The sink drains slowly. I am going to try some drain opener my landlord relative told me about a few yrs ago. The black gunk wasn't as bad as I thought...it was mostly potting soil! At least it looked and smelled like potting soil and had those little flecks in it. A plant must have broken or fallen over in the sink. That earthy, familiar smell was honestly a relief after the other horrors. Thanks for the cleaning ideas. I will try them once I get the sink draining properly!

Warning: grossness ahead! Besides throwing away piles of trash on the floor, I cleaned off the bathroom vanity and sink, scouring it and then using disinfectant. I cleaned off the kitchen table and...horrors...started on the kitchen counters. Even after the trash/crusty dishes/food is removed, there's a thick layer of dried food covering them. I think I need a chisel. But the SINK. Oh for the love of...stacked with trash and the nastiest dishes and swarming with fruit flies and...some kind of black sink pudding in the bottom. How do I even...?????? I just want this part done. Thanks for listening.

I do call their landlords, if they have any. I call their employer and I always, always have a background check done. I've never done a surprise visit at their current home. Not sure I would, but I could see driving by to look at the outside.

Good idea. I did mention upthread that another landlord my maintenance guy works for has him go quarterly to change the furnace filters. It's a good way to keep an eye on things.

Well, something bit me on the neck! I felt it, swatted it, and there was a little blood on my hand. Mosquito? DH came to check on me (he works nearby) and found a small tick on my t-shirt, plus a flea!!!! So maybe a tick bit me and I will die of Lyme disease and not have to work on the hoarder house anymore! Silver linings, right? Seriously, who has ticks inside the house?? The dog has been gone a few weeks. Maybe it came from outside. Anyway, I was DONE for the day.

How awful! So, they complain that BLM is violent and try to show their opposition by..an act of violence?

DH said not to look in the fridge. I looked in the fridge. I should not have looked in the fridge.

I do remember! Trying to remember the poster's name. She spent like four hours making homemade cereal. Wait, wasn't she the one who either started, or commented on another thread, about men breastfeeding?

Why don't we have threads like that anymore?? So fun. IIRC, she was upset that some other mother was bringing cupcakes but I don't remember why. Was it the sugar, or was the other mom breaking a rule? Her name was Paige something, and she didn't come back to that thread for a very long time. She had no idea how popular it had become.

I take my reusable shopping bags and bag them myself. The checkout person is not really that close to me and we're both masked. Most stores have the plastic shields up at the checkouts. Of course, that doesn't help when you're standing at the end of the belt, but I try to do it quickly. Edited to add: we don't have surcharges for plastic bags.

That does make sense. The clothes and shoes, even though buried in the hoard, looked almost new. We also found a brand new Instant Pot still in the box. I was thinking it may have been a gift that he never used, but maybe it was a garage sale find. There are many, many boxes of pots and pans in decent condition, although he couldn't have cooked anything in that trashed kitchen.

No, you couldn't have done all of that yourselves in one week. When my dad died, we cleaned out his very cluttered house (things went downhill years before when Mom was ill and then passed away) but it took us many, many weekends. We had our own estate sale on the town's garage sale weekend, but it was a ton of work. I wouldn't want to do it again!

I wondered, too. I have never met the grandkids, but he's been there at least five years so they are older now. The bras were small, like training bras. Did the kids come to visit, bring a bag of clothes, and just throw stuff around? I really do not know. I can't imagine any kids of any age (or anyone!) actually visiting there but maybe they did. The deeper we dug, the smaller the clothes were. Toddler clothes and shoes. Like an archaeological dig. We fixed the garage door on the detached garage and put on a padlock. The man's son was going to take his stuff out of a storage unit and put it into that garage. He never did, but it makes me think he is a hoarder, too. If so, the older man isn't in a healthy environment now, either. He just doesn't have to pay rent.

We have regular trash service at the house but of course that won't be enough. A dumpster for two weeks costs $500 or more depending on size, but DH just saw an ad for $200 dumpsters that you have for 24 hours. That could work, if we get enough hands on deck to carry out all the garbage bags and furniture on that one day.

I have thrown away lots of food at the hoarded house!! I've also found 10 bottles of Dawn dish soap and lots of cleaning products! Yes, a mental disorder. They think they're secure or saving money or something by keeping all of it, but in the end it all goes to the landfill.

We don't have many properties, and this is my only job. Mostly I don't mind and all our other tenants are very good.

I keep telling myself this so that I don't wallow in bitterness. I told my maintenance guy and showed him the photos. He may be involved with the remodeling later. He said, "Yep, some people are lazy." I agree. Some people are. BUT..this is not laziness. Sometimes on the hoarder shows a person has been struggling with cleaning up the house. They may spend hours sorting through possessions, but just cannot bring themselves to the point where they realize it is worthless junk. There is a disconnect. I just hope this guy is in a healthier environment now.

