Hoarding is something that has become very common in recent years. The hoarder wants to keep the items that have no use or value. This instinct is often caused by things like mental illness, environmental factors, or other types of medical reasons. It can affect a home’s cleanliness and it also can be very hard to overcome. Below are some tips that you can use to get the house of a hoarder ready to be sold.
Before we get into that, though, we are going to look into some of the risks that come with cleaning the house of a hoarder.
Hoarder Home Risk 1 – No Regulations
A big danger that comes with cleaning homes of hoarders is that there aren’t any laws or regulations regarding the behavior of a hoarder. You never know what you are going to walk into when you go into a hoarder’s house. There could be hidden safety and health dangers and may require special safety gear so that everyone who is working on it will be safe during the process.
Hoarder Home Risk 2 – Cleaning Safety
A lot of problems occur in a house that’s unsafe and cluttered. Hoarders’ homes are often quite unsanitary. There could be hidden mold, dirt, garbage, mildew, and other kinds of debris. Because of this, the house will become a place where lots of parasites and bacteria can breed. These diseases and insects can cause you to become ill.
Learning the way that you can clean the house of a hoarder can be really hard. It also can be a very disgusting and a messy job. But it’s a job that has to be done because it’s the best way that you can make sure that everyone in the house will be safe and healthy. Cleaning it also can help you with saving money.
Below are some easy tips that you can use to learn the way to quickly clean the house of a hoarder.
Make a Strategy for Decluttering the Hoarder Home
If you’re ever in a hoarding situation, it’s essential to evaluate the area and create an effective strategy for cleaning and decluttering. In these kinds of cases, the person who lived there often doesn’t realize how much they have amassed through the years since everything’s scattered in their home. Remember that this is going to be tough for them too. Performing a huge cleaning without addressing the needs of the person may make things even worse. You are going to need some strong empathy and willpower when you’re facing this type of situation.
Wear the Right Type of Clothing in a Hoarder Home
When you are cleaning a hoarder’s home. you must be ready for anything. You must pay attention to what you’re wearing when you’re cleaning the house of a hoarder since this is going to be vital for your safety and health. Think about wearing protective gear for extra protection and putting on thick clothes. Some of the other ways that you can protect yourself are:
- Wear Gloves – Putting on disposable gloves will help to protect against things like mold or dust.
- Wear Eye Protection – Even if you wear glasses, wearing goggles like people wear while working in a woodshop will help keep particles out of your eyes.
- Wear the Right Shoes – Keep some sturdy shoes close by if there are hazards such as broken glass that could injure your feet while you’re walking in and around the home.
- Keep Bug Spray Handy – You want to have a few cans of bug spray handy. Once there are areas that you have disturbed, chances are that there’s going to be some insects that were hiding in the debris.
- Face Masks – Even though surgical masks are going to work, N95 masks are going to be even better these kinds of masks will give you protection against any airborne pathogens that could be hiding out in the home.
Bring Important Cleaning Supplies to the Hoarder Hone
Think about bringing these essential supplies below when you are tackling a hoarder’s home:
- All-purpose disinfectants and cleaners
- Boxes (empty and in different sizes)
- Broom & dustpan
- Buckets & mops
- Cleaning cloths
- Hand tools
- Really strong trash bags
- Shovel
- Sponges
- Step ladder
- Vacuum with lots of bags or a canister vac
- Wipes
Take Everything from the Hoarder Home
When you get to the house, you’ll need to take everything out of it first. After this is done, you’ll be able to see what the clutter’s source is. Is the problem food packages, rusted tools, paper, or another thing. Minimize that clutter from one room’s corner to another. Then continue the pattern through the house.
Double Check the Checklist
After you’ve figured out what the clutter’s source is, then you’ll have to get rid of the items. When you are learning how you should clean a hoarder’s house, it’s a good idea to have a checklist close by. Deep cleaning those areas that are commonly overlooked and where debris and dirt can gather in, like around the counters and fridge or behind toilets.
Hire Professional Hoarder Cleaning Help
It’s possible that you are going to feel overwhelmed. That’s okay. That’s when you want to hire someone to help who has lots of experience with cleaning homes of hoarders. There are a lot of companies that are available which specialize in cleaning out hoarders’ homes. They’re able to provide you with the help you need, and they’ve got the right resources and tools to get the job done quicker and more smoothly.
One thing that you want to know is that this can cost a lot of money. However, they’re trained in every safety precaution, and they’ll be able to do the job a lot more quickly. Even though learning the way to clean a hoarder’s house is going to take patience and time, you’re going to feel accomplished once the clutter’s gone and you can put the house up for sale.
Use Hoarder Services
Sometimes a hoarder will turn to outpatient programs and social services to get other support and help for overcoming their problems with hoarding. There are plenty of services that can be found through the regional centers and local communities. You even can contact your government locally and request help. These kinds of groups are made to help with advanced and basic cleaning and organizing tasks for people who have trouble with hoarding.
Professional associations and organizations can also provide information on how a family can deal with issues with hoarding. Since hoarders are all different, it’s going to take some special attention for addressing the individual problem.
So that future hoarding problems are mitigated and stopped from disrupting your safety and health, or the home’s safety, it’s a good idea to work with the person who hoards and the person’s immediate family. This will help with finding the best solution to the problems.
Don’t want to clean or pay someone else to clean it? There’s another option.
It can be very tiring and frustrating to clean the home of a hoarder. It also can be really expensive if you pay someone to do it. If you are doing it yourself, it can take a long time to do it. You want to make sure that you are preparing adequately. This is going to involve purchasing the equipment that you need and making sure that everything is done.
But a lot of people don’t have the time or the energy to do it. They also may be worried about going into the house themselves because of their own health and safety. If you want to sell a house that belongs to or belonged to a hoarder, you don’t have to worry about cleaning it up. We are happy to buy a hoarder’s home as-is.
Simply contact us through chat right here on our website. We are ready to give you a fair cash offer and answer any questions that you have. We promise we won’t talk you into doing anything that you don’t want to do. We just want to show you what we can offer. There’s no obligation to sell to us- we’re just here to help.
