If you’re trying to get help cleaning up a hoarder house in Pico Rivera, California, you already know that the job at hand is going to be a big one. Hoarder house cleanup isn’t for the faint of heart. It will take a lot of patience, effort, and determination to bring the home back to habitability.

We have teams ready to go who are available to assist with hoarder houses of all types. We can manage cleanup in houses that have a relatively medium level of filth, and we can handle cleanup in houses that have essentially slid into squalor.

How do hoarder houses get so bad?

Houses don’t start out as hoarder houses. They become that way because someone inside the home is suffering from a mental illness that feeds a compulsion to essentially hoard everything they come across. Hoarding disorder is a very serious condition that requires a lot of patience, plenty of therapy, and sometimes medication in order to control. One of the hardest parts of hoarder house cleaning is getting the hoarder to agree to a cleanup to even admit that a cleaning is even necessary. Due to their mental condition, many hoarders don’t believe that they even have an issue. This can cause a lot of angst and agitation for people who are trying to get the house in order.

The hoarder doesn’t let go of anything that comes into the house. When they place an order for delivery, they keep everything. This includes the packaging that the order may have come in. Their reasoning and rationale will be that they’ll be able to use that packaging for something else in the future. That is one common thread that links many hoarders: they truly believe that everything they hoard will have a purpose in the future. They believe that what they’re doing is the right thing to do. Although someone on the outside may look at what they’re hoarding and declare it all absolute junk – because it most likely is – the hoarder will find value in everything.

After a while, the house is filled to the brim with junk, garbage, and anything else that the hoarder has collected. Key rooms in the house are no longer able to fulfill their original functions. For instance, bathrooms are probably filled with litter, random items, garbage, and tons of other waste. This means that the hoarder will be unable to use the toilet. Many hoarders get around this situation simply by relieving themselves in other parts of the home into plastic bags or containers. Because there’s no dedicated garbage can, they’ll simply leave the waste inside the house. This creates an extremely hazardous health issue. When it comes to kitchens, they’re so filled with garbage that people are unable to cook or even reach the refrigerators. In many cases, those appliances are no longer working.

At Eco Bear, we’re used to this. We understand that it isn’t the hoarder’s fault that the house has fallen into disrepair. It’s the illness that’s at fault. Our goal is to make our clients as comfortable as possible while we set about the task of restoring the home to its original condition. Many people are very uncomfortable about allowing strangers into their home to manage the cleanup. We understand this thinking, and we will do everything in our power to make sure that our customers feel comfortable.

What type of waste is found in hoarder houses?

There’s all sorts of filth and garbage found in hoarder houses, but the most important and dangerous type of waste found is biohazardous waste. This is waste that contains pathogens like bacteria, fungi, and viruses that cause dangerous diseases in humans. If this waste is not disposed of properly, it poses a risk to anyone entering the home. Eradication of biohazardous waste doesn’t just mean getting rid of the waste itself. It also means cleaning and disinfecting the surfaces that the waste was found on or in. This is the only way that the house can be assured safe for future use. Biohazardous waste in hoarder houses includes human and animal waste, garbage, backed-up sewage, rotting food, pest and animal carcasses, and many other types of items. 

Our cleaning teams know how to arrive on site and get rid of this waste by collecting it, disposing of it, and sanitizing every surface. Once they’re done, anyone can move into the house without fear of contamination.

How long does the hoarder house cleanup process take?

How long the cleanup process takes will depend on how big of an area the teams need to cover. Larger homes with multiple rooms and large amounts of waste will obviously take longer to clean than smaller ones. Once our team comes out and takes an assessment of the site, they’ll be able to let you know what the timeline looks like. It should be noted that hoarder houses in the worst conditions may be hiding all sorts of unknown issues that the team won’t know about until they are actually on site. These discoveries may require additional cleaning time, affecting the overall scope of the work. 

How do cleaners protect themselves from dangerous waste?

Cleaners protect themselves from dangerous waste by suiting up in PPE gear that’s designed to protect their skin, eyes, noses, and mouths from contact with any dangerous substances. Sometimes cleanup will require full-body coveralls, shoe covers, and respirators, while some scenes will require that cleaners to go in with full gas masks. It completely depends on the scene and what’s found there.

Give us a call if you’re planning on looking into hoarder house cleanup in Pico Rivera. The cleaning itself is difficult, but the process won’t be if you work with a professional cleaning team.