Our home was left with £20k of damage after huge sewage explosion – it destroyed everything we own

A FAMILY have been left thousands out of pocket and homeless in a nightmare sewage incident that caused a whopping £20,000 worth of damage. Ruben Petzler and his young family have had a “hell of a ride” over the last five weeks. During a Saturday evening at home, the family alerted the real estate over an issue with the toilet – however, their calls went unanswered Credit: News.au Clothing, electronics, mattresses and furniture were completely contaminated after the sewage explosion Credit: News.au “I don’t even know how to explain it. The way it was handled, the way we were treated. I suppose, has been just a nightmare,” the devastated father told news.com.au. Ruben, his wife and their four children had called their rental in Ipswich home for nine months. When they moved in, they unpacked possessions that had 16 years’ worth of sentiment. Sign up for the Fabulous newsletter Thank you! The home was conveniently close to work and school, and it was where they started to make memories alongside their beloved dog. However, that all changed in the blink of an eye. Although they attempted to fight the onslaught it was of little use Credit: News.au It took three massive skipbins filled to the brim to clear the damaged belongings from the contaminated property Credit: News.au “We’re now back to square one. We have to rebuild everything from scratch,” the father said. During a Saturday evening at home, the family alerted the real estate over an issue with the toilet – however, their calls went unanswered. A plumber was unable to attend until the following day. But by the time he finally arrived, disaster had already struck. “It was too late. It had already backed up through the house, and it was coming out of the drain in both of the showers in our house and the drains outside the shower,” the furious father said. Most read in Fabulous ‘It’ was raw sewage, pushing at least two inches out of the drain in a stream that the father estimates lasted about 20 minutes inside, and a further nine minutes once a plumber arrived to take the inspection cap off outside. The plumber informed the father that typically a blockage will run for 60 seconds. Ruben recalls the plumber cleared a build-up of flushable wet wipes from outside the home’s boundary while he was in attendance. “The perfect wording for it was a s*** situation,” the he said. Although they attempted to fight the onslaught it was of little use. “[We] tried to get a squeegee and push it all out the doors, but it just got worse and sunk into the carpets and lounges and everything. It was destroyed,” he recounted. Clothing, electronics, mattresses and furniture were completely contaminated. It took three massive skipbins filled to the brim to clear the damaged belongings from the contaminated property. The emotional process confused the children who were unable to understand why they had to part with their belongings. The circumstances only became more confusing after they were moved into emergency housing and their beloved dog was sent to stay with a friend. Ruben claims the real estate “hung us out to dry” and didn’t offer “any sort of direction”, suggesting a solution would have to wait until Monday. When the father asked: “Where do we go between now and then, because we can’t stay in the house” the agent responded, “Well, I’m not sure.” The family were able to seek housing at a caravan park where they were paying $1280 ( £670) a week before downsizing to a three-bedroom unit for $500 (£260) a week. They have been searching for something more permanent after terminating the lease, putting them back on the rental market’s brutal chopping block. “I went to a house viewing the other day… There were 62 cars there. The rental market is horrendous,” he said. But even with something more permanent, the damage is irreplaceable, with the family not having contents insurance. They’d only planned on staying in the rental short-term. Now, Ruben warns other families to take out contents insurance if they haven’t already: “It’s just been a nightmare of a time not having that insurance… I suppose it’s been a difficult lesson to learn.” A GoFundMe has been created by a close friend to the family in a bid to help them find their footing after the financial hit. This story was originally published on News.com.au and has been republished here with permission Comment now