Cleaning a Hoarded House...I want to scream!!!

[PrairieSong]

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! 

 

 

 

[Carrie12345]

I am so, so sorry.

[Shoeless]

Oh, I'm sorry.  I was involved in the cleanout of a hoarder property once.  Once was enough.  It's emotionally and psychologically draining. 

Would you be able to pay a professional company to come out and empty the house? It might be worth it. 

[gardenmom5]

Hugs.   Dh has hoarders in his family.  (he's joked his brothers rented quarters should have just been torched.)

It's a mental illness, related to depression.

[RootAnn]

Having seen something similar only after the first wave (of debris removal) was done, I recommend taking it in stages.

1: debris removed & hauled away. Go room by room until all the trash is out

2: big items that are not salvageable removed followed by ripping up the carpet.

Then, take it one room at a time. Easier if you have two exits (the "good" one (where you are done making it better) & the in-process/haul the bad stuff through. It is so much easier to face the horrible if you can see the progress you've made, too.

It has been six months since I walked into the place piled high with big, black trash bags, and it likely won't ever be amazing, but (except for the kitchen & the room with the holes in the ceiling) it looks nice in places. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by RootAnn

[Pen]

 

I am so sorry. 

 

Would it be possible to hire a company to do it with more people and proper equipment and lower emotional investment?   

I know people who got a clean out of a major mess done professionally in just days. I think possibly using trucks and equipment to move stuff fast on an “it all goes” basis — not looking at what’s what and sorting, no involvement in ruined artwork, photos or anything.

 

[Catwoman]

I’m so sorry. That’s just awful. 😞 

[happi duck]

Agreeing with @gardenmom5 that this is mental illness related to depression.  My now late sister had survived a stroke and went from untidy to hoarder.  I forget the specifics from the doctor but the depression was related to the area of the brain that was affected.  It did help to remember that.

When my sister died and we cleared her apartment we were not only dealing with trash but sorting out family heirlooms and finding items willed to people.  Overwhelming is an understatement.

My advice is to make the bathroom perfectly clean and use that as your "office".  Having a clean spot to escape to helped.

Go ahead and price a " clear out".  It might be less than you expect.  We found a local guy and he was cheaper than 1800got junk.  We had a tight deadline and he got it done.

I hope the damage isn't as bad as expected.  (Hugs)

[Bambam]

I am so sorry. My sister showed me pictures from a house her husband cleaned up after a hoarder friend. It was awful. It looked like it would have been easier to just demolish the entire structure. 

[mommyoffive]

Oh I am so sorry. 

[Lecka]

Oh, no!  I don’t know how you could have known, since you honestly didn’t expect anything like this!  

[PrairieSong]

2 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Oh, I'm sorry.  I was involved in the cleanout of a hoarder property once.  Once was enough.  It's emotionally and psychologically draining. 

Would you be able to pay a professional company to come out and empty the house? It might be worth it. 

 

1 hour ago, Pen said:

 

I am so sorry. 

 

Would it be possible to hire a company to do it with more people and proper equipment and lower emotional investment?   

I know people who got a clean out of a major mess done professionally in just days. I think possibly using trucks and equipment to move stuff fast on an “it all goes” basis — not looking at what’s what and sorting, no involvement in ruined artwork, photos or anything.

 

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. 

 

[Guest]

I am so, so sorry. We are LLs, too. We have not had a situation that bad, but we did have an eviction that scarred me for life. It took me a week to clean the house; hard, long days scrubbing. I must have scraped off a thousand stickers. And dh had to pay friends to remove junk and furniture. He was many months in arrears when we evicted him, but we spent a couple thousand removing garbage and cleaning up, and that’s with my cleaning being essentially “free”. 

We have also had bad outcomes from pets and dh will not even slightly consider it now, full stop. One cat peed on the door threshold so much there was no helping it except to tear it out and replace the whole thing. The hardwood floor was also ruined where they kept the litter box. They paid a pet deposit but the cat’s damage was multiple hundreds of dollars more than the deposit. And I swear cat pee smell basically never leaves. 

