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You are here: Home / Archives for hoarding cleanup

Hoarding Cleanup

October 9, 2016 By Alan Cohen

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Hoarding clean up is a difficult task on many levels and each case is unique.

In most cases, there are biohazards lurking in unexpected places in the home and it is important that a licensed professional is called out for extreme hoarding cases.
Hoarder's Bathroom Before
Bio So Cal is the leading biohazard cleanup service in California, and we specialize in Hoarding Remediation with an objective to dispose of all unwanted property ad debris while recovering the family’s valuables of real and perceived value. Our service is discreet and professional, and we know that cleaning out a family home can be emotional.

Types of Hoarding

There are various types of hoarding that we encounter and all have one thing in common: It is difficult and unsafe to move around the home safely, and maintaining a safe clean environment becomes impossible. Below are some of the most common types of hoarding.

Collectable Hoarding: The collection of items that are of a particular significance, usually as part of a series. As the collection grows it becomes more and more valuable to the owner, with each item taking on more significance. We will recover the collectables and safeguard them during this process.

Animal Hoarding: Owning more animals in the house than be cared for in a safe and hygienic way.

Bibliomania: Bibliomania involves storing books or other media containing information.

Garbage Hoarding: The hoarding of items that would usually be immediately thrown away such as packaging, food containers, and the likes. Garbage hoarding is extremely dangerous and attracts rodent’s flies, and roaches and is a major contributor to the cause of many illnesses and disease.

Bio SoCal offers hoarding cleanup assistance to address the concerns of the individual suffering from the condition and or the family who have stepped in to help. We will remove items, sorting for values ad keepsakes and return the items once they have been decontaminated,. All disposable debris and contaminated furniture is discarded.

Call us today for a free estimate.

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Filed Under: Articles about cleanup, Call for Answers, Hoarding Tagged With: Bio SoCal, biohazard, hoarding, hoarding cleanup

Helping The Homeless

January 11, 2016 By Alan Cohen

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Helping The Homeless

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Bio SoCal helps people in great times of despair. When we clean out hoarded homes we find a significant amount of new clothing and with the permission of the client we collect and donate. Last night I decided to take all of the warm winter jackets and drive around town to look for some homeless people that might need them. I saw a homeless man and parked my truck, walked up to him and asked him if he could use a warm jacket. He said yes with a look ofsincere relief because he was cold. I gave him the jacket and he said thank you and I drove away. As I drove away I decided to go back and ask him if he needed anymore clothing. He said he needed a lot because another homeless guy who skipped town stole all of his things. He looked “safe” and relatively well kept so I said get your stuff and hop into my truck and let’s go to my warehouse and you can pick out some stuff. The guy was pretty surprised that someone was treating him not as a homeless person but rather as a person who needed help.

On the way to my warehouse I asked him where he was staying and he told me where he was “camping” behind a store close to our main office. I was curious so I asked him where he was from and to my shock he replied, “right here in, born and raised”. My heart sunk because I knew that we had to know some people in common based on his age and mine and sure enough it was the case. We arrived at my warehouse and he looked through the clothing and he picked out a bunch of stuff that he could use to help him get back on his feet (pants, shirts, sox, gloves, duffle bag, etc). When we were done he was so appreciative and I took him back to his “camping” place behind the store where he unloaded the bag we put together for him. I could not get over that here was a guy that grew up in the same town and fell upon circumstances that led him to be homeless.

It’s cold outside, especially at night. So I put a call out to everyone, go into your closet and take that old warm winter jacket you never wear and get in your car and find someone to give it to-they need it more than you do and you could use a little less clutter. I promise it will make you feel so wonderful to help someone with something so simple.

If you do it please come back to this post and share your experience in hopes that it will spread and together we can help those that need it.

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Filed Under: Call for Answers, Hoarding, Homeless Tagged With: biohazard cleanup, hoarding, hoarding cleanup, Homeless

The Hazards of Hoarding

May 11, 2015 By Alan Cohen

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Hoarding is a psychological condition that results in a person accumulating an enormous amount of trash and things of little-to-no value, or worse, more animals than can be properly cared for. Hoarding of any kind can pose several dangers to the occupant and neighbors, and certainly to animals if they are involved. These hazards can be deadly, and all the more reason people with hoarding disorder should have professional help to restore them to healthy living conditions. If children and animals are in the home, exposed to these perilous dangers, hoarding is also a crime. Hoarders Hallway Before

Structural Integrity Loss

The weight of debris and hoarded items is often more than the floors are able to withhold. The sheer volume of debris in a room can push up against walls, not only damaging their integrity, but also putting the ceiling and roof at risk of collapse. Likewise, the collapse of walls, floors or ceilings can cause gas lines and water pipes to break, resulting in fire and flood damage.

