Text Us
If you need help cleaning out the house or other property of a person with hoarding disorder in the Columbus, Ohio area, Junk King is here to help! Be it a friend, a family member, or even yourself, you can call us knowing we are experienced, sensitive, professionals who will handle the job with tact and efficiency.
Cleaning out a hoarder’s house can be a very difficult task. It can be physically and emotionally draining on all involved, especially the owner of the home. Hoarders typically have a strong attachment to the items that they have collected throughout their life. While friends or family members may see the items in their home as complete junk, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Hoarders can develop emotional attachments to all sorts of items, including things like newspaper, boxes, books, clothing, or anything at all but the sheer volume makes it impossible for them to maintain it all and in most cases the hoarded items are not in a serviceable or valuable condition.
The items that a hoarder attaches themselves to can be completely random, making no sense to an outside party, which makes it difficult to provide help. Trying to help a hoarder can be extremely difficult and very frustrating. The owner of the home will likely erect emotional walls and boundaries and be very uncomfortable with the disposal process of their items. For this reason, you largely have to hire a waste management service that can come in and help you get rid of all of the items in a quick and efficient manner.
Like pulling off a Band-Aid, the quicker the better!
If you have ever seen the hoarding shows currently on TV, you’ll notice that they do not delay the cleanup process. Rather, they initiate cleaning out the house and throwing away items, as quickly as possible. Every single time, yard waste and junk waste companies are called in to help initiate the process and work out a solution for the hoarder. Hoarding therapists see this as an important issue that needs to be rushed into, so that the homeowner can adapt to their new ways, without having time to resist the process. Surely, there are going to be some complications and difficult moments for the homeowner but it is important to be able to make a clean break and a fresh start.
As mentioned before, hoarders are very attached to their items, even though they may not have reasoning for this attachment that make sense to anyone else. Nevertheless, empathy and understanding combined with good boundaries help to acknowledge the validity of their feelings without minimizing the extent of the disorder and addressing their needs.
We’ve had hoarders hire us themselves because the cleanout process is something they are simply incapable of, even though they are aware of the problem. This is generally a pretty time-consuming job (don’t worry, we charge by volume, not time or labor), and often requires protective gear due to the likelihood of animal and insect infestations.
Hopefully, the hoarder will start to recover and will develop skills that are necessary in order to overcome this problem. They should start to realize that some of these items that they have been collecting are unnecessary, and can be thrown out without consideration. This is a process that they have to experience for themselves, albeit with assistance. Rest assured, Junk King Columbus will provide that assistance, with compassion, in central Ohio.
To schedule an appointment or a free on-site estimate call us at 1-800-995-JUNK (5865).
