"Including the sewer line replacement, pumping the basement, cleaning the basement, replacing the section of wet wood between first story floor and basement ceiling, and replacing the wooden stairs that descended from first story to basement, Lisa's final cost came out to be just over $33,000."

Lisa received a 17 second mp4 file from her tenant on Monday night. The video opened with a view of brown water slowly flowing out of the junction between basement ceiling and basement wall of Lisa's rental house. The view then pans down the wall to reveal 2 inches of brown fluid covering the basement floor.

When the emergency plumber was finally able to diagnose the problem, the culprit turned out to be a solidified mass of "flushable" wet wipes, cat litter, and number 2. The mass had grown inside a sewer pipe joint located under the first story floor of the house, just adjacent to the staircase which descended to the basement. The mass was slowly built over the course of 10 months from two bad habits of Lisa's tenant.

The first bad habit was using flushable wipes exclusively in place of toilet paper.  The sad reality is that most wet wipes advertised as “flushable” shouldn’t really be flushed.  The reason toilet paper can be flushed is that it easily disintegrates in water.  If you place a “flushable” wipe in cold water and there are still large pieces in 5-10 minutes, then the wipe is not actually flushable.  That was the case with Lisa’s tenant’s wipes.  These wipes, flushed many at a time, accumulated in the joints and bends of plumbing pipe throughout the house, but particularly in the 90 degree angle joint under the first story floor.

The second bad habit was using a cat toilet trainer.  Lisa’s tenant had two cats, and she used a type of toilet training device to train her cats to poop in the toilet rather than a litter box.  Unfortunately, this training device used cat litter during the initial phases of training (something like the image below). 

Some of this cat litter ended up in the toilet.  Over time, this cat litter got caught in the flushable wipes that were accumulating in the sewer pipe joints.  Once caught, the cat litter rapidly formed a sort of cement.

The combination of wipes and litter cemented into masses that partially choked multiple flow points in the house’s plumbing system.  These choke points in turn created high pressure zones in the middle-aged cast iron plumbing pipes.  Eventually, the flushable-wipe-cat-litter-cement clog in the first story floor joint restricted flow so much that the pipe developed cracks.  These cracks likely existed unnoticed for several weeks as they slowly leaked small quantities of sewer water into the wood beams of the basement ceiling and the wood stairs that descended from first floor to basement.  Finally, the cracks widened enough to allow noticeable fluid flow to start draining out of the pipes, through the basement ceiling, and onto the basement floor. The damage to the house was substantial.

Multiple stretches of sewer line had to be replaced. A large section of first story flooring and basement ceiling had wood which had been soaked for weeks and had deteriorated to the point of needing replacement. The wooden staircase to the basement also needed to be replaced. The basement had to be pumped, cleaned, and sterilized. Some areas of basement ceiling and walls needed mold treatment. After everything, Lisa's repair costs summed to just over $33,000.

Like many homeowner's insurance policies, Lisa's policy didn't cover this type of sewer line damage. Like many renter's insurance policies, Lisa's tenant's renter's insurance policy didn't cover this type of sewer line damage. To make matters worse still, Lisa didn't have a particularly strong legal case. The rental property was in a very tenant-friendly jurisdiction where flushing wipes advertised as "flushable" was not considered negligent. In the end, Lisa paid the entire repair amount out of pocket.

Is there anything Lisa could have done to prevent this? Yes!

Lisa's situation would have been very different if she had included a "do not flush" clause in the lease contract with her tenant. A "do not flush" clause describes what can and cannot be flushed, and clearly puts liability on the tenant for any damages caused by lack of compliance with the "do not flush" clause. Such a clause can often bypass considerations of whether or not a tenant was "negligent" if it can be shown that the tenant flushed something on the do-not-flush list.

If you ever own or operate a rental property, here is a "do not flush" clause that you can use in your lease contracts to avoid ending up like Lisa.

"Do not flush" clause template

Toilet Flush Rules. Tenant agrees to only put human bodily waste and toilet paper down the toilet. Things Tenant agrees to NEVER flush down the toilet include, but are not limited to:

1. Wet wipes, baby wipes, disinfectant wipes, cleaning wipes, or other disposable wipes (including wipes advertised as "flushable")
2. Paper towels
3. Toilet bowl scrub pads
4. Tissues
5. Cardboard toilet paper rolls
6. Swiffer pads
7. Tampons, pads, or other feminine products
8. Cotton balls
9. Q-tips
10. Underwear of any sort
11. Diapers
12. Hair (e.g. from a brush or comb)
13. Dental floss
14. Bandaids
15. Cooking oil or grease
16. Food
17. Napkins
18. Cat poop
19. Cat litter
20. Contact lenses
21. Fish (dead or alive)
22. Condoms or condom wrappers
23. Pee test sticks
24. Toys
25. Plastic bags or packaging
26. Drugs (prescription or otherwise), medications, vitamins, or dietary supplements

Tenant shall be liable for any and all damages caused in whole or in part by, or catalyzed by, any use of any toilet which is not in accordance with the aforedescribed usage restrictions.

Disclaimer

Nothing in this article should be considered legal advice, opinion, recommendation, or guarantee of any sort.