Fire

Large amounts of paper, such as newspapers, books, boxes, and discarded food wrappers and packaging, or improperly stored combustibles can pose extreme fire dangers. If space heaters are used, close proximity to any debris can also cause fire.

Collapse of Debris

Often, hoarders will create precarious paths between large piles of debris, or will crawl over mountains of trash to get around in the house. If these trash piles collapse, they could trap the hoarder underneath, burying the person alive. This could result in death from suffocation or inability to notify anyone they need help.

Decay/Decomposition

As is often the case, hoarders not only collect relatively useless items, but they tend to not dispose of much of anything. The decay of spoiled food stuffs and waste can lead to terrible odors and airborne pathogens that can be harmful or even deadly. In a very unusual case in San Francisco, the mummified body of a 90 year old woman was found in an extreme hoarding case. Officials believe she died 5 years previously.

Harmful Biohazards

In almost all hoarding scenes, biohazards are present. Biohazards can be toxic or infectious, even deadly, and can lead to any range of illnesses and dangers to the resident or neighbors. Common biohazardous materials include spoiled food, feces and urine, blood, bodily fluids, pet waste and dead animals.

Infestations

The decay and decomposition of organic materials and biohazards, undoubtedly attract pests. Rodents will leave waste and very often get trapped and die within a hoarding residence. This further increases the potential harm to the hoarder, as well as neighbors. This is why hoarding goes beyond an individual and becomes a community problem.

Personal Hygiene and Nutritional Issues

A hoarding situation can become so extreme that debris blocks access to a kitchen and bathrooms. When the kitchen is blocked or is overwhelmed by harmful waste, proper food preparation becomes impossible. And when bathrooms become blocked, makeshift alternatives are used, with an absence of hygiene. In the extreme hoarding case in San Francisco, police found over 300 bottles of urine on the premises.

If a loved one or a neighbor is a hoarder and living in unsafe conditions, we can help with the cleanup and refer you to other helpful resources. If animals or children are at risk, we can also put you in touch with law enforcement agencies that can assist.

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Filed Under: Call for Answers, Hoarding Tagged With: animal abuse, animal hoarding, animal hoarding cleanup, biohazard cleanup, child abuse, hoarding cleanup

A Deadly Hoarding Case in San Francisco

April 9, 2015 By Alan Cohen

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On April 5, 2015, it was reported that a mummified body of a 90-year old woman was found in a home, and it is believed she died 5 years ago. The San Francisco home was full of detritus, from top to bottom, including over 300 bottles of urine, animal remains and feces and a rat infestation. What’s worse is that the home was shared by the deceased’s 65 year old daughter, who was hospitalized once her mother and living situation were discovered. The police responding to the scene were reported as saying this is the worst case of hoarding they had ever seen.

SFO hoardingAs we have mentioned in a previous blog post, hoarding is a psychological condition that can often be hereditary, and that seems to be the case in this situation. Here the home also presented a health hazard not only to the deceased and her daughter, but to their neighbors as well, because the home has attracted dangerous pests to the area.

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Filed Under: Hoarding Tagged With: biohazard, biohazard cleanup, health hazard, hoarding, hoarding cleanup, mummified

Hoarding is more common than you think

April 9, 2015 By Alan Cohen

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According to the American Psychiatric Association, hoarding disorder is when a person obsessively collects and keeps an enormous amount of items that most people would consider worthless or trash. It affects an estimated 2% – 5% of the population, and may be present along with other psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety and attention deficit/hyperactivity (ADHD) disorders. It is also often dangerous, because excessive items in a home can block access to exit routes, can topple and crush a person or pets, and be a biohazard. In a recent case in San Francisco, the mummified body of a 90 year old woman was discovered, 5 years after her death, in what police called the worst case of hoarding they had ever seen.

Hoarding disorder can also isolate its victims and cause conflict with friends, family, communities and health and safety officials. At Bio SoCal, we offer extensive and discreet cleanup of all types of hoarding disorder, including aftercare and follow-up.

The following infographic offers insight into the early warning signs, with links to organizations that offer victim and family support services.

hoarding infographic

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Filed Under: Hoarding Tagged With: American Psychiatric Association, biohazard cleanup, hoarding, hoarding cleanup

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