Question From A Customer:Can I Clean Up a Toilet Overflow Myself?

8/27/2019 (Permalink)

We recommend that you have your home professionally restored after a toilet overflow.

If you know us, you know we try not to be alarmists when it comes to water damage in homes and businesses.

We've seen what flooding as well as a failure to properly clean it up can do and we try to be as straightforward as possible with our customers about the treatments that we feel are necessary and unnecessary when they've had water damage. 

If you've had flooding from a toilet overflow, our Production Managers will usually recommend that you have the mess professionally cleaned up. One of the common problems that we encounter when we discuss an overflow with a homeowner is that they underestimate the damage. In their minds, the water has been mopped up and there is no visible evidence of the flood aside from maybe damp baseboard molding or wet carpeting where the water seeped off of the tile flooring. 

What our team knows from experience, however, is that the sewage damage is likely more widespread than it appears.  In many cases, the water will run up or down the walls, which ruins the drywall and can create a hazardous electrical situation. Water often seeps under the bathroom cabinets and gets trapped there. The same goes for laminate flooring, which is a practical solution in bathrooms but of which water can easily penetrate. In our decades in the water damage restoration industry, we have seen the damage that untreated moisture behind walls and under floors can cause. Most obvious is mold, which can grow and spread unchecked when hidden behind a wall.  

In addition to the structural problems that water from a toilet flood can cause, it might also contain pathogens that are harmful to human health. Without treatment from antimicrobial agents, bacteria and viruses are not removed from the surfaces although the water might be gone.

We know that it's tempting to take a few towels and mop up a toilet overflow however in this case, we do recommend that our customers give us a call and have us come and assess the situation.