If you had a backup from plumbing in your home, say if your toliet backed up, would it be in your home?

Question

Are most of american homes sewers located in the home? If the sewer was to back up would it back up in the home?

Answer 1

First of all, standard plumbing practice has sewer pipes underground for a slab home, or underneath of a pier and beam home.  There is no "standard" answer to give you.  If you were to start building today, and called 50 plumbers, and showed them your design, you would get 50 different designs for the plumbing system, and they would all be correct.  No two plumbers will pipe a house exactly alike. Second: If there is a stoppage downstream of your house, the sewage will back up until it finds a low spot to relieve itself from its constraining pipe. The lowest point in your system is a shower or a bath tub, and that is where you will see raw sewage first.  It is worth a call to a local plumber, to come "read" your house, and inform you of how it is piped. Ask him to show you where any clean outs are located.  Find a plumber with a camera, and let him inspect the inside of your system, and he can mark it on the ground, so you know where it runs.  if there are any trees close to the main, have them removed, because sooner or later, the roots will move or break into your piping, and cause problems.  good luck!

Answer 2

If nothing else is overflowing then it may just be the toilet.

Answer 3

Sewers are under your street. You waste lines are attached to them. They would not back up into your house. If they did, they would back up into all your neighbors houses.

Other homes have septic systems or dry wells. They are located somewhere on your property. If they become clogged or full they can back up into your home. When they back up they come out at the lowest drain in the house.  

Answer 4

Most homes in America have a basement, where the majority of the wiring and plumbing is located.   The actual sewer runs underground in the cities, usually under the roadway, connected to the house drain lines by a minimum 4" pipe.   Most toilets are inside, however, and if there should be a clog in the line between the house and the sewer, it could indeed, back up into the house.  We answer questions constantly from folks who've used too much paper, or their kids may have tried to flush somthing that wouldn't go all the way down and their toilet has backed up and run over onto the floor.     Houses in a rural setting usually have their own septic system, which may consist of a septic holding tank and a drain field or dry well for liquids.