Cleaning out a hoarder house: any helpful tips?

[Molpet]

This is what I need to remember.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

This is what I need to remember.

View attachment 4269521

I need to remember this, too!

My friend is coming back on New Year's Day. Either that day or the next we'll be back in the house. We're going to start on one of the bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms are packed to the ceiling, I'm guessing it will be one of those. She said no one has even opened the door of the bedroom at the end of the hall in at least ten years. I expect that one to be very spidery!

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Today we worked on the first bedroom, not the end-of-the-hall one, this one was near the bathroom. My friend had already cleared the hallway to the room.

Clearly no one had been in this room in a long time, based on the thick layer of dust on everything. No Amazon boxes in this one. It smelled... not very nice, sort of like a fourth grader's hamster cage. There were several large dog beds in there so I don't know if this was maybe the dogs' room, or the mice that made it smell that way, or what.

About 1/4 of the room was a gigantic mountain of bedding and old clothes. It was about 6' high and we haven't gone through all of it yet so I don't really know what all is under there. It looked like stuff had just been thrown in there over and over for years.

In the closet were men's and women's clothes, several women's wigs in boxes, some empty suitcases, bath towels, and a new-looking acoustic guitar in a case.

The rest of the room had two twin bed metal frames, a folded cot, several dressers with old clothes in them, maybe from the 1980s or 90s, an unopened box of puppy pads, women's and men's shoes, some artificial plants, and other assorted odds and ends. No food or trash.

The room had wallpaper that had been painted over but you could still see it, it looked like it had been a kids' room at some point although we didn't find any kids items aside from the twin bed frames.

We mostly just filled bags for trash and donations. The clothes, shoes, wigs, bedding, and dog beds were used but in very good condition so she's going to donate those after they're cleaned. Anything that was old or just too caked in dust we threw out. She took home the guitar, I don't know if she plays but it looked nice.

No spiders but we did see mouse poop. We use gloves, N95 masks, disposable shoe covers and shower caps. I was covered in dust. I took a shower before leaving and I was really glad I took a Claritin before we went in there. There are still several HEPA air cleaners running but my gosh that thick thick dust was impressive.

 

[WingItRanch]

sort of like a fourth grader's hamster cage

Oh boy

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Oh boy

If you know, you know!

 

[Molpet]

old clothes in them, maybe from the 1980s or 90s,

I am still wearing clothes from this time.... I had stored them when I gained weight. Then lost weight when I retired. So they fit now.