If you’re on the verge of getting ready to clean a hoarder property, you’ve probably been doing a lot of thinking about how a home can even get to that point. When it comes to hoarder property cleanup in Riverside, many people would be surprised at how many of their fellow neighbors suffer from hoarding disorder or live with someone who has the disorder.

For many people, living in a hoarder house is a dirty little secret they’d prefer to keep to themselves. Most people feel very ashamed about hoarding, and the ones who want to restore their homes are worried that they won’t be able to handle it.

The good news is that for anyone who’s ready to tackle hoarder house cleanup, we’re ready to help them get the job done.

What is hoarding?

Hoarding disorder is a mental disease. People who suffer from it have a compulsion to save everything. They literally don’t throw anything away, including garbage and random junk that they’ll find in the streets. There are many different types of hoarding, including animal hoarding, collector hoarding, and “extreme saver” hoarding. While specific hoarding disorders may look different on the surface, the outcome is the same for all of them. The hoarder’s house will get to the point where it’s no longer possible to live comfortably inside of it. 

So much junk and waste is accumulated inside of the house that it’s impossible to move through the space naturally and comfortably. Bathrooms are no longer able to be used, forcing the homes’ occupants to come up with other ways to relieve themselves. This setup inevitably leads to human waste ending up scattered throughout the home. Refrigerators are filled with rotting food, and they probably no longer work. Every single counter in the kitchen is filled with garbage, much of it spilling over onto the floor.

The reason that most hoarder houses end up looking the same is because the compulsion becomes so bad that regular grooming and hygiene practices are no longer followed. People are so wrapped up in the throes of the disorder that they are unable to see how bad things have gotten. It’s at this point that cleanup help will most likely be necessary.

Why does a hoarder house need to be cleaned professionally?

A hoarder house needs to be cleaned professionally because of the sheer amount of biohazardous waste that you’ll find at the house. Because hoarders are no longer able to clean themselves or their homes properly, waste and filth begins to accumulate. Initially the waste buildup may start with only human waste, but it will eventually move on to waste like bodily fluid, rotting garbage, animal waste, backed up sewage, and many other types of waste.

This waste isn’t merely unpleasant. It’s actually quite dangerous because it contains pathogens that cause diseases in humans. The sheer amount of biohazardous waste located at a hoarder house makes it a high-risk site.

Trained cleaners know exactly how to restore a house to its original condition. They have the cleaners that are needed to get rid of all of the pathogens located at the site. They know how to protect themselves as they move through the site so they don’t get contaminated. They know how to collect, contain, and dispose of the biohazardous waste according to state standards. Their strict disposal processes will help ensure that anyone coming into contact with the waste will not get infected.

If the average person attempts to clean up the waste in a hoarder house themselves, they won’t even know how to begin to take the precautions that professional biohazard cleaners would take. They wouldn’t be used to seeing some of the extreme waste that hoarder house cleaners are used to seeing. The fact that they underestimate just how bad a hoarder property can get will probably cause them to stop midway.

By working with our team, you don’t need to worry about any of that. We take the reins from the beginning of the project, and we won’t put them down again until everything is done. 

How do hoarding house cleaners protect themselves?

Hoarding house cleaners protect themselves by wearing special PPE gear throughout the entire cleaning process. This gear consists of items like coveralls that cover their entire bodies from top to bottom. This helps prevent waste from getting on their skin as they move throughout the house. They wear goggles, face masks, and respirators so that nothing gets into the mucous membranes in their mouths, noses, and eyes. 

Walking through a hoarder site can be very perilous, so the cleaners wear shoe covers to protect their feet, or they’ll go so far as to use special boots that resist liquid splashes. They sometimes have to dig through piles of items in order to successfully extract waste from certain areas of the site, so they’ll wear special gloves that are puncture-resistant so that they don’t cut themselves on any sharp objects and expose themselves to the risk of infection. 

How long does hoarder house cleaning take?

The best teams are remarkably fast and thorough, so they can clean a hoarder house much faster than many people realize. Having said that, no one knows what’s inside of a hoarder house until they’re actually in the process of the job. They may come across rooms that are much harder to clean than what was initially anticipated. When your team arrives at the house, they’ll take an assessment of the site and create an action plan which will include estimated timing.

 Reach out to us if you’re ready to do hoarder house cleanup but you’re not sure where to start. We can help take the situation from idea to execution to successful resolution.