Sewage & Biohazard Cleanup in New Hyde Park, NY

Usually not. Carpet and padding soak up Category 3 water and cannot be reliably made safe, so they are cut out and discarded. Hard surfaces, sealed wood and items in closed containers can often be cleaned and kept.

It depends on the cause, the lease and local law. A landlord's policy may cover the building, while a renter's policy may cover belongings. If the blockage was in a public sewer main, the city or utility may be responsible for the repair.

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.

No. Water from a clean source can often be dried in place, but sewage is a biohazard that requires removal of contaminated materials and disinfection. Drying alone does not make a sewage-affected space safe.

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.

Small jobs may be finished in a day, while larger ones with tear-out, drying and odor treatment take longer. The time depends on the area affected and what had to be removed. The crew can tell you what to expect after assessing the space.