By The Junk Lord · Updated
Start with the person, not the stuff
If you're trying to figure out how to help a family member with a hoarded home, the first step isn't a trash bag. It's a conversation. The house is full because of how the person living there relates to their things, and pushing past that usually ends with a locked door and hurt feelings on both sides.
Go in to listen before you go in to clear. Ask what's bothering them about the house, if anything. Maybe it's a stairway they can't use anymore, a bathroom that doesn't work, or a worry about falling. Starting from their concern gives you a goal you both agree on.
Skip labels and skip diagnosing. You don't need a name for what's going on to help with the rooms. If you're worried about your relative's health or state of mind, encourage them to talk with their doctor or a mental-health professional, and keep that separate from the cleanup conversation.
- Talk about the person's goals first: a clear path, a working kitchen, a safe bedroom.
- Agree on who makes the final call on each item. In most cases it should be the person whose home it is.
- Don't throw things out behind their back. It breaks trust, and trust is what gets the next room done.
Where to start cleaning a hoarder house
Start at the front door and work inward. Every bag, box and chair has to leave through an exit, so the first job is a clear route from the door to the street. After that, clear one room at a time and finish it before moving on. A half-cleared house tends to fill back up.
Pick the room that matters most to daily life. Usually that's the kitchen, the bathroom or the bedroom. A finished bathroom does more for the household than three half-sorted closets.
- Set up three spots before you touch anything: keep, donate and go. Add a fourth box for paperwork to review.
- Old mail can bury things that matter, like a deed, an uncashed check or a box of family photos. Set paper aside for a slow look instead of bagging it by the armload.
- Keep work sessions short enough that nobody gets worn down. Stopping on a good note makes the next visit easier.
Safety basics before anyone starts hauling
A packed house has hazards a normal house doesn't. Piles can shift, floors can be hidden, and stairs are often half-blocked. Slow down and look before you lift.
Old refrigerators deserve their own plan. York County requires food to be removed from refrigerators and freezers before they're disposed of, and federal rules bar venting the refrigerant inside, so it has to be recovered before the unit is scrapped.[1][2][3]
- Clear the stairs and hallways first, and never carry a load you can't see over on a staircase.
- Wear sturdy shoes and work gloves. Bring a flashlight for basements and closets.
- Leave leaking, rusted, bulging or unlabeled containers where they are. Don't open them, combine them or pour them out. Set a marker next to them and plan for proper disposal.
- If a floor feels soft, a ceiling is sagging, or you smell gas, stop and get the right professional in before going further.
- Work in pairs. Someone should always know where you are in the house.
Paint, chemicals and other household hazardous waste
Hoarded homes often hold years of old paint, cleaners, garden chemicals and fuel. York County's solid waste authority defines household hazardous waste as common products used in homes that are hazardous but not regulated as hazardous waste, giving oil-based paints, bleach and weed killers as examples.[4]
York County: the county holds two household hazardous waste collection events a year, one in spring and one in fall, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. behind the Recycling Drop-Off Center. They're free for York County residents, and registration is required. Check ycswa.com for the current dates.[4][5]
Between events, York County residents can bring most household hazardous waste to the Resource Recovery Center along with other household waste, for a fee. Mercury devices, pressurized gas tanks, rechargeable batteries, pool chemicals, flares, weapons, ammunition and radioactive materials are not taken there, and fuel is limited to one gallon per visit.[4]
Lancaster County: the county authority runs a household hazardous waste facility at 1299 Harrisburg Pike in Lancaster, open weekdays. It's free for Lancaster County residents and doesn't accept waste from businesses.[6]
Adams County: the county's waste plan says it does not have a household hazardous waste program, and it refers people with large amounts of old paint to the York County Resource Recovery Center.[7]
Dauphin County: the Lancaster facility is for Lancaster residents only and tells Dauphin County residents to contact the Dauphin County Recycling Center about household hazardous waste.[6]
Where no collection program is available, Pennsylvania DEP says household hazardous waste may legally go in the regular trash if liquids are evaporated or absorbed with something like cat litter or sawdust, the residue is packaged so it can't leak, and it goes out in small amounts over several collection days.[8]
- Taken at York County's events: flammables like fuels, solvents and stains, garden and pool chemicals, household cleaners, fluorescent bulbs, mercury devices, vehicle fluids, undamaged rechargeable batteries, and certain propane and gas tanks.[5]
- Not taken at those events: latex paint, alkaline batteries, car batteries, electronics, medications, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and 20-lb propane tanks.[5]
- Latex paint: York County says to donate it if it's usable, or mix it with kitty litter or shredded paper, seal the lid, bag it and put it in regular trash.[5]
- Alkaline batteries can go in regular trash, and car batteries go back to a business that sells them, per York County's list.[5]
Old TVs and computers can't go in the trash
A lot of hoarded homes have a closet of dead TVs and old computer towers. Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act bars desktops, laptops, monitors, computer peripherals and TVs from household trash, and that ban has been in effect since January 24, 2013. Phones are not covered devices under the law, though many recycling programs take them.[9][10][11]
York County residents can recycle electronics for free at the Resource Recovery Center and at the Fairview and Penn Township recycling centers, with a limit of five TVs per visit. The county recommends wiping personal data off devices first, which matters when a relative's old computer may hold bank records.[11]
Handle cracked or smashed screens with care. Pennsylvania DEP says broken or damaged devices may be considered hazardous waste.[12]
Pacing the work and making decisions together
Most families underestimate how long the sorting takes and overestimate how long the hauling takes. Deciding is the slow part. Carrying is the fast part.
Set rules for decisions before the hard items come up. For example: anything with a photo or a signature gets set aside, duplicates can go, and anything broken past repair leaves unless the owner says otherwise. Rules made calmly in advance save arguments in the middle of a room.
Expect some days to go backward. Pausing a session isn't failing. What helps most is a steady rhythm the person can live with, like the same morning every week, so progress keeps moving without anyone feeling ambushed.
- Use a donation box for things in decent shape. Seeing items go to someone who can use them makes letting go easier for many people.
- Take a photo of a hard-to-part-with item before it goes. Some people find the photo is enough to keep.
- Keep the person whose home it is in charge of the keep pile, even when it grows faster than you'd like.
When to bring in a crew
Some families do the whole job themselves. Others hit a wall: the volume is too big, the stairs are too steep, or the people helping live two hours away. That's when a crew makes sense.
When we take on a hoarder cleanout, it's compassionate, judgment-free and confidential, and William is there on the job. We move at the speed the household sets, sorting alongside you, keeping what matters, dropping usable things at donation spots and hauling the rest. The price is set upfront, before anything moves, based on how much room it takes in the truck. A typical full house is one full day of work; a heavy hoarding situation can stretch to two.
We don't take hazardous waste or liquids, so set aside the paint, chemicals and propane tanks using the options above. We also don't do biohazard cleanup or deep cleaning. Our job is getting the contents out so the household, or a specialist, can take it from there.
If your family wants to go at its own speed over a few weeks, our 14-yard dump trailer can sit in the driveway while you fill it, and we haul it when you're done.