him some towels to wipe off with and he acted like it was no big deal falling except he was "sorry for me break your toilet". But it didn't stop there. Sewage was still burping from the 4" hole in the floor, so I decided to remove what was in there. This is the grossest thing I have ever done. I grabbed some gloves and stuck my hand deep into that hole to remove whatever obstruction it was. Of course I had to stick my hand in too far and it all ran into the glove filling it with some nice smelly pudding. Finally I decided to call a plumber. It turned out that tree roots had invaded the line 80 feet down stream and whatever had been filling up the pipe, 80 feet of it was reversing into the house with a vengeance. The joys of owning rent houses!!

The joys of being a landlord.

@oldie49, click the More Info under the photo to get wall decor information

I am in the process placing house on market and along comes inspector telling buyers and me I need a waste pipe installed on this 1924 house and then need a sleeve to insulate it. Who needs this aggravation? when I lived in a condo I had terrible backup early one eve waking up to use the toilet, black soot. omg. let me rent from here on.

We purchased one of our rental houses in “as is” condition. It was remodeled by previous owner who knew nothing. He installed additional bathroom in basement. Apparently, he used smaller sewer pipe than the code. He also didn't install exhaust for sewer gas (?). The house was fine for the first 5 years with the first tenants. But with the second tenant, a single young woman, the disaster happened twice in a year. Being small timer landlords, we had to clean it for her. Luckily, we were able to sell the house in “as is” condition at the peak of real estate boom.

I had only been in my new (to me) house a few weeks. The main living area was on the top floor of the house, the rec room and garage with 3/4 bath were downstairs. I was pretty busy unpacking so didn't go downstairs for the first couple of weeks after I had moved in.
To top it off there was a major forest fire in the area, and my allergies reacted, so I couldn't smell anything. Imagine my surprise when I went downstairs after 3-4 days to find out that sewage from upstairs had overflowed the toilet, shower and sink downstairs, completely saturating the entire rec room, carpets, padding! Disgusting! Come to find out the sewer drainpipe outside the home was plugged. And then to add insult to injury, I found out my insurance didn't cover the damage! At that point I called a contractor and renovated the entire downstairs.

Recently had 17 gallons of raw sewage come up through my basement floor drain. The plumber stated a homeowner should have there main sewer line cleaned every 5 years. Nobody has ever told me that before. We have been here over 20 years, he stated that these water conservation toilets and comfy toilet paper will definitely generate a blockage over time. Since my experience I have read your main sewer line should be cleaned out every 18-22 months. Find a plumber in town that offers a free sewer camera inspection, and if needed contract him to clean out your line. This service will save you money, time and prevent you from performing the worst cleanup of your life.

My father had a problem in his house. he was dying of cancer, the sewer backed up into the washer. The city insisted it was a connection to the house that was causing the problem. We hired a contractor to fix the problem he said he was unable to fix it the problem was in the street. I called many times after and was told the same thing not the citys fault. I called the mayor told him if he didn't fix this problem now I would be calling the the newspaper. Problem solved they came and fixed the damaged pipe in the street.

Luckily this has not happened -- yet! In our area (northern Virginia) it isn't all that uncommon and you can even pick up insurance through the electric company as your homeowners policy will only cover damages inside the house. The switch out of the piping from the main to the house is all on you. For just about $5 a month you can pick up the insurance that covers thousands of dollars of potential expense. Three homeowners in our development have had to do the repair and believe me we picked up the insurance pronto!

Haven't had this happen in any home my family owned, but it happened in a couple of rentals my friends had. Usually if they had the ground floor in a multi-floor apartment building. It is horrible to discover a geyser of waste shooting out of the toilet and drains into any room with plumbing. Plus most of the landlords they had really did nothing about the cleanup, only had plumbers come out to clear the drain. Needless to say each friend moved out of that apartment when their lease was up because they couldn't stand the disgust of having had that stuff soak into the drywall, and insulation and not be removed.

In March 2014, the old clay sewer pipe running from our house collapsed. It turned out that the old sewer pipe was never replaced or connected to the new main lines the town put in in 1990 -- the owner at the time opted not to have it done and the town did not require it. It took quite a while (2 sets of plumbers investigating using a snake, 2 using a camera, plus another guy who tried to flush what we thought was a blockage to open up the line) to figure out that our sewer line ran under the neighbour's driveway into his house and that, not surprisingly, after so many years, a tough winter, and trucks being parked in the neighbour's drive, the clay pipe had finally collapsed completely. We are now connected with new pipes to the main town sewer lines, but we still don't know where the neighbour's sewer line flows to.

