Health & Safety

Hoarded homes can sometimes be unhealthy or unsafe. Typically, the causes of these conditions are food, the piles of stuff, air quality, pests, and lack of ability to maintain proper hygiene. In extreme cases, the structure of the house itself can be at risk.

In most of the situations below, you will not be able to “fix” it. These problems, aside from clearing walkways and exits, throwing out expired food, and improving your hygiene, are too big for probably even your hoarder to take care of. They will almost certainly require professional help, which hoarders often reject.

Food and Medication Safety

Hoarding doesn’t stop at “stuff.” Many hoarders also keep food well past its expiration date, finding it hard to throw away even moldy food.

When possible, make sure all food is kept in the kitchen and refrigerated when required. Food that is expired can become unsafe to eat. If you can throw it out, do it.

There are “best by” dates, “use by” dates, and “expired” dates, and they all mean different things. Some food is perfectly okay after its date, but it’s important to know. RealSimple has a helpful chart so you can easily see what’s okay to eat past its expiration date. And EatByDate has an information page for specific foods.

Medications may be safe to use past their expiration date, but understand that their efficacy may be reduced, meaning they may not work as well. Medications should be disposed of according to this page published by the FDA.

Piles of Stuff

The “stuff” in a hoarded house can cause trips, falls, and sometimes serious injury. The piles can spill over into paths and exits so that escape in an emergency is blocked. And the piles themselves put people in the home at greater risk of a fire.

To the extent that you are able to gently explain to your hoarder that the piles are dangerous, this may help them understand they at least need to move their stuff out of walkways and away from doors and windows. If there are large piles of paper, such as newspapers and magazines, see if removing those would be acceptable.

Air Quality

Mold and mildew are frequent in hoarded homes. These can cause respiratory illness that can be hard to live with and expensive to treat. Animal hoarding brings its own problems, increasing the risk of disease. Chemicals and cleaning products may not be stored safely and may leak.

Many hoarded homes have problems with heat and air working properly, because the filters are not changed on a regular basis, if ever. Hoarders often will not allow anyone in to fix the problem, so it continues to get worse.

You may be able to clean up a little space for yourself, but breathing the contaminated air is harder to fix. This is why you will often see people say the bottom line is to move out of the hoarded home as soon as possible. An air purifier in your space may help.

Structural Problems

Hoarded homes frequently have problems with broken plumbing that can lead to flooding, which in turn leads to mold, mildew, and rotting building materials. Many times, the roof is also a source of water leaking in. Piles of stuff can become so heavy that the floors can sag. In extreme situations, the home can be condemned and no one can live there.

Pests

Insects and rodents are hard to spot and control in a home that is hoarded. There are so many places for them to hide, and it’s hard to treat for them under piles of stuff. Many pest control companies will not even try to treat for pests unless a space is free of clutter.

Pests can spread serious illnesses to the people and animals that live in the home. Getting out of the home is often the only solution if the hoarder will not clean up to allow for treatment.

Hygiene

Hygiene is defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as “the practice or principles of keeping yourself and your environment clean in order to maintain health and prevent disease.” Some people may have never even been taught about hygiene.

The smell of a hoarded home can cause issues for your clothes, especially if you don’t have access to laundry machines. This can cause embarrassment and shame in school or other public situations.

Check these links out for hygiene and laundry basics:

You can read more about health and safety issues below:

Please see Disclaimers page.