Gutting & Renovating a Hoarder's House

My husband and I purchased a hoarder's house, completely gutted it, and now, one year later, we're in the renovation phase.

Purchasing a hoarder's house is not for everyone. If you plan on doing the Herculean task of cleaning out a "hoard," you should have a certain skill set, have cash and be physically capable of tackling a myriad of different jobs, among other things. And last but not least, you shouldn't mind getting your hands dirty.

If you have enough funds, you can hire professionals to do the hauling out work for you. Depending on the severity of the hoarding situation, you'll have to weigh the price of the house, labor and clean-up costs, time and effort in order to justify the expenditure.

For us it took one full year to get to where we are now. We gutted the house which was packed from floor to ceiling with a hoard that was a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. The sturdy brick house stored 30 tons of paper among rooms filled with electronics, books, clothes and random things. We threw out junk that filled five 30 yard dumpsters and filled 5 storage units ranging in size from 10x15 to 10x30. We lost count on how many truck loads of metal went to the recycling yard. The backyard contained an outside hoard consisting of a 1000 filled to the brim plastic bins, now all gone.

The house is now prepped and ready for renovation. To follow each phase of construction, visit Brick House 319.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Photos-Susan Fogwell