Category 3 Sewage Loss — South Weber, UT

Loss Type: Category 3 Water / Basement Sewage Backup

Location: South Weber, UT near Harmony Lane

Response Time: 44 minutes

Job Duration: 6 days

Insurance: Yes – State Farm (sewer backup endorsement)

The Situation

A homeowner near Harmony Lane in South Weber called us on a weeknight after discovering the basement bathroom toilet had backed up and overflowed, requiring immediate sewage cleanup after sending raw waste across the finished basement floor. The backup had been caused by a grease blockage in the lateral line between the home and the municipal connection. The finished basement included a family room, a bathroom, a home office, and a wet bar area — all of which had been exposed to Category 3 contaminated sewage water before the homeowner could contain the situation.

The Problem

The sewage had spread across approximately 560 square feet of the finished basement before the homeowner discovered it. The family room carpet, the bathroom tile grout, the wet bar base cabinet, and the lower sections of drywall on all affected walls had been in contact with Category 3 water. Under IICRC S500 all porous materials contacting Category 3 sewage are classified as unsalvageable regardless of visible condition.

A secondary concern was the home office — the door had been closed and the sewage had not visibly entered the room, but moisture readings at the base of the shared wall between the family room and the office showed that contaminated water had wicked under the door threshold and into the office carpet along the shared wall. This required including the office in the Category 3 scope even though the intrusion was not immediately visible.

The State Farm sewer backup endorsement covered the full sewage backup cleanup scope. The adjuster was on-site the following morning, and working through the insurance claims process with State Farm was straightforward given the documented lateral line failure. The plumber cleared and camera-inspected the lateral line the same night.

What We Did

Our crew arrived in 44 minutes with full PPE required for Category 3 biohazard cleanup, along with containment materials and truck-mounted extraction equipment. We established full containment at the basement stairwell and began truck-mounted Category 3 extraction. The scope of contaminated material removal included:

• Approximately 560 square feet of carpet and pad from the family room and the affected office zone
• Drywall removed to 12 inches above the flood line on all affected walls — approximately 190 linear feet
• All baseboards and door casings in all affected rooms
• Wet bar base cabinet which had absorbed Category 3 water into the cabinet box
• Bathroom vanity base cabinet
• All contaminated personal items on the floor including stored boxes and fabric items

Following demolition all exposed concrete, framing, and any remaining hard surfaces were treated with a two-application EPA List N disinfectant protocol — a first application immediately after demolition and a second application 24 hours later to ensure full contact time on the porous concrete slab. The bathroom tile was cleaned and disinfected in place as it was a non-porous surface that could be effectively decontaminated without removal.

The post-demolition drying system included:

• Commercial dehumidifiers running continuously across all basement rooms — 4 units total
• 7 air movers directed at concrete slab, exposed wall framing, and foundation wall bases as part of our standard structural drying protocol
• Twice-daily moisture readings logged across all surfaces for the insurance file

An independent industrial hygienist performed clearance testing on day 6 before the job was signed off and the space was released for reconstruction.

The Outcome

Clearance testing confirmed the space was safe for reconstruction. The State Farm sewer backup endorsement covered the full remediation scope. The homeowner’s contractor rebuilt all four basement rooms including new drywall, flooring, and the wet bar. The bathroom tile was retained. We provided a complete remediation report including the two-application disinfection log, moisture readings, and clearance certificate for the insurance file and contractor records. Final walkthrough also confirmed successful odor removal — no residual sewage odor was detectable at clearance, which is a required benchmark before we release any Category 3 job for reconstruction.

“Sewage in your finished basement is as bad as it gets. They showed up fast, took complete control of the situation, and were thorough in a way that gave us real confidence everything was actually clean and not just visually clean. State Farm covered the full job. We are very grateful for how professionally this was handled.”

— C. and B. Erickson, South Weber UT

Related Case Studies

If you found this case study helpful, the sewage line backup case study in Clearfield covers a similar lateral line failure with a different insurance outcome and is worth reviewing if you are dealing with a comparable situation. We also handled a case of mold behind drywall in South Weber that illustrates exactly the kind of secondary mold risk that Category 3 losses create when full drywall removal is delayed — a useful read for any homeowner who experienced a sewage event that was not immediately remediated to the full IICRC S500 standard.

View more of our water damage case studies across Davis County to see how we handle different loss types, water categories, and insurance scenarios.