Housekeeping Experts - how would you approach cleaning an ex-hoarder's house?

[EdenFromTheEast]

I am moving into a house that belonged to a hoarder. The hoard will be gone, but the house is absolutely filthy. There have been wild animals going in and all sorts. It truly is revolting. I need to clean it then paint all the walls and the floorboards, but I don't know where to start. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

There are industrial cleaners who do this sort of thing

Think Life of Grime

The estate agent might be able to recommend someone

If you are in the Bristol area I can think of a firm we used at work but that was 30 off years ago

This is one of those tasks where it’s just a matter of rolling up sleeves and keeping it simple. Start with the rooms you’ll need to use so kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Plentiful hot soapy water, rubber gloves and a good supply of rags/cheap cleaning cloths. Get a ladder and just start scrubbing from the ceiling down.

Refresh your bucket of water regularly, open the windows to get air and sunlight in. Once everything is scrubbed down you’ll be better able to see what you’re working with.

Paint will be dependent on state of your plaster, if it’s generally ok and smooth then you can just fill any little imperfections and paint, if it’s a mess then you may need plastering or skimming, if it’s ok but not great then you may be able to use wallpaper.

Is your woodwork in ok condition or will you need to replace skirting, frames and doors? If you can keep what you have then after it’s all washed down you’ll can get a first coat on and that will immediately make everything look fresher. I prefer Satin paint to Gloss because I find Gloss yellows too quickly.

Flooring is generally the last thing after all the painting, that way you avoid drips on your new carpet.

I would suggest replastering and new flooring as well

Great advice, thank you so much!

You might find that the floorboards need replacing. I moved into a house where the previous owner had a couple of cats and a dog.. she must've let them pee and poo once she' knew she'd sold sold the house (contracts exchange)
No amount of scrubbing could get rid of the stench, luckily it was only in one room.

Friends had to replace floor boards, skirting and even joists in a house they bought.

elderly hoarder had let their pets use 1 bedroom as a toilet. Nothing could get the stench out.

My sister recently bought an ex-hoarder doer-upper.

first pass has been to remove smelly old carpets and other floor coverings and assess the state of the floors. They didn’t have the pet / pee issues, but have found a leak in the bathroom that has destroyed the floor so all the floorboard / joists need replaced. The carpets were so dirty, they broke the hoover! they went ahead and got the floors sanded and sealed - should really have waited until lots of other work was done but they just needed to see some progress!

It’s a bungalow extended into the roof space and none of the eaves were ever sealed or finished - so yes, a fair bit of wildlife (including bats) has been getting in. So that’s quite a big job.

Do you own the property? Did you have a survey done? Have you got lots of money to throw at it? My sister does, and she’s going to need it with all the repairs plus new kitchen and two bathrooms to replace.

This is the firm I referred to earlier

http://www.dobbins-industrialcleaning.co.uk/our-services

A ladder. Spend good money on a good ladder. Possibly two, one for you and one for the bucket. Sugar soap. Bottles of it. Sponges. Big ones rather than piddly little things. Rubber gloves. Aprons. Sturdy shoes that suit your feet properly.

All flooring up so you see floorboards and sweep. Sweep ceilings and walls with a soft broom. Then it’s scrubbing time. Start with ceilings. Then walls, windows and floor.

What should I use to clean the walls? I know that Sugar Soap is recommended, but is there anything I can use to get rid of mould, germs, etc? Thanks.

Just hot soapy water would be my recommendation. You are going to be using copious amounts and inhaling it for a while, you don’t want to be dousing your whole house in bleach or vinegar. Get it basically clean then you can finesse.

Sugar soap. What you need to do is what it’s made to do. Just follow the instructions.

I'd start in the bathroom, totally empty it, and then start, keep windows open. Start with toilet as that's what you might need, then bath and sink. Start one job at a time.

Toilet, sink, bath or shower, bathroom floor. Kitchen sink, worktops, cupboard doors, floor.

Then a smallish room you can sit in. I know you're not living there but if you're going to do this yourself you'll need somewhere clean to pee, make a drink, sit down and drink it.

I would roughly clean everything first. There might be things that end up not being salvageable and you don't want to waste time cleaning those.

Throw away all curtains and carpets. They will probably never smell clean. You might need a skip or a skip bag for those. You don't want them in your car.

Good luck. I hope it's easier than you're anticipating.

You should use a face mask recommended for mould. Ffp3 I think.

Personally I’d be hiring cleaners to do it. They’ll have the right tools and equipment. I don’t think this is a job for you to do yourself.

This may be of interest

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly38xl8328o

yes I know nobody has died there but it gives a few ideas