When water comes up the floor drain in a Livonia basement, the first question is whose pipe failed, the city's main or the line from your house. The city will send a crew to find out, and the answer decides who pays and whether you have a claim. Here is the order to do things in.
Call the city first
During business hours, call the Department of Public Works Water and Sewer Division at (734) 466-2650, weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After hours, if you think the main city sewer is blocked, call the Livonia Police Department at (734) 466-2470 (City of Livonia, Sewer Backups).
The crew checks whether the problem is in the public main or your private line. If the city sewer is clear, the problem is on your side, and you hire a licensed plumber at your own expense. That call is still worth making first, because it puts the backup on the city's record the day it happened.
File a written claim within 45 days
Livonia is clear about the deadline. If a sewer or stormwater system overflows or backs up into your home and you intend to make a claim, you must file a written claim with the city within 45 days after you discover it. Claim forms come from the Sewer Division at (734) 466-2635 (City of Livonia, Sewer Backups).
That deadline comes from state law. The notice has to include your name, address, and phone number, the address of the damaged property, the date you discovered the damage, and a brief description of the claim, and the city can then inspect (Michigan law on sewage backup claims, MCL 691.1419). File it even if the crew has not told you yet whose line failed. A claim you did not need costs you nothing. A missed deadline cannot be fixed.
Why Livonia basements back up
The city lists the usual causes: heavy rain, blockages from grease, debris, and tree roots, sewer lines that collapse, and private house lines in poor condition. Two of those four are on the homeowner's side of the property line, which is why the crew's answer matters so much.
Livonia scores 48 on the Basement Risk Index, 49th of 116 metro communities. About 41 percent of its homes were built before 1960, and its median year built is 1964, newer than the inner-ring suburbs to the east. That score is modeled from housing data, not measured house by house, and a newer city can still have plenty of older streets.
What to document before you clean up
- Photograph the floor drain, the water line on the walls, and every damaged item before anything moves.
- Write down when you found the water and how deep it was.
- Note the date and time you called the city and what the crew found.
- Keep every receipt for pumping, cleanup, and replacement.
Then dry things out fast. The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to keep mold from starting (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home). Carpet and drywall that touched sewage usually cannot be saved.
Check your own policy the same week
The city claim and your homeowners insurance run side by side. Many policies leave out sewer backup unless you added a water backup endorsement, so pull your declarations page and look for it. If your line was the problem, that endorsement may be the only money on the table.
Fixing it so it does not happen again
If the crew found your private line was the cause, start there: a plumber can camera the line and tell you whether roots or a collapse are the problem. If the city main backed up in a storm, a backwater valve on your sewer line is the fix that stops it from reaching the basement next time, and federal flood guidance lists backflow protection among the measures worth doing (FEMA, Protect Your Property From Flooding). As a planning range, a retrofit runs $1,500 to $3,500.
Seepage through the walls is a different problem with a cheaper start. Downspout extensions and grading run $0 to $200 and are the place to start. In Aaron's own Livonia basement, one wet wall turned out to be water coming in through the chimney, not the foundation, which is the best argument there is for finding the source before paying for a fix.
Sources reviewed
Primary sources checked September 2026:
- City of Livonia, Sewer Backups, livonia.gov.
- Michigan law on sewage backup claims, MCL 691.1419, legislature.mi.gov.
- EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home, epa.gov.
- FEMA, Protect Your Property From Flooding, fema.gov.