[PrairieSong]

42 minutes ago, Patty Joanna said:

That is so yucky for you and sad for him. Rats.

NOT to chide and NOT to say "I told you so" (because I didn't!) but to share a bit of info:  DH lived in the one-building slum of the town we met in, and so did a bunch of other characters.   One of the tenants was a hoarder.  Every 6 months, the landlord called the fire department and they came and checked on the guy and he always had to throw away a ton of stuff because his hoarding was a fire hazard.  I don't know what legal hoops the landlord had to jump through, but it did keep the place habitable and the guy had a home.  But the landlord also didn't allow pets--that makes it so much worse for your situation.  Ugh. 

Me, I'd be calling ServiceMaster.  They have hazmat suits. 

 

 

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. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, PrairieSong said:

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. 

I think that’s an excellent idea. 

I know dh does look in from time to time, usually on some errand like checking the insulation around the pipes so they don’t freeze. (Which is a legitimate concern. But it keeps eyes on the situation.)

Clean tenants who keep a nice house are worth their weight in gold. I just told dh I want to give a really nice gift to one tenant this Christmas because its her fifth year and she is exemplary. 

[PrairieSong]

4 minutes ago, Quill said:

I am so, so sorry. We are LLs, too. We have not had a situation that bad, but we did have an eviction that scarred me for life. It took me a week to clean the house; hard, long days scrubbing. I must have scraped off a thousand stickers. And dh had to pay friends to remove junk and furniture. He was many months in arrears when we evicted him, but we spent a couple thousand removing garbage and cleaning up, and that’s with my cleaning being essentially “free”. 

We have also had bad outcomes from pets and dh will not even slightly consider it now, full stop. One cat peed on the door threshold so much there was no helping it except to tear it out and replace the whole thing. The hardwood floor was also ruined where they kept the litter box. They paid a pet deposit but the cat’s damage was multiple hundreds of dollars more than the deposit. And I swear cat pee smell basically never leaves. 

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!!! 

[Spryte]

I am so sorry.

My experience cleaning out a semi-hoarder house (not as bad as you are describing, but still bad - just nothing unsanitary) ... clean the bathroom, so you have a clean space there.  You aren’t trying to sort heirlooms from the junk (we were), so you may not need a staging area like we had.  We cleared one room, and put everything to keep in that room.  I finally called 1800gotjunk at the end, and sooo wish we had done that sooner.  Definitely price it out, it could be worth it.

Feeling your pain...

[PrairieSong]

4 minutes ago, Quill said:

I think that’s an excellent idea. 

I know dh does look in from time to time, usually on some errand like checking the insulation around the pipes so they don’t freeze. (Which is a legitimate concern. But it keeps eyes on the situation.)

Clean tenants who keep a nice house are worth their weight in gold. I just told dh I want to give a really nice gift to one tenant this Christmas because its her fifth year and she is exemplary. 

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. 

[PrairieSong]

2 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

Hugs.   Dh has hoarders in his family.  (he's joked his brothers rented quarters should have just been torched.)

It's a mental illness, related to depression.

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.

 

[gardenmom5]

29 minutes ago, Quill said:

I am so, so sorry. We are LLs, too. We have not had a situation that bad, but we did have an eviction that scarred me for life. It took me a week to clean the house; hard, long days scrubbing. I must have scraped off a thousand stickers. And dh had to pay friends to remove junk and furniture. He was many months in arrears when we evicted him, but we spent a couple thousand removing garbage and cleaning up, and that’s with my cleaning being essentially “free”. 

We have also had bad outcomes from pets and dh will not even slightly consider it now, full stop. One cat peed on the door threshold so much there was no helping it except to tear it out and replace the whole thing. The hardwood floor was also ruined where they kept the litter box. They paid a pet deposit but the cat’s damage was multiple hundreds of dollars more than the deposit. And I swear cat pee smell basically never leaves. 