I so appreciate the good ones!!! All of ours now except this guy are wonderful tenants. I am getting very picky and check them out carefully: background checks, calling current/former landlords, verifying employment. It is worth every bit of time and effort to find the good ones.

I'm sorry for what you went through, too, Quill. I've dealt with dog pee but the couple of times I let an owner keep a cat, it wasn't a problem like that. The dog pee was bad enough. One time a guy's wife and kids had left with the dogs, and two months later when we evicted the guy, the carpet pad was still wet in the hallway that was their "favorite spot". So nasty. My maintenance guy has seen it all but he almost lost his lunch when we hauled that out. Yes, I helped! Gross. I'm with your dh. No more pets!!!

They will be expensive, and we will already have remodeling costs, replacing appliances, etc. I'm sure we'll do our own painting. As for checking on tenants, I think it might be time to start "replacing the furnace filter" quarterly. My handyman says another landlord he works for does just that. The furnace filter really does get changed, but it's mainly to keep eyeballs on the place.

It's crossed my mind to call in professionals. I know it would be insanely expensive but I could at least ask. Once after a fire one of those companies did all the cleaning (most of the damage was smoke damage) before the contractor started the remodeling. It was many thousands of dollars..I don't recall how much but we were floored. Of course, in that case the insurance paid for all but our deductible. Not this time. If we do it ourselves, I think we will rent a large dumpster to get rid of furniture, mattresses, etc. We have regular trash service so some bags can go there, but it will only be a fraction of the total.

We had a tenant move out recently and move in with his son. He is in his 60s and had a stroke last year. DH helped him sign up for meals on wheels. Apparently he waited for them on the front porch every day so they wouldn't see inside the house. The outside of the house was messy...outdoor toys, bikes, etc., that his grandkids have outgrown...but not hoarder level messy. (He lived there by himself but had toys for when they visited). The house is a cute, older two-bedroom home...at least it used to be cute. We have been landlords for many years so I have seen a lot, but never this. The trash is one to two feet high in most places, higher in some areas, with paths. He had a dog. WHY DID I ALLOW THIS???? The dog poo seemed confined to one of the bedrooms but after we started shoveling the front room out (with a snow shovel!!) we realized it is in the main room, too. Not so much in the man's bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, or enclosed back porch/laundry. We wear thick disposable gloves and face masks which helps block the smell. I think we will have to gut the kitchen and throw away all appliances. The bathroom will need to be totally overhauled, too. I am sure that once we rip up the carpets, we will find that the old wood floors are destroyed. ::sob::: Two years ago DS and I rented a sander and tackled sanding and refinishing floors at another property. I know I could do it, but I'm not expecting to save these floors. Please don't scold me for not knowing how bad this was. How I wish we had!!! I think the man has lived there five years. Once he needed a new hot water heater (I think not many months after he moved in) and DH was in there with the guy who installed it. He said the tenant was messy. Recently he has only talked to him at the door, more often just on the phone. It is so strange to see all the things mixed in with the hoard..little kids' clothes and shoes, teen bras, countless DVDs, pizza boxes, tools, mixed up like soup. Cans of carpet stain spray and even a carpet cleaner! It is sad to throw away all the ruined art work grandkids made him, Christmas decorations, destroyed photos. I spent about three hours there today. I can't do it all day. It's physically draining and emotionally exhausting. When I came home I left my shoes outside, peeled off all clothes, took a long, hot shower, and am contemplating some hot tea and escapist fiction. I just needed to vent but if anyone has advice, send it my way!

The county animal control guy suggested putting dry cat food in the live trap, but...I haven't heard any noises at all from George today! He has been very noisy every afternoon and evening until today. We blocked the entry hole near our back door with a very heavy stone. Hopefully this is the end of it. Maybe he was scared away by the ammonia smell or maybe he just moved on. Hopefully he did NOT die inside our house! Ugh. If we hear him again we will take the stone away and bait the live trap again.

We baited the trap with some peanut butter but no luck, again. We're still going to try blocking off the way to the trap with boards/bricks, like a hallway where George has only one path, into the live trap. The other thing is, to sit on the deck and watch for him to leave, then block the entry hole he made with something heavy like a cement block. Oh yes, I got some ammonia, soaked a rag with it, and put it in a bowl up in the ceiling. There's a hole in the closet ceiling of a basement bedroom. I don't think the ammonia was near enough to bother him much. And yes, my son named him George.

I like this idea!