Hoarding is a complex condition that causes difficulty in parting with possessions and leads to excessive accumulation of items in a single room or the whole house. Some people struggle with hoarding due to fear of wastage, perfectionism, anxiety, and difficulty making decisions. Unlike cluttering, hoarding is more severe as it poses severe health risks due to accumulating hazardous materials. Below are steps to consider for a successful hoarding cleanup exercise
- Make a plan
Sometimes, hoarding can only be in a single room or house. Both of the cases require different plans to ensure a proper cleanup. Assess the severity of the situation and understand what you are working on. Determine the hoarded items to ensure you have the right tools and identify potential hazards and risks in the room. This will ensure that the safety of the workers is the top priority. Ensure that your plan is compassionate, as you do not want to overwhelm the hoarder by forcefully pushing them to detach from their possession.
- Reach out for hoarding cleaning services.
You might realize that the situation is worse than expected during the planning process. You will realize you do not have the tools or skills to finish the job alone. This will require you to hire a hoarding cleanup service team with expertise in cleaning a severely hoarded home. You can request a price quotation from different firms and compare them. Learn about the services they offer and the process of cleaning up to ensure that you work with an affordable service provider who will get the job done. Some rooms might also require a professional biohazard cleanup to ensure that hoarding cleaners are not exposed to hazardous matter like contaminated items and expired chemicals.
- Decluttering and junk removal
Remove all the rubbish, waste, debris, and broken items from the space to ensure an easier decluttering process. Clear out the pathways to avoid tripping and falling, injuries, and stepping on broken items like glass for the safety of the workers. Different dustbins should be used to separate hazardous waste and other junk when disposing of trash. Remember to follow the set guidelines on the disposal of hazardous waste. Remove big furniture like beds, caches, and tables to allow easy access to all corners and floor space. Check for any valuable items and important documents before disposing of the waste.
- Repairing, sanitizing and disinfecting.
After finishing the cleaning process, check for any broken water pipes, shower heads, tables, chairs, and doors that may require fixing. Check also the floor space to identify any places that need fixing. A hoarded house is the house of many peatland animals like fleas, cockroaches, spiders, and mice that will require fumigation to eradicate them. Disinfect and sanitize all areas to kill all bacteria and germs accumulated in the house over time. This process should be repetitive to ensure the bacteria and pests are entirely eradicated.
After the cleanup process, it is advisable to help the hoarder seek therapy and counseling as they might find it hard to continue living in the cleaned home. You can also help the hoarder detach the hoarded items by setting a timeframe of a few days and taking a single room at a time.