DD's RE agent swore she could get the cat pee out of one house we looked at that was very clean, but reeked of cat.   It was triggering my allergies so I had to walk out before even looking at the whole house.  I suspect there had been a lot of work done to put it on the market, and a multitude of sins would be found under the surface in that house.  

26 minutes ago, PrairieSong said:

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 not even just houses.  Years ago, as I was trying to teach a dysfunctional woman living in low-income housing skills to better herself, the low income apartments would have regular inspections of all the apartments.  Various things, including bugs.  (if one unit has them - they will spread.)

Even my mother, in an upscale condo building and she owned her unit - they'd come in to "check dryer vents" (fire hazard) periodically.  Or clean vents, etc.   

 

[Catwoman]

Just curious...

I know prices probably vary widely, but how much do places like 1 800 GOTJUNK charge to clear out a house? My friend’s mom may be moving in with her soon, and although her stuff isn’t junk, her house will need to be cleared out before it’s sold, and although she is very tidy and not a hoarder by any means, she still has 50 years worth of living in that house, so there is a lot of furniture and all kinds of other stuff. 

They don’t want to go to the trouble of selling anything. They will basically take whatever the mom wants and get rid of the rest. If not for Covid, they would donate a lot of stuff, but there are multiple high risk members in the family, so they want to get rid of everything in one fell swoop, so in order to minimize contact with people, they’re considering one of the junk removal places.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Catwoman
When I typed the full “got junk” name, it turned into a link! Oops!

[gardenmom5]

7 minutes ago, PrairieSong said:

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 have first hand experience with hoarders - dh has several different family members who are hoarders.  I have cleaned up after two.  I only heard about bil's flophouse (basically what it was), - but I know what his space was like after he visited us for four days. (or more.). at least once a year until he died.  

I feel like calling it "disconnect", underscores the very serious mental illness of some hoarders.  what you describe - sorting through but can't make a decisions -  is more on the executive function/overwhelmed and is downright mild. (fairly common in seniors who have a lifetime of memoires attached to various items. Letting it go, feels like letting go of those memories.

  I've seen hoarders who hold onto stuff because they equate it with security and safety. Who when they hear a truck is coming (to haul stuff away) - exclaim; "we'll take it all"  (meaning, they expect the truck to unload at their house, not haul anything away.)  Who'd rather have five non-running cars, than one that does. And who live in property that should rightly be condemned, but (sometimes violently) refuse all help to improve things.

[Reefgazer]

I'm so sorry.  Dog poo and destruction don't sound like a hoarder, they sound like a person who can't cope because of dementia or being older.  I'm not excusing it, but maybe that's why he moved in with his son, because he can't function on his own.

[G5052]

I have a relative who was a hoarder. We had a set amount of money to renovate the house to get it sold, and I live across the country and didn't want to relocate. So we hired someone to clean it out. The person overseeing it sent me pictures, and it was bad. But we got it cleaned and renovated and ended up with twenty-seven offers. Needless to say, the location was prime.

Quite an experience. 

[gardenmom5]

23 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

Just curious...

I know prices probably vary widely, but how much do places like 1800GOTJUNK charge to clear out a house? My friend’s mom may be moving in with her soon, and although her stuff isn’t junk, her house will need to be cleared out before it’s sold, and although she is very tidy and not a hoarder by any means, she still has 50 years worth of living in that house, so there is a lot of furniture and all kinds of other stuff. 

They don’t want to go to the trouble of selling anything. They will basically take whatever the mom wants and get rid of the rest. If not for Covid, they would donate a lot of stuff, but there are multiple high risk members in the family, so they want to get rid of everything in one fell swoop, so in order to minimize contact with people, they’re considering one of the junk removal places.

Usually like with movers - it will be based on square footage of the house, and just how much stuff there is.  re: how many dumpsters they expect to use, and how many hours will it take.

sil hired a guy (off craigslist?) to help her clean out their garage.  Filled the dumpster, and I think it was around $600?.   