Yes! My poor sister at her house in Tampa, FL. Poop coming out from the sinks, even from the washer! She had to do an emergency maintenance call to get a plumber. On top of the chaos, this happened late at night! Luckily, she found someone. They worked from midnight til 2:30 am. According to her, it look like a scene from a horror movie. I believe her!

Mothers Day w/ a stressed wife and toddler-septic backed up and out of the toilet and into the house. After I shooed my wife away I squeegeed it down the hall & down the steps to our basement before it got to the living area. Messy, but disaster diverted.

Good to laugh about now-not so funny then.

Not in our home, but in a condo I owned. The worst part of it was we had just completed renovations and had accepted a sale offer for the place. When we went over for final walk thru, the condo was full of sewage. Needless to say the the sale was not completed. Another condo in the building had but something down the toilet and it plugged it all up and landed in ours. The clean up, well you can imagine..

We had just rented a brand new house - construction completed the week before we moved in. A couple days later, we heard a gurgling noise and found water gushing up out of the toilet in the main floor 1/2 bath. No "sewage" luckily, but the water soaked all the brand-new carpet. The landlord come over, along with the construction crew who were still working on the house next door. Turns out there was a piece of drywall stuck in the sewer pipe. They were able to get it out via the clean-out valve just outside the house.

We recently had a complete gut- remodel done on a bathroom. Between the drains being left open without water for three week, and various construction materials finding their way down the holes we had backups. Part of the problem was solidification of the materials on the pipe wall and insulation, drywall, sawdust, etc.

After the grout set on our newly tiled shower my wife experienced the first backup. A few days later sewerage filled the new tiled shower base, and the contractor was called in to clean up the mess. Over the next week the drain was rootered, and scoped. The obstructions passed.

It's quite a helpless feeling wondering where the level will stop. I have photos, but it won't share them here.

As a landlord/property owner for 11 years, for preventative measures, I snake the main line about once per year. That's because there are lots of trees that grow over (and into) the line. I rent a heavy duty 100 foot electric snake from Home Depot. That thing's a beast. I insert it in the outside cleanout and usually do two passes, first with the root-cutter bit then with the pipe wall grease remover bit. A massive silver maple grows in a neighbors yard and the roots invade the line about 80 feet from this particular property. Experience tells me that it takes about a year for the roots to grow back thick enough into that section of pipe to start restricting the flow and ultimately creating a blockage as toilet paper, turds, and whatever renters flush down the magic hole began to stitch themselves together in protest to form the barrier that only the power snake auger can penetrate. If you don't use the auger to keep the path clear, then each flush continues to fill the pipe up- until someday, your pipe is full with nowhere to go. You never know which flush will be the last one. But it will seek the least path of resistance...which is back through your toilet or your shower or your sink or your toaster..... ; >

The joys of sewage back-up. ALWAYS HAVE SEWAGE BACK UP INSURANCE !!! Also back-flow valves are our friends! Install them now!

Yes! In the middle of night while my husband was out of town. Awful experience!

Yes. It was a nightmare. We had only been living in our house about a week. The first morning that everything was finally situated and people got up to groom -- the toilets wouldn't drain. The water level grew higher and higher. I turned the water off. It didn't stop. One phone call to a plumber, four days, and many shiny, pretty, pennies later we got new plumbing from the house to the main.
It was a nightmare. Last Labor Day weekend was extremely inconvenient.
Trees. Tree roots. Old clay pipes. *shudders* Did I mention it was a nightmare?

I voted "other." Not exactly a sewer backing up problem and not inside our home. We were living in our own double wide mobile home in a trailer park, and the sewer line was giving us issues. I don't remember all the details of what was going on, but I clearly remember the raw sewage overflowing into the back yard. I guess it was a tree root that had closed off a pipe, but it took them a long time to get to fixing the problem and installing a larger length of pipe. I don't remember now if we called the health dept on them -- we may have. So glad to be out of that park, for many reasons!

This was almost the worst thing that happened in our home; the worst was when the house caught fire. However, the day after Renovation Stage 1 was complete we had interstate visitors arriving. We noticed the second toilet wasn't flushing properly and promptly called a 'stand by' plumber because it was a holiday weekend (of course). What he did next defies belief, with the result that the toilet in our new en suite overflowed like a s--t tsunami! Into our new bedroom it flowed, and into our entry, and down the passage way, not to be stopped! Time for emergency workers! Our visitors were uncontactable until their arrival. The insurance people described my newly renovated home as a health hazard and we weren't allowed back in (as if anyone would want to). We can laugh now - nine years later, but at the time.....

