If you notice a foul sewer smell in your house or basement here are the five possible causes in order of probability.
Basement floor drain backing up sewage.
Water under pressure can cause the sewer line to back up because it escapes through the lowest point it is the easiest route.
Reasons for a basement floor drain backing up.
Although it may seem like it not all problems related to the backed up sewer line have to do with actual clogs and defected pipes.
It typically means the house drain under your basement floor is full of water.
That can mean a rainstorm has surcharged the drain system or even the public sewer system.
When water is backing up out of your floor drain the causes are many.
For homes that don t have a basement floor drain drain line clogs can cause backups in the lowest fixtures of the home like ground level tubs sinks or showers.
Because a floor drain is located at the lowest point in a drain system it is the first place a backup will be visible but not necessarily the point of the clog.
Basement floor drains don t get a lot of attention until the sewer backs up or the basement smells like an outhouse.
Finding the source of the basement smell.
And while it is commonly held that a sewer drain backs up largely because there is a blockage or break in the sewer line some homes have floor drains attached to the storm sewer system.
Typically waste water backing up out of a floor drain is not a floor drain backup.
So your basement floor drain is backing up and flooding.
A blockage can occur if a portion of the line has broken but generally a blockage is.
There s water in the basement.
Sewer line clogs floor drain backups.
Sewer drain versus storm drain a sewer drain and a storm sewer are two different things and sometimes older houses have both.
Floor drains are most often installed during original construction often in the utility area to drain away excess water in the basement.
If there hasn t been a recent heavy rain then there is probably a main line clog.
Many basement floor drains tie directly to the home s sewer system but in some communities local building codes require floor drains to run to a sump pit where a pump lifts the water to the exterior surface of the house.
Water in any trap under unused drains will eventually evaporate.
A main line clog.
So with the main drain backing up wastewater will continue to build up in the line until it overflows and backs up out of the floor drain.
First you need to determine if it is local waste produced in your home that can t get out due to a blockage in the main line leaving your home or if it is waste from the sewer system coming back in called a backflow.
Before we move on to learning how to unclog a basement floor drain let s take a look at some of the things that can ruin your sewer system s smooth operation a lot of things can contribute to your basement floor drain getting clogged.