[Catwoman]

19 minutes ago, gardenmom5 said:

Usually like with movers - it will be based on square footage of the house, and just how much stuff there is.  re: how many dumpsters they expect to use, and how many hours will it take.

sil hired a guy (off craigslist?) to help her clean out their garage.  Filled the dumpster, and I think it was around $600?.   

Thanks! I’m not sure how big the mom’s house is. I have been there, and I would estimate maybe around 2500 square feet, plus a basement and a garage, but I’m only guessing at the size.

Did your sil pay for the dumpster separately? I know that the last time we rented a dumpster, it was around $600 on its own. 

[happi duck]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

I am so sorry.

My experience cleaning out a semi-hoarder house (not as bad as you are describing, but still bad - just nothing unsanitary) ... clean the bathroom, so you have a clean space there.  You aren’t trying to sort heirlooms from the junk (we were), so you may not need a staging area like we had.  We cleared one room, and put everything to keep in that room.  I finally called 1800gotjunk at the end, and sooo wish we had done that sooner.  Definitely price it out, it could be worth it.

Feeling your pain...

Did you see my post?  We had almost identical experiences.  (Hugs)

[happi duck]

We found a place that did estate sales and clear outs.  They get to keep everything so sometimes it can be affordable depending what they can sell or scrap (though scrap has been low, not sure where it's at now).

1800gotjunk charges by how much space on the truck is used.  I forget the size but they can tell you the size and cost for a whole truck.

Our clear out guy was much cheaper than it would have been with 1800gotjunk.  Worth asking both though.

[EmilyGF]

I'm so sorry. My parents had two different hoarders at different times. One of them had 4' of junk in the place and actually had *tree roots* growing up in the toilet that he hadn't bothered asking to have repaired. It was awful. Hope you get very few icky surprises in the next few days.

Emily

 

[Melissa in Australia]

We have an estate agent. 

We find it worth the fees. They do 6 monthly inspections. It is their responsibility to find and vet the renters. They do the evicting if needed. If a horder leaves  I think they do the clean up. 

[Spryte]

20 minutes ago, happi duck said:

Did you see my post?  We had almost identical experiences.  (Hugs)

Oh my goodness, I just scrolled back and read your post.  I had sort of skimmed before.  Very similar!
 

I am so sorry about your sister, that must have been incredibly difficult, to add grief onto the top of it all.
 

The mixing of treasures with stuff to be thrown away just made it harder, didn’t it?  I remember driving 5 hours, strategizing, making the plan to have a clean staging area and bathroom.  I was dealing with a kidney stone at the time, and was darn well going to have a clean bathroom!  Hahaha!  I think I cleaned a shelf in the fridge, too. 
 

Mine was my mom.  Eccentric artist, lived in her house for 25 years but mostly traveled to art shows and worked when home.  I actually filled 20+ oil barrels with used spray paint cans for the hazardous waste dump.  Aaack.

 

OP, thankfully you won’t have to find the  family treasures, amongst the mess.  I do hope you’ll hire people to help.  When we finally hired help, it all started moving much faster.

[gardenmom5]

41 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

Thanks! I’m not sure how big the mom’s house is. I have been there, and I would estimate maybe around 2500 square feet, plus a basement and a garage, but I’m only guessing at the size.

Did your sil pay for the dumpster separately? I know that the last time we rented a dumpster, it was around $600 on its own. 

I don't know, and it's probably been ten years.

[Tanaqui]

If it's upsetting you, call a clean-up crew. I know, I know, the cost - but listen, sometimes the cheapest way to pay is with cash.

[Shoeless]

3 hours ago, Catwoman said:

Just curious...

I know prices probably vary widely, but how much do places like 1 800 GOTJUNK charge to clear out a house? My friend’s mom may be moving in with her soon, and although her stuff isn’t junk, her house will need to be cleared out before it’s sold, and although she is very tidy and not a hoarder by any means, she still has 50 years worth of living in that house, so there is a lot of furniture and all kinds of other stuff. 

