In Chatsworth I cleaned out a former encampment of homeless people. It was a hoarding situation with trash, clothes and small pieces of furniture. There was garbage they had stored down in the L.A. aqueduct which required a ladder to remove. there was debris of all kinds. What most people would consider junk, they collected and thought valuable.
I have done many hoarding trash-outs. In Canyon Country, the entire house was filled with every type of trash, from old, dirty clothes and kitchen ware to mattresses and furniture, computers, T.V.’s, appliances, books and magazines. On that job I tore out rooms with carpets and padding that were filthy, kitchen floor tile, wall panels and toilets. Sometimes the kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets and the bathroom tub and shower enclosures need to be demolished because the tile and bath tubs were too dirty to clean. On hoarding jobs like these you never know what to expect, often there will be broken boxes of old clothes, furniture and televisions in crawl spaces and under the homes which need to be pulled out. The garages will also usually be filled with refrigerators, broken furniture, toys, and boxes of books and magazines that are infested with rats.
I cleared out a two story home in Los Angeles which had several refrigerators, sofa beds, recliners, multiple beds, book cases and dressers. Before I could take any of the furniture out I had to clear the floors of all the clothing and broken boxes of garbage. The bedrooms had night stands, big chests and magazines thrown everywhere. In the back yard was a storage shed that was full of old tools, metal, wood and boxes full of all kinds of junk.
Another time I used a big dumpster was on a commercial property in Vernon. A cabinet making company had gone out of business and had left huge display cabinets, counters and all kinds of furnishings. Most all the cabinets and display cases had to be broken apart and carried through the giant airplane hanger the worked out of. There was wood, metal and massive pallets, plastic, tile and many sheets of wood paneling. It took about fifteen hours to fill that dumpster.
I did a hoarding trash-out in a 2 story condo that was so bad even the plumber was holding his nose and had to leave. As I opened the front door cock roaches fell from the top of the door to the floor where countless more were swarming. There was no pathway to walk as the floor was covered with clothing, broken furniture and other debris. The garage was so full of trash that I couldn’t open the door fully. There were mattresses lawn chairs, patio tables, a pool table, clothing, a dryer and washer full of water.
The realtor called me on a Thursday afternoon and I was there pulling the junk out by 5 PM that evening. We started with the living room which had such a volume of clothing on the floor that we had to clear it out as we walked. There were broken wooden chairs, a torn-up sofa, toys, cabinets and a T.V. The three bedrooms upstairs had torn mattresses and broken box springs, another ripped up sofa bed, more clothes, pieces of broken furniture and every kind of garbage you can think of. In the kitchen we took away a side by side refrigerator full of more live, swarming cock roaches. As we were taking all the trash and furniture to the truck, neighbors from the complex were commenting that they couldn’t believe how much garbage was in the condo.
The electricity was shut off and we were working in dark much of the time since we ended up going late into the night for the five days on this hoarding job.The garage door was broken and we fought to get it open and closed repeatedly, as there was no light down there at all. We worked in almost total darkness, dealing with the broken sofa beds, the pool table, beds, dressers, pieces of metal and wood, tripping over clothes the whole time with the cock roaches running throughout everything.
I donate the serviceable items, removing furniture and other household items and delivering them to Goodwill. Broken items are taken to the dump
And this is what it looks when I am done…
