Providing Water Damage Restoration Services to a Hoarded Home in Alexandria, VA

Hoarding is a common problem in the US, with as much as 6% of the population suffering from this condition. That’s why here, in Alexandria, VA, and surrounding areas, we often provide hoarding cleanup services.

There are two main issues that arise from hoarding:

1. It creates safety hazards that put the house occupants at risk for injuries, such as slips and falls. Also, the increased risk for fires, mold, or exposure to animal remains creates hazardous living conditions.
2. Hoarded homes typically degrade faster due to frequent unrecognized or unrepaired damage from water, mold, fire or biohazard. What’s worse, this damage is often not covered by insurance because the overall maintenance of the house is usually neglected.

Back in July of this year, we provided water damage restoration and hoarding cleanup services to a home in Alexandria, VA. Here’s what happened and how we turned the situation around.

Providing water damage restoration and hoarding cleanup in Alexandria

The homeowner, a single lady in her 50s, had gone out of town to attend a funeral. Unfortunately, when she got back home, water running from the bathroom sink had caused severe water damage in her home.

However, the house was overwhelmingly cluttered with contents, making the water damage restoration much more difficult. The homeowner started hoarding 20 years ago after she tragically lost her son. All in all, the situation was very delicate, and we worked with compassion and empathy for the homeowner.

Due to the water damage, we needed to dry the property quickly. But before drying up the water-damaged area, we had to first remove the clutter. That was not an easy task for either our crew or the client. It’s completely normal for hoarders to get attached to their contents, whether they are useful or not.

The homeowner had to overcome the difficult challenge of letting go of the contents that she doesn’t need. But, after convincing her to let go of some of the contents, we managed to carefully sort, pack, and store the rest of her things. As we went through all the items, we packed the salvageable ones into boxes, outside the home.

Because we meticulously went through and sorted each of her items, it took us seven days to finish the job, longer than a ‘typical’ residence. This is very normal when dealing with water damage in a hoarded home.

Once we finished the job, the homeowner wrote: “PuroClean of Alexandria Team exceeds all expectation” on the customer opinion survey! Those positive words made us so proud to have served our neighbor during one of the most trying times in her life.

For hoarding cleaning and water damage restoration, contact PuroClean!

PuroClean of Alexandria stands ready to provide restoration services involving water, fire, mold, or biohazard to any property, no matter if it’s hoarded. We sort out the clutter and clean up the hoarded home with efficiency and compassion. For emergency restoration services and hoarding cleanup in Alexandria, give us a call today.