Hiring an independant adjuster is always a good idea. A professional
cleaning company that specializes in homes damaged from fire or flood will
probably be able to give you good advice. Sewage is absolutely one of the
nastiest things you can think of (totally the ick! factor) but don't let it
freak you out too much. Your carpets and exposed fabric surfaces along with
any exposed sheet rock (as with any flood) will have to be replaced. The
rest can be cleaned, dried out, and chemically sterilized. I am not a
construction expert so can make no claims to possible damage by the
wastewater. I am sufficiently experienced with sewage and flooding issues.
The house is not a total loss(barring structural damage), it can be fixed
without long term problems being caused by the sewage. The biggest problem
is not getting it cleaned and dried out in a timely manner which can
exacerbate the problem and cause irreperable harm (read mold and fungus fed
by a rich fertilizer). Obviously, you cannot remain in the home until it is
cleaned. Do not reenter the home if you have any cuts or abrasions. Use
gloves and solid shoes when entering the home. Wash hands, footwear, and
non-fabric objects that have been exposed to the sewage in a bleach solution
(1 part bleach, 10 parts water) to sterilize them. All homes should be
equipped with a backflow preventer, failing that, if this should threaten to
occur again...go outside and pull off your clean out plugs and let the
sewage flow to the ground outside where you can treat it with HTH, then let
it dry and rake up any remaining waste.


"mcd" wrote in message
ps.com...
We recently experienced 1st hand what a blockage in the city sewer will
do a house. We had a blockage occur in the city line just below our
connection. It came spouting out two showers and two toilets and our
corner bathtub filled up. After freely flowing for about 40 minutes
(we tried bucketing to stem the rising tide...) we had between 2 and 4
inches covering 80% of the house and our storage basement and finished
basement apartment got drenched from above. My questions revolve
around the adjuster and cleaning company. After taking out the
laminate flooring from above and the ceiling from below it was pretty
evident that the subfloor soaked that crap up. Same for most of the
joists (engineered i-beam type). I also have radiant floor system
attached to this section of my house.

My cleaning company is saying they can clean and seal the sub-floor
(3/4 inch plywood) and the joists. But, I'm concerned about the
radiant floor heating system and I'd rather have them replace the
sub-floor and affected joists.

Is it worth hiring an independent adjuster over this? Or am I over
reacting?

Thanks,

Martin
Oregon