I think in every community you see breaking news at 5 pm where hundreds of cats and dogs are taken out of a house where a single woman or a family was living in filth. It amazes me every time, but Tampa, FL I think has more than our fair share. Most recently I received call from a family in a Tampa suburb. He asked me if I cleaned up "houses over run by cats". I said sure. I can come over and give you an estimate. He said the houses hasn't been lived in for a few months. I said no problem. That's all the information he gave me.
I met him at his house and I noticed a "condemned" sign on the door. No big deal right? I deal with blood, brains, and disgusting shit everyday. I made the mistake of not grilling him b/c I sensed he was a bit embarrassed. I motioned for him to come inside with me and he said, "You want me to go in with you?" That should have been my first clue this wasn't your average cat house. Well I went in with no respirator b/c I like to gauge the smell to see how much equipment and chemicals will be needed. I took approximately 10 steps inside the residence and I ran outside. The ammonia smell pierced my lungs, and burnt the hair in my nose. The guy stood in there with a dumbfounded look while I ran to the car to grab my respirator. I didn't want to cuss b/c I didn't want to embarrass him any further. I grab my trusty respirator and walk back inside. What I saw was absolutely amazing and I will never forget it. Layers and layers of animal feces covered the floors. I could not tell what type of flooring was in the house. The drywall was yellow about halfway up with the stains of cat urine. What people don't know is that cat urine smells worse than anything b/c cats don't drink a lot of water. So when they urinate its potent and it crystallizes after it dries. Its an intense smell that is near impossible to get out of soft goods.
I looked around the house and saw mounds of furniture that had been shit and pissed on. Garbage and electronics were strewn all over the place. He proceeded through the house showing me every room. Once we reached the master bedroom I observed a dead cat that still had fur on it. Must have been missed by animal control, he stated. The cat had maggots and roaches crawling in it, through it and all over it. To think this family lived her with their adult daughter.
I walked outside after seeing the entire residence. In amazement I began conversation to get my mind off of what I just saw. I felt itchy and looked down. My light colored blue jeans were now black. Completely black. I began patting my legs and millions and millions of fleas jumped like Mexican jumping beans. I looked at the man and fleas were all over him as well, but he wasn't swatting them at all. Then out of embarrassment I assume, he urinated in his pants. I pretended not to notice. I knew that I was infested with fleas and wouldn't be able to get rid of them with just a swat. Needless to say, a call to a good friend, and a call to her vet, I was told don't go in my house. The fleas were still alive despite the host being dead. Two bottles of OFF later and getting naked in my garage placing all my clothes in a plastic bag was the first step. The next day 80% of my body was chewed up. I was pissed he didn't tell me the truth and provide the real story before I went in there.
Eventually I got a call from him saying he wanted me to start the job. The city had put him on a deadline. They were going to demo the house if he didn't get moving. I said no problem. He ended up procrastinating too much and the city voted to demo the house. Sounds like a lose lose situation. I can't blame the neighbors though. The smell was atrocious and its been like that for 4 yrs.
The owners were carted off to a mental institution who was not able to keep them for very long. They were out 5 days later, and will probably start a new house in the same condition.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Gross Filth Houses
Just when I think that I have literally seen it all. Just when I think I have been in and cleaned the most disgusting home anyone could possibly imagine, I get called to another one.
I saw on t.v. a women in a suburb of Tampa get busted by the animal control and police having 43 dogs in her house. To make matters worse, her sister had died in the house, and the women put her body on the back yard porch so she could continue to collect her social security check. I guess she didn't realize the smell would be that bad and neighbors called the police. That wasn't the first time the police were called. There were several code violations for animal neglect, obnoxious smells coming from the house etc. The t.v. news report mentioned two deaths in the residence, but didn't elaborate on the second one. The women looked disheveled but spoke to reporters. She said that she had two dogs and took great care of them. She said she kept taking in homeless dogs and they kept breeding. She said it got out of control and they eventually took over her house. The police did not prosecute her for failing to take care of her animals or her property.
Then here I am 3 months later and I get the call. It was blatently obvious by speaking to the women on the phone that she has mental health issues. Its not surprise considering the issues that occurred with her. I agreed to meet her at the residence, which was condemned according to her. I was on time as usual to give her a bid.
