Most people collect items. This is natural and leads to many hobbies but hoarding is a different story. Hoarding is the unnecessary saving of either specific items or any type of item. When hoarding takes place, it can severely take over not only ones life but their dwelling as well. Below are tips to spotting the signs, dangers, and how to clean up hoarding.
What are the Signs of Hoarding?
Here are a few key signs of when you or someone you know may be hoarding:
- Refusing to throw away excess or multiples of items
- Experiencing various medical symptoms similar to anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc when attempting to remove items
- Unable to organize or filter through items
- Inability to decide what to keep or where to put things
- Possessive traits over all items regardless of condition or type
- Continually need to collect more items regardless of current quantity
- Negative effects relating to personal or work life
What are the Dangers of Hoarding?
Once the signs of hoarding begin to show up, the dangers are close behind. Be wary of the following dangers when either related to yourself or someone you may suspect is hoarding:
- Mold can begin to grow in high density areas
- In addition to Mold, other allergy triggering bacterias can fester within the walls and surrounding area depending on the specific items being horaded such as chemicals, food, etc
- Insect infestation is a common byproduct of hoarding and can lead to a vast amount of health risk
- If animals are in the home (or find themselves inside the home from the outside) feces, urine, and dander can potentially never be discovered but slowly overtime increase health risk for all inhabitants of the home.
- The physical structure of the home can also become compromised and thus lead to structural damage that can be life threatening such as walls or ceilings caving in
Hoarding: Cleaning Up
Cleaning an area that has been continually hoarded overtime can be very dangerous and also takes an immense amount of time. Hiring an austin cleaning company to handle the clean is your safest solution. With those dangers listed above, hazmat suits are suggested as you do not want to spread any diseases or contract something yourself. When hiring an outside cleaning company, they can tackle the situation with precision and speed. This will drastically cut down on the time spent not only cleaning but properly disposing of items. Head the warning signs and educate yourself on the dangers of hoarding. To eradicate this dangerous habit, reach out to your local Austin cleaning company for the quickest and safest solution.
