Sewage & Biohazard Cleanup in Buckhead Forest, Atlanta, GA

Common signs include a sewer smell in the yard or crawl space, soft or damp ground near the foundation, gurgling drains and slow drains in several fixtures at once. A plumber can confirm the leak. Once it is found, a cleanup team can take care of the contaminated soil, materials and odor.

Drywall is porous and holds contamination that can spread germs and odor long after the surface looks clean. Crews usually cut out wall board that sewage touched, and often take out a margin above the wet mark to reach clean material.

Category 3 water is the most contaminated level, and sewage is the standard example. It can carry disease-causing germs and should never be cleaned with household supplies alone. Flood water that touched sewage is treated the same way.

Yes. Raw sewage is Category 3 contamination and can carry bacteria, viruses and parasites. That is why cleanup crews wear protective gear and remove porous materials instead of just drying them.

Treat it as raw sewage. Keep people out of the bathroom, stop using the fixture and call for cleanup. The liquid can reach under flooring and into walls, so a crew checks beyond the visible puddle.

Watch for a rotten-egg or sewer smell, wet spots or stains on floors and walls, unusually green grass over a pipe, and multiple drains backing up at the same time. If any of these show up, keep people away from the area and have the cause checked.