If you have a friend or family member who is also a hoarder, then the time may come when their home needs a good clean. This may follow moving them to a place of safety, or after someone else helped them tidy up. Cleaning a hoarder’s home is not for the faint-hearted, because it can be a messy job.
Consider Hiring Help Before You Start
Cleaning a hoarder’s home may take several days of your time, and expose you to mould and rotting food. If you are sensitive to germs or worry about infections, then you may like to consider hiring someone else to do the job.
Avery Associates provides a cleaning service in homes in Greater London and the South of England. We are also expert assessors of valuable collectibles, and can identify items which should not go to council landfill.
The Risks of Cleaning a Hoarder’s Home
There may be potential dangers ahead, as you enter a hoarder’s home and start disturbing possessions that have lain there for years. We strongly recommend you consider wearing protective equipment before you start. We are not medical professionals. Perhaps you should ask your doctor for advice.
Watch Out For Human and Animal Waste
People afflicted by compulsive hoarding may block toilets by flushing rotting food down the sewer. They may also keep pets, but never allow them to exercise outside. Exposure to animal and human waste may cause transient or chronic health issues that take ages to shake off.
Mould Spores May Be Everywhere You Go
Mould spores are invisible to the naked eye, but can float freely in the air we breathe. National Health Service warns how this can cause respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies, or asthma. We can set these reactions off by just touching a mouldy item, so we need to take care if we are susceptible.
Cleaning a Hoarder’s Home of Rotting Food
Rotting piles of food in cupboards and ‘fridges don’t just smell revolting, and make us feel like throwing up. They also give off disease spores that may cause serious indigestion. Fresh foods that are not kept at the right temperature can be unsafe to eat. Don’t take chances. Trash every food item that you come across.
Insect and Rodent Infestations
Signs of rat droppings, and streams of ants are warning signs of food lying around. Find and get rid of the food source, and they will vanish almost as quickly as they came. Rat droppings may contain a virus that could be deadly when we breathe it in. Open all the doors and windows, and let the fresh air in.
Cleaning a Hoarder’s Home – Essential Steps
It’s not unusual to feel daunted when you tackle a job like this yourself. However, things can go a little easier when you think ahead along these lines:
- Will the hoarder be with you when you start? If so, you may expect a little resistance as you start moving things around. So be gentle with them, for after all it is their collection. Be firm but flexible. Agree a plan and keep to it.
- Protect all of you before you start. Take a supply of gloves and face masks with you on the day, but remember to check for any allergies before you put them on.
- Plan to sort the junk as you go through it. Your hoarder should be more at peace, once they know their stuff will go for recycling. Take a number of boxes and bins with you, and label them ‘paper’, ‘plastic’, ‘glass’ and so on. Prepare a space outside for larger items.
- Have a supply of cleaning materials handy. You will need generous supplies of cloths and rags, kitchen towel, and surface- and deep-cleaners. Work step-by-step, one room at a time. Congratulate yourselves as you reach each milestone, along what could become a very long journey.
When Cleaning a Hoarder’s Home Is Too Much
We recall mentioning in the beginning that cleaning a hoarder’s home is not for the faint-hearted. If what we wrote seems too much for you (or your lift does not stop on that floor) then possibly you need outside help.
You’ll get loads of suggestions if you google ‘help me clean a hoarder’s house’. Most of your results will be regular house cleaners who may want to get everything to the council tip as soon as possible above all else.
Avery Associates works differently. We review everything before it goes into the skip, and could single out items of collectible value. We have been doing this in Greater London for many years. We’d love to add you to our list of satisfied customers, although it is unlikely we will make you wealthy in the process.
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