They don’t want to go to the trouble of selling anything. They will basically take whatever the mom wants and get rid of the rest. If not for Covid, they would donate a lot of stuff, but there are multiple high risk members in the family, so they want to get rid of everything in one fell swoop, so in order to minimize contact with people, they’re considering one of the junk removal places.

She should consider calling an estate sale company.  They will do all the work for them AND she'll get a check at the end.  If she tells them the goal is to empty the house, they will get everything sorted, priced, and staged and unload everything.  Even the things you think "No one will want this", they will get sold. 

[easypeasy]

Oh my. We are also LLs and this is top of my nightmares list. I'd call lots and lots of places and get prices for having this part done professionally. Then, at least, if you wind up doing it yourself, you'll have a big $$$ in your head that you're saving. So maybe that'll be a tiny sliver of a silver lining to help you make it through the drudgery. {hugs}

[happi duck]

1 hour ago, MissLemon said:

She should consider calling an estate sale company.  They will do all the work for them AND she'll get a check at the end.  If she tells them the goal is to empty the house, they will get everything sorted, priced, and staged and unload everything.  Even the things you think "No one will want this", they will get sold. 

Yes to this!  It keeps stuff out of the landfill!  We did an estate sale when we sold my late parents house.  They do everything and usually don't even want family there at all.  She had us leave everything.  People bought half used bottles of cleaners, canned food etc.  Estate sale companies usually have ongoing advertising in place and a bunch of regulars so stuff sells.  From what I can tell sales are still happening with stuff moved outside when possible and capping how many can be in the house.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Reefgazer said:

I'm so sorry.  Dog poo and destruction don't sound like a hoarder, they sound like a person who can't cope because of dementia or being older.  I'm not excusing it, but maybe that's why he moved in with his son, because he can't function on his own.

Dog poo all over the house does sound to me exactly like a hoarder. It is definitely a mental disorder. It usually has close ties to OCD, because, just as a person suffering from OCD can’t tell herself to stop checking the door is locked, a person with hoarding compulsions can’t make herself decide what to do about the stuff. 

[CTVKath]

I'm so sorry. My husband and his brother had to clean out his mom's house last year and it took 4 dumpsters to clear out a 2 bed/1 bath house. They only worked on the weekends and it took months to get it all cleaned out. I'm really sorry because it's a horrible situation all around. My mother-in-law is back in her home and my husband and his brother check on her and the house frequently. Unfortunately, the hoarding has already started again.

[PrincessMommy]

I'm so sorry.  I have no words of wisdom.  Just hugs.  

[PrairieSong]

10 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

We have an estate agent. 

We find it worth the fees. They do 6 monthly inspections. It is their responsibility to find and vet the renters. They do the evicting if needed. If a horder leaves  I think they do the clean up. 

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.  

[Alicia64]

My good friend's parents are hoarders. She was helping them clean out years ago, and as she taking stuff outside to the trash, they'd were walking back inside having pulled stuff out of the trash! She was so frustrated.

I agree: it's a mental disorder.

I also feel badly for the poor dog.

You guys too of course! Have you thought about renting one of those huge dumpsters that sit in the driveway?

Good luck to you,

W.

[PrairieSong]

58 minutes ago, Heigh Ho said:

The estate sales with the half empty bottles of cleaners etc are where my hoarder gets more to add to the hoard.  Since they don't sort as they stock,  cleaning products are stored next to food, and ammonia products stored next to chlorine products . it gets interesting and folks have learned the hard way not to eat anything the hoarder offers.  Truly a mental disorder.

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. 

[OH_Homeschooler]

14 hours ago, PrairieSong said:

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'm sorry, but what? This disturbs me on a whole new level.

