We’ve had a few plumbing issues lately which, thankfully, have been resolved. However, our crawl space had been infected by the sewage which had spewed from our pipes for we don’t know how long.
Raw, slimy sewage running down the basement wall from the crawl space.
Once the pipes were repaired we noticed some strange things going on in the crawl space and the basement. Tiny flies (called drain flies) were all over the walls of the basement and had begun to find their way to other parts of the house. Eichkk!
Tiny black flies all over the basement wall.
And the in the crawl space a forest of stingy mushrooms had begun to grow. The whole scene was eerie.
The stringy white growths appear to be some sort of fungus.
The plumbers had suggested, and we concurred, that the crawl space needed to be disinfected. The smell had dissipated but the flies and fungi remained so Charlie filled his spray bottle with chlorine bleach and water (about 60:40 dilution) and sprayed the dirt in the crawl space and the cinderblock walls while wearing his self-rigged hazmat outfit that can be seen in this post about cleaning the bathroom tile.
The flies have dissipated and the mushrooms are dying. We might need another treatment.
The flies seem to have disappeared and the mushrooms are dwindling. If we ever have another sewage problem I hope we catch it sooner because the residual effects of raw sewage in the basement are gross at best and, more seriously, a health hazard.
How do you handle toxic situations?
I had those same flies in my shower grout from a long term knob leak. They are worms first, btw. So any water source breeds these things. Vinegar fixed it for me but bleach is probably better.
Thanks for the advice. There is no more leaking so we’ll defintely try the vinegar fix. Jo