If your loved one recently passed away, you may need to clean up their home before you sell or move into it. But if your loved one hoarded everything they could find, the home may not be safe enough to enter. The home may have mold, chemicals, and pests hiding inside it. Here are tips on how to clean up your deceased loved one's home safely:
Assess the Situation
Many hoarders collect multiple items during their lives, including furniture, decorations, appliances, and even food. These items can hide pests, such as rodents and roaches, especially if the items were old or contaminated with food. Before you attempt to enter and clean up the home, you must assess the situation first. The assessment can help you decide on which room or items to tackle first.
If it's possible and secure enough, take pictures of each room. You can use the pictures to help you find a starting point for the cleanup. You don't want to enter a room stacked high with furnishings and other heavy items. If you disturb the items, they may potentially collapse on you.
Also, note the odor inside each room. If the rooms smell like mold, mildew, or dead pests, leave the home and only return when you have secured protective eye and nose gear. The odors can indicate an infestation of rodents or mold and mildew growth. All of these unsavory things can cause respiratory, skin, and eye problems.
If you still find it difficult to clean the home after the assessment, contact a decontaminating service provider for assistance.
Decontaminate the Home
When you decontaminate a home, you make it environmentally and physically safe to enter. Decontaminating services may include cleaning up hazardous substances, such as leaky batteries, toxic mold, and dangerous chemicals. The services may also include the removal of items containing bloody fluids, such as blood and urine. Some service providers remove dead animals from the businesses and residences they visit. Until the home is free of these dangerous things, you should avoid entering it.
Once they decontaminate the home, the service providers and cleanup crew will allow you to enter it. The cleanup crew may provide a data sheet of what they found inside the home. If the home requires additional cleaning in the future, you may schedule a time to do so.
If you have concerns about cleaning up your deceased loved one's home, contact a decontaminating service provider like Spur Environmental Services.
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