MD Oxide was used after a plumbing/sewer back up and returns the area to a presentable and more health-conscious situation for customers and employees in 1 hour total job time.
Situation: Md Clean Solutions was called with a work order for a large credit union that has experienced 7 plumbing and drainage back ups in 2023-2024.
The exact cause of the issue is still unknown after many remedies from several plumbing companies have not adequately remedied the cause of the problem.
Usually, it is from a blockage deep inside the indoor plumbing anywhere from the toilet housing, or the building’s interior pipes due to the accumulation of non-dissolvable or edifying materials that collect over time. At other times, the nature and cause are from the building exterior drainage pipes leading to the sewer caused by a blockage of brush and sediment from storms, leaks and cracks from old deteriorating drainage systems, dead animals and what not.
The result is always unpleasant and usually manifests as the pressure in the pipes becoming so great that the path of least resistance is a reverse flow back up to the largest, clearest pipe which is almost always the floor or shower drain in the restroom.
This further results in whatever was in that pipe being regurgitated back into the building.
What’s in that pipe? Anything commonly referred to as sewage, human waste and excrement, soap, unknown chemicals and materials, pharmaceutical products, dirt grime and sludge.
The odor and appearance alone is nauseating, and this is for good reason. The human senses are finally tuned by eons of evolution to detect substances that cause disease and decay which is why this situation needs to be addressed urgently.
Humans are literally in danger when this situation arises because this sewage back up is a level 1 vector of E. Coli, harmful protozoa, Clostridia difficile (Bad bacteria), and teeming with unlimited disease causing and life threating pathogens that are now replicating in the facility.
Process and Procedure for Remediating Odors, Disease Causing Pathogens, and Restoring Hygiene in a Plumbing Back up Situation.
Materials needed:
1. Water extractor with wand and components
2. MD Oxide
3. Protective Gear
4. Sprayer or Fogger
5. Finishing Cleaning rags, towels, and glass cleaner.
6. High Volume, Floor fans dryers
7. Hydroxyl air purifiers can be useful but are optional based on the level of the problem.
Situational Procedure:
After visual inspection of the back up location and source. It was determined that there was sewage water seeping up the pipe and welling up in the bathroom floor, with resultant permeation into the proximate dry wall, subfloor, and wicking 1.5 feet into the proximal carpet, outside the wall, in the guest lobby and restroom hallway.
After adequately dressing in protective clothing, and donning protective mask and eye covering, a stepwise approach was initiated. It was necessary to first extract the welling sewage on the floor, base boarders/cracks and corners using the extractor in the restroom. This was successful in removing the visually apparent water and sewage matter.
This also assisted the onsite plumber to visually inspect the drain, sink, and toilet to begin the process of diagnosing the source of the blockage.
The floor and base boards were then resoaked with 100% MD Oxide delivered by 5-gallon bucket and let to dwell for 8 minutes to allow for the activation of odor pathogen neutralizing properties to take effect and to permeate the baseboards, while also seeping into any grout, cracks, or breaches in the floor and base boards.
While the MD Oxide was dwelling, the technician prepared a mixture of MD Oxide, a disinfectant tab (one half oz), and high temperature water in the extractor’s solution tank, and after adequate dwell time of the physically poured solution, the technician then extracted the !00% solution with particular attention to the entire cross plane intersection of the wall and floor to the corners to extract out as much seepage under the base boards of the wall and floor as possible.
This overall method eliminated a subjective 92% of the offending odor and an undetermined percentage of the harmful pathogens remaining in the restrooms, allowing for the next phase of the remediation procedure which was a high temperature, pressurized spray, and instant extraction of the MD Oxide/disinfectant tab mixture from the extractors solution tank which, when applied in the aforementioned appropriate matter, cleaned, disinfected, and removed an additional amount of remaining sewage matter and pathogens.
The technician then physically cleaned the entire restroom, again using the MD Oxide Product, which encompassed all sinks and furnishings, toilet exterior (while not flushing the toilet because there was still a plumbing problem), base boards, walls, corners, crevices, and grout.
MD Clean Solutions then, and at times in sequence, performed a similar, however augmented procedure on the near carpet and base boards in the afore mentioned areas of the restroom hallway and customer lobby where the carpet was physically and visually wetted from the sewer back up seeping under the walls using MD oxide, and the extractor.
*(It should be noted that, after initial pre-inspection of the magnitude of the job, sometimes this step should be performed with separate extracting equipment to reduce contamination to higher trafficked areas, however in this situation, the technician determined the most appropriate plan for the customer from a cost/benefit perspective due to the relatively low magnitude of the problem).
It should be also noted that customers and employees of the credit union were instantaneously impressed, as evidenced by the quote of the bank manager on site that mentioned “The smell is already gone, thank you!”
MD Clean Solutions then disposed of the majority of its protective equipment and prepared a cordless, half- gallon electric fogging device with 100% MD Oxide, and then sprayed the restrooms covering the floor, walls, and all of the previously physically cleaned fixtures in the restrooms, and then the floors carpet, base boards, and lower walls of the restroom hallway and customer lobby with the objective of further disinfection of the remediated problem.
This is an additional, however very necessary, and appropriate step, due to the highly contaminated areas exposed to high pathogen levels of this nature and scope.
It is noted that although sprayed MD Oxide does not absolutely need to be used with protective gear, it is still generally recommended. Here, the technician opted not to as a further cost/benefit to the customer, being experienced and familiar with the safety profile of MD Oxide.
The technician further opted to not place a Hydroxyl air and surface purifier as the water seepage did not reach the planer 3-inch threshold and associated prep work that would necessitate the consideration of using hydroxyl air cleaners or scrubbers. These machines can be useful in other jobs of higher magnitude.
Decontamination of the Cleaning Equipment
To handle problems of this nature and scope most appropriately, careful pre and post-preparation must be done by decontaminating any equipment and clothing used in the remediation of sewage and plumbing backups.
1. All protective clothing, gear and masks were disposed of and/or decontaminated.
2. All equipment in direct contact with the offending surface areas (including shoes) was rinsed and bagged on site and separated from the other gear in the transportation vehicle.
3. At the MD Clean Solutions decontamination area, the extractor machine, hose, and interior housing was emptied, and flushed with the MD Oxide/disinfecting tab/ high temperature water solution.
4. All bagged items and extractor machine components were pressure washed with a high temperature soapy solution.
5. These items were allowed to air dry in the sun until completely dry.
6. These components were then disinfected using the electric fogger filled with 100% MD Oxide sprayed directly on the items and allowed to be dried, then identified as decontaminated, then neatly stored and readied for the next job.
Conclusion:
The use of MD Oxide before, during, and after the remediation of a sewer back up was a very easy and cheap solution to a long list of issues when encountering this type of work. The product is safe for customers, employees, and technicians. MD Oxide worked fast and effectively to not only deodorize immediately, but it also reduced the potential for disease and sickness from the pathogens that were teeming in the area affected by the plumbing/sewer back up.
It was used to decrease the initial heavy bio burden, used to clean the delicate fixtures, fabric, and carpet at the job, it was aerosolized without protective gear to fine tune the job, and used to help decontaminate the equipment used on the job and
after completion of the job.
MD Oxide took the place of several different products that could have been used with varying levels of risk and effectiveness which enables, ease of use and coordination of materials, safety to customers, technicians, and employees, and streamlines costs in a way that delivers more revenue, and lowers non-labor costs to customers needing a powerful and safe disinfectant.
MD Oxide truly is what is next in many industries for general cleaning and deodorizing, as well as the big jobs in the commercial and healthcare industries.