We had just finished the renovation of the two upstairs bathrooms by Halloween last year. We were emptying out the upstairs bedrooms in preparation of paint and carpet with thoughts of a lovely Thanksgiving for about 25 family members and a beautiful Christmas dinner party for friends. Enjoyed my first shower in new master bathroom with jets everywhere. Ahhhh. Went in the downstairs hallway to go to the garage. What's that awful smell! Whats that....oh no......splish! A combo of the fabulous new shower jets plus tree roots resulted in gallons of sewage pouring into the downstairs bath, hallway, bedroom and family room. The good news was that we did not have to have the carpets cleaned for the holiday parties because they were ripped up and thrown out. Everything was demolished back to the studs 18" high. Days of droning fans and dehumidifyers. No parties. Back to the drawing board to renovate downstairs bath. Just about done - inspired by Houzz "Pensylvania Farmhouse" bathroom. Carpeting comes Friday!

hey condomary-guess what they say is true! s### runs down hill!

We were only in our second home a few months when our downstairs powder room began over-flowing. My husband was working and I was doing laundry upstairs when one of my children came in saying we had a 'stinky fountain' in our backyard. About that time one of the other kids used the downstairs powder room. That was all it took! I didn't understand at the time that my laundry was exacerbating the problem. When I went downstairs, the powder room pottie was spewing like a fountain. My then 18 month old daughter, said there is "doo-doo everywhere! She was right. I called my husband, who told me to turn off the washing machine and call a plumber. Turns out our septic tank had been set with a way too short pipe leading from our house to the tank. What a mess! I lost lots of towels, sheets and blankets that night just trying to keep the doo-doo out of our family room and kitchen!

Into the front yard

Old city's like Milwaukee and Chicago (probably New York etc.) combine the sewage and rain runoff into one street pipe...when it rains 100 years later, the system can't handle all the new butts and toilets and well...basement floor drains become relief valves during rain storms (for rain and poop). Just installed an Overhead Sewer into my 100 year old Chicago Bungalow. I'm safe now but someone else on my street is having problems...water is funny that way, it finds a way IN and OUT.

Yes- and into the least path of resistance.

I was renting a home in which the owners had added an addition that included a bathroom. They also installed a new kitchen with all the mod cons. The problem? The new stack leading from the basement, through the kitchen and up to the bathroom was to code. The sewer line leading out to the street was 100 years old and couldn't handle all the waste. The first time, the sewer line had simply cracked and I had sewage all over the basement. The second time, I found raw sewage had backed up to the kitchen sink. Several years of waste had been piling up in that stack until it reached the sink - 10 feet up. The older sewer line just couldn't flush it all away. Eeewww. I had to wait two days for all the water to disperse before the plumber could open the stack without flooding the basement again. That was fun. Was I ever happy I was the renter and not the owner.

Not a sewer exactly, but a septic tank. Caused by a plumber! Just after extensive renovations, and the day interstate guests arrived. A septic tsunami flow from two toilets into the bathrooms, into the master bedroom, into the hallway and family room! Words fail to describe; and 15 years later I can still imagine the smell and the awful torrent.

Common occurrence in towns along the Mississippi River. Heavy rain storm dumps enough water to overflow storm drain system, which then dumps into sewer system. At the bottom of a hill/along the river everyone gets sewage coming up their basement drains (unless they have a check valve installed on the drain)! Several feet deep isn't unusual. (Davenport, IA; Moline, IL for example)

Perfect timing for this question. After reading above we will be renting a snake. About 5 years ago we were on a trip. No
Real access to phones or wifi! Midway I went to a computer checked email. Heading. Emergency call home immediately!
Did, and our animal sitter had experienced everything backing up. Sewage everywhere. Shower and tub the worse! I had used a shower as storage (wicker baskets). Ugh! Anyway,
This was 3 days after the fact. She had called a plumber.
They came over, evaluated and stated they had to tear up our front yard to get to septic! We are on city sewage. Thank goodness our daughter suggested calling a friend who has rentals. She sent over a friend that cleared the way for
$126.00. I'm so grateful we had two opinions. Had to send the plumbing co. $75, but suggested they have their workers
Learn City areas. Don't want the experience again.

Yup, twice.

1. When I was very young, my parents bought a house with a septic tank. They did not realize that a septic tank has to be pumped periodically. This was before current laws requiring septic tank pumping before a house is sold. It backed up into the downstairs shower. Damage limited to the shower. Needless to say, the septic tank was obsessively pumped after that.

2. In a rental house in my early 20s, the main drain became clogged by tree roots. Minor back up into the (unused and unfinished) basement. Landlord paid for repair.

Yup. And it's not as much fun as it sounds like.

This article on our blog describes what happened to these poor homeowners in Prince Edward Island, Canada one winter when their septic system backed up. It was a messy, costly, disaster and nothing could be done to rectify the problem until the summer. There is a short video of them describing what happened at the bottom of the blog article.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh_jAImgadc