Category 3 contamination
Sewage Cleanup
Sewage backups carry harmful bacteria, viruses and contaminants. Cleanup should be left to experienced remediation specialists who use protective equipment, professional-grade disinfectants and cleaning agents, and who understand proper disposal methods. Ensuring your property is restored to a safe, clean state is the expertise All Dry Services of the Bluegrass brings to it.
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How losses are graded
Category 3 contamination
Water losses are categorised by what is in the water. A clean supply line is category 1. Water carrying some contamination, from an appliance or a washing machine, is category 2. Sewage is category 3: grossly contaminated, carrying bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.
Everything that follows comes from that one fact. It is not something to be in contact with, and it is not something to be in the room with for long without protection.
Before we arrive
What to do before we arrive
Keep people and pets out
Close the door, and keep the area sealed until we arrive.
Stop using water upstream
Every flush and drained sink adds to what is already backing up.
Do not run the HVAC
Moving air through the space aerosolises contamination into rooms that were fine.
Do not mop or vacuum it
A mop redistributes it, a household vacuum aerosolises it, and neither disinfects anything.
Scope
What can be cleaned and kept, and what has to come out
Non-porous and semi-porous material stays. Concrete, tile, sealed hardwood, framing and subfloor can be cleaned, disinfected and kept, and nothing comes out that can be verified as decontaminated where it stands.
Porous material in the affected area is removed rather than cleaned: carpet and pad, drywall to a defined height above the water line, insulation, particleboard and most upholstery. Not because it cannot be made to look clean, but because it cannot be verified as decontaminated all the way through. That distinction is what the scope of work is built on, and it is why removal often extends past the visible edge of the water.
“I cannot say enough great things about this company. Let me first start with timely prompt service and courteous staff. They made me feel at ease from start to finish. If you have any mold, water, or restoration issues, this is the team you want to use.”
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Sequence
How a sewage cleanup runs
Assessment
The extent of the contamination and the safety hazards, in protective equipment, with the area contained before anything is moved and the loss documented.
Extraction and disposal
Contaminated water removed with equipment rated for it, and affected porous material bagged inside containment and disposed of by the methods that waste requires.
Disinfection and sanitation
Professional-grade disinfectants and cleaning agents on every surface that stays, framing and subfloor included. Before drying, because a dry building that was never disinfected is not clean.
Drying and dehumidification
What remains is dried to a measured target with commercial equipment and daily readings, so the moisture left behind cannot become a mold problem.
Rebuild and repair
The material that had to come out is put back. Once the property is dry we coordinate that stage with our rebuild partners, and the documentation from the cleanup goes with it for your carrier.
Air purification
The air in the room is part of the cleanup
Sewage contamination does not stay on the floor. Lifting wet carpet, cutting drywall and pulling pad all put particulate into the air, and that is the point at which contamination reaches rooms that were never affected.
Air scrubbers with HEPA filtration run in the work area for that reason, and negative air pressure holds what is airborne inside the containment instead of letting it move through the building. The filtration stays running through disinfection and drying rather than only during the removal, because the air is the last thing to clear.
It is also the difference between a room that reads as clean and a room that smells wrong a week later. A smell that comes back usually means something was left behind, either in the material or in the air.
Rural property
Septic failures behave differently
A good deal of our service area is on septic rather than municipal sewer. A septic failure tends to surface in the yard or come up through the lowest drain in the house, and the underlying fault is a septic problem that a restoration company does not fix.
We handle the contamination inside the building. The system itself needs a septic contractor, and doing one without the other means doing it again in a month.
FAQ
Questions Central Kentucky property owners ask us
Is a sewage backup covered by insurance?
Ask your carrier, and ideally before you need to. Backup cover is not something we can read off a policy for you. What we can do is document the loss thoroughly and deal directly with your adjuster once a claim is open.
Can I clean up a small sewage backup myself?
We would strongly advise against it. Category 3 water carries bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, a mop redistributes it, and a household vacuum aerosolises it into the air you are breathing. Neither disinfects anything. Close the door, stop using water upstream, and call.
Why are you removing drywall that does not look wet?
Because porous material in a category 3 area is removed rather than cleaned, and drywall wicks water upward inside the sheet well past where staining shows. Cutting to a defined height above the water line is the standard response, and it is what makes the difference between a decontaminated building and one that merely looks clean.
How long before we can use the room again?
The contaminated material usually comes out on the first day. Cleaning, disinfection and drying to a measured target typically take several days after that, depending on how far the water travelled and what it reached. We will give you a realistic sequence once we have seen it, and we will not tell you a room is finished before the readings say so.
Emergency response, 24 hours a day
Emergency restoration response, 24 hours a day
One call gets our technicians heading your way, a free inspection, and your insurance billed directly. Day or night.
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*Free inspections and estimates are offered during business hours. Some conditions apply; call for further information. Inspections and estimates must be authorized by the property owner or management company.
- We aim to be there within the hour
- IICRC certified firm
- EPA Lead-Safe certified firm
- BBB A+ rated, accredited since 2023
- Locally owned and operated
- 24/7 live calls
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- We bill your insurance directly
- Veteran discounts
- We never use subcontractors
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