[skimomma]

I had to use an estate sale company to deal with a family member's hoard.  It was still a LOT of work on my part but it was worth every penny.  Our company charged by the hour and dumpster runs.  I think it came to almost $4000 in the end.  But they also sell items so we have been getting random checks as items sell over the last 18 months or so.  I'd guess we have recouped about $1000 from sales.  We were not dealing with much pet/pest damage but the place was rented and needed a very deep clean, which the company also did.  I had originally planned for my dh and I to to the whole job but we don't live nearby and only had about a week of vacation time to use.  Even with the bulk of the job being done by the estate sale company, we were hopping 24/7 that entire week.  The final vacuuming was still happening as the landlord arrived for final walk-through and key exchange.  I have no idea how we thought we were going to do it all ourselves.

[PrairieSong]

7 minutes ago, Alicia64 said:

My good friend's parents are hoarders. She was helping them clean out years ago, and as she taking stuff outside to the trash, they'd were walking back inside having pulled stuff out of the trash! She was so frustrated.

I agree: it's a mental disorder.

I also feel badly for the poor dog.

You guys too of course! Have you thought about renting one of those huge dumpsters that sit in the driveway?

Good luck to you,

W.

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.

[historically accurate]

12 minutes ago, OH_Homeschooler said:

I'm sorry, but what? This disturbs me on a whole new level.

This house sounds like a deal-searching hoarder. They were probably on clearance or at a garage sale or in the garbage, depending on where he gets his stuff from. It's not the item that is usually important to a hoarder; it's probably the "high" he would get from a deal. I have some family members with hoarding tendencies, and some are item based, some are deal based.

Alternatively, since he has little kid stuff in there, he might have lost a family member in childhood/teenage years that he is trying to hang onto the memories. Or he was buying (admittedly weird, but mental illness can make you do weird things) gifts for family members and/or friends, but he found himself hanging onto the items for whatever reason. 

Edited October 7, 2020 by historically accurate

[PrairieSong]

6 minutes ago, OH_Homeschooler said:

I'm sorry, but what? This disturbs me on a whole new level.

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.

[OH_Homeschooler]

10 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

This house sounds like a deal-searching hoarder. They were probably on clearance or at a garage sale or in the garbage, depending on where he gets his stuff from. It's not the item that is usually important to a hoarder; it's probably the "high" he would get from a deal. I have some family members with hoarding tendencies, and some are item based, some are deal based.

Alternatively, since he has little kid stuff in there, he might have lost a family member in childhood/teenage years that he is trying to hang onto the memories. Or he was buying (admittedly weird, but mental illness can make you do weird things) gifts for family members and/or friends, but he found himself hanging onto the items for whatever reason. 

I like your explanation a lot more than my thoughts, and I really hope you are right. 

[PrairieSong]

17 minutes ago, skimomma said:

I had to use an estate sale company to deal with a family member's hoard.  It was still a LOT of work on my part but it was worth every penny.  Our company charged by the hour and dumpster runs.  I think it came to almost $4000 in the end.  But they also sell items so we have been getting random checks as items sell over the last 18 months or so.  I'd guess we have recouped about $1000 from sales.  We were not dealing with much pet/pest damage but the place was rented and needed a very deep clean, which the company also did.  I had originally planned for my dh and I to to the whole job but we don't live nearby and only had about a week of vacation time to use.  Even with the bulk of the job being done by the estate sale company, we were hopping 24/7 that entire week.  The final vacuuming was still happening as the landlord arrived for final walk-through and key exchange.  I have no idea how we thought we were going to do it all ourselves.

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! 

[PrairieSong]

15 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

This house sounds like a deal-searching hoarder. They were probably on clearance or at a garage sale or in the garbage, depending on where he gets his stuff from. It's not the item that is usually important to a hoarder; it's probably the "high" he would get from a deal. I have some family members with hoarding tendencies, and some are item based, some are deal based.

Alternatively, since he has little kid stuff in there, he might have lost a family member in childhood/teenage years that he is trying to hang onto the memories. Or he was buying (admittedly weird, but mental illness can make you do weird things) gifts for family members and/or friends, but he found himself hanging onto the items for whatever reason. 

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.