If you or a loved one are facing a hoarding situation, you may feel quite overwhelmed about the prospect of having to clean up the premises. You may wonder if you will ever be able to restore the residence to a livable condition. You may be at a juncture at which you wonder whether you should hire a hoarder property cleanup professional. There are a number of factors to bear in mind in considering whether or not you should hire a hoarder property cleanup company:
- Extent of the hoard
- Presence of biohazards at the residence
- State of mind of person with hoarding disorder
- Timeframe to remediate a hoarding situation
Extent of the Hoard
One of the primary reasons why you should seek a hoarder property cleanup professional is the extent of the hoard itself. The reality is that a hoard can be extensive and get to that point in a very short period of time.
Taking down and eliminating a hoard can take a significantly long period of time. If hoarder property cleanup extends for too much time, those involved in the process might end up losing their steam. In other words, the hoard itself may end up not being fully remediated. If a hoard remains, and the cleaning process slows or even ends, the number of items in the hoard will climb upwards yet again.
Presence of Biohazards at the Residence
In many instances, the residence of a person with hoarding disorder can end up with a biohazardous situation in his or her home. There can be any number of different types of biohazards in the home of a person who has suffered from hoarding disorder for even what amounts to a relatively short period of time. The types of biohazards that might be found in the home of a hoarder include:
- Rotting food
- Animal feces
- Animal urine
- Blood
- Human feces
- Human urine
- Dead animals
- Rodent feces
- Other matter that can contain dangerous pathogens
Having to clean up biohazards as part of a hoarding remediation presents a health risk to anyone involved in that process. Only a professional hoarder property remediating professional has the equipment, materials, and other resources necessary to safety cleanup after a hoarding situation.
In addition, only a hoarder property cleanup specialist has the experience, skills, tools, and resources necessary to ensure a thorough remediation of property contaminated with biohazards arising from hoarding. You must keep in mind that the presence of biohazards in a hoarder’s residence not only jeopardizes his or her health but that of any person untrained in biohazard cleanup that might willingly volunteer to lend a hand in cleaning up a particular residence where a hoarder resides.
State of Mind of Person With Hoarding Disorder
Research into the minds of people with hoarding disorder reveals two persistent abnormalities. These abnormalities help explain the pervasive need of hoarders to hold onto their own items, no matter how much clutter and even unsafe situations they create in their residences.
Hoarder brains are recognized as having two significant abnormalities. First, a person with hoarding disorder has a brain that experiences very low activation when looking at the possessions of other people. The level of activation is significantly lower than that of people who do not have hoarding disorder.
Second, people with hoarding disorder have what experts call an activation overload when looking at their own possessions. The bottom line is that a person with hoarding disorder has a brain that cares far too much for his or her own possessions. This can even include items of absolutely no worth that might fairly be classified as trash.
As a result of the state of mind of a hoarder, getting that individual to undertake a cleanup at his or her own home is not highly likely. A hoarder may pay lip service to the idea and then do nothing about it.
For these reasons, seeking professional mental health support and assistance for a hoarder is imperative. And, seeking assistance from a hoarder property cleanup is also extremely important in nearly all case.
Timeframe to Remediate a Hoarding Situation
We have already discussed many of the complications associated with hoarder property cleanup. These various complications can make hoarder property remediation undertaken by nonprofessionals an extremely time-consuming process. Extending the cleanup process leaves hoarding related dangers lurking in a residence. As was mentioned previously, the longer hoarder property cleanup goes on, the less likely it will reach a positive conclusion.
The need to address in a hoarding situation in an expeditious manner underscores the importance of considering the hiring of a professional hoarder property cleanup company like Eco Bear. A company like Eco Bear has the capacity to restore a hoarder property to a safe and livable condition in the shortest period of time possible.