When a person dies, their home must be cleared out and sanitised. If you find yourself being asked to do this task after someone you know passes away, and you are in one of these two situations, then you should consider enlisting the help of some cleaners who specialise in providing deceased estate cleaning services.
You were extremely close to the deceased and are likely to be extremely distressed by cleaning up their home
If someone you cared about deeply has died and you are the only person that is available to clear out and clean up their home, then it would be best to pass this job on to a cleaner. Grieving the death of a loved one is hard enough, in and of itself. If whilst dealing with the emotional aftermath of losing this person, you then have to go to their home and rifle through and dispose of their items, then you might find the grieving process even more difficult to cope with.
Many of the seemingly mundane items in the property that have to be thrown away could remind you of times you shared with the deceased or bring back memories of the things about their personality that you loved. For example, the cooking utensils might remind you of the fun dinner parties that the person hosted in their home, whilst the sight of their battered old board game collection might make you recall the evenings you spent together playing these games.
The emotional toll of having to throw away these symbols of the life your loved one lived and the happy experiences you shared could leave you unable to function, which could be very problematic if, for example, you cannot afford to take time off work to recover from this psychological distress. Letting a team of specialist cleaners take care of this task will allow you to step back a bit from this situation, which should, in turn, ensure that your grief does not overwhelm you.
The house is in terrible condition and has issues that you are not healthy enough to cope with
If the deceased occupant neglected their home during the months leading up to their death and as a result of this, the property has developed problems that you cannot safely cope with because of your own ill health, then you will need to ask a cleaner who does this type of cleaning to help you.
For instance, if you have been diagnosed with asthma and the house of the deceased has not been dusted in months and there is mould growing on the dirty food containers that were not thrown away or on the damp walls, then it would not be safe for you to clear it out, as breathing in the dust (and dust mites) and mould spores might trigger a very severe asthma attack.
In this situation, the only way to ensure your own safety would be to let a cleaner who does not have respiratory issues (or who has access to respiratory protection that they can wear when they are in the house) carry out this task.
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