My laundry basin in the basement recently has been backing up with water that is dirty and has debris. Once the water drains there is this scum on the bottom that has food particles in it and smells fowl. Is this a sewer backup? The basin was empty this morning but after my daughter took a shower there was the same dirty water in there after. This time it looked like there was pieces of toilet paper in it. What could cause this all of a sudden and what do I need to do to fix it?

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Originally Posted by alexkit35

My laundry basin in the basement recently has been backing up with water that is dirty and has debris. Once the water drains there is this scum on the bottom that has food particles in it and smells fowl. Is this a sewer backup? The basin was empty this morning but after my daugher took a shower there was the same dirty water in there after. This time it looked like there was pieces of toilet paper in it. What could cause this all of a sudden and what do I need to do to fix it?

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Yes , this is a sewer back up. You have a partial blockage downstream from the laundry tray. The solution would be to snake the drain from the washer or the laundry tray roof vent or you could snake from the washer stand pipe.
If you snake from the roof vent put out enough cable to reach the base and about 20 feet more. Good luck, Tom

You did not mention the age of your home but most have a clean out just before the drains goes through the foundation. Do you know what to look for? Tom's roof snaking is great but I don't know your roof slant or height of your home. It is not always practical or safe to go up there so let's also consider other options.

The other option being to snake through the washer stand pipe and trap. Good luck, Tom