The women showed up in an older mini van driven by a white male in his 30's. The guy appeared to have some issues of his own. A younger woman got out of the front passenger seat and she was......well not all there either. Then last but not least, the owner of the house, and the woman I had seen on t.v. I introduced myself and she immediately started ranting on different tangents. From the street I could see the bright orange condemned sign on the garage door. The trees were very over grown. The woman asked me if we were extreme makeover and if we were going to clean up her house for free. I have no idea where she got that from, but if she's not schizophrenic, then I am not writing this right now. My company has done countless free jobs for the elderly, the poor, and just people I have felt sorry for in the past. To do free jobs, I usually do them myself to avoid paying out labor. I can only do so many free jobs every year and still try to maintain a profit. This particular job would absolutely not be a free job. I'll explain why.
The woman, who I'll call Mary led me to the side door of the house. When she opened the side door leading to the garage I was immediately hit with a strong odor of urine, mold, and dampness. I saw roaches scurry among the clutter. The garage was completely full with appliances, furniture, clothing and other pack rat items that are worth absolutely ZERO. She started talking to herself out loud and I mumbled under my breath how disgusting this shit was. Then we walked in the main living area, and I was cussing myself out underneath my breath. Why you ask? Well mainly because I had given a bid a few weeks ago at a cat house that was also condemned and I wasn't given a warning before walking in. Needless to say when I got out of that house 15 minutes later I was eaten alive by fleas. This particular house was sitting vacant for so long that I figured the fleas had all died because their host was gone. NOT QUITE!!!!!
As I walked in I saw probably 50 red bags of O'l Roy dog food that was chewed up and strewn all over the house. The feces was so old and dried up it had turned into a grey dust. Some of the formation of dog feces was still present and it was evident of what it was. The furniture was eaten, wood on the arms of chairs exposed. The mattresses had huge holes in them, covered with feces. Parts of the ceiling was gone, and the beams were the only thing left. Some insulation was hanging out of the wall. The bathrooms had brown stains all over the tile. The kitchen was non functional, and appeared to not have been used in years. The back patio sliding door was slightly ajar which led me to believe someone or something had been coming and going as they pleased. I could see the large fruit trees in the back yard were over grown and had an abundance of fruit.
"Mary" started to get agitated and yelled that she thought someone had been in the house rifling through her stuff. Did she not realize that nothing in that house was even nice enough to be pissed on at a truck stop? Did she not realize that living that way is not Ok? Those are thoughts that go through my head, but I never ask. Most times they are embarrassed enough, other times, they have no idea what's going on and really don't care.
This woman has no money, and the house is being foreclosed on. The bank will eventually hire us to clean it up so they can get contractors in there to repair the structural damages and flip it in this crazy market. All in all I feel horrible for the animals. We get so many of these calls for cleanups after the animals have been removed. My heart breaks for these animals. They are held captive in these houses and very hungy. By looking at the furniture its evident they were very hungry.
That's how the other half lives!
I saw on t.v. a women in a suburb of Tampa get busted by the animal control and police having 43 dogs in her house. To make matters worse, her sister had died in the house, and the women put her body on the back yard porch so she could continue to collect her social security check. I guess she didn't realize the smell would be that bad and neighbors called the police. That wasn't the first time the police were called. There were several code violations for animal neglect, obnoxious smells coming from the house etc. The t.v. news report mentioned two deaths in the residence, but didn't elaborate on the second one. The women looked disheveled but spoke to reporters. She said that she had two dogs and took great care of them. She said she kept taking in homeless dogs and they kept breeding. She said it got out of control and they eventually took over her house. The police did not prosecute her for failing to take care of her animals or her property.
Then here I am 3 months later and I get the call. It was blatently obvious by speaking to the women on the phone that she has mental health issues. Its not surprise considering the issues that occurred with her. I agreed to meet her at the residence, which was condemned according to her. I was on time as usual to give her a bid.
The women showed up in an older mini van driven by a white male in his 30's. The guy appeared to have some issues of his own. A younger woman got out of the front passenger seat and she was......well not all there either. Then last but not least, the owner of the house, and the woman I had seen on t.v. I introduced myself and she immediately started ranting on different tangents. From the street I could see the bright orange condemned sign on the garage door. The trees were very over grown. The woman asked me if we were extreme makeover and if we were going to clean up her house for free. I have no idea where she got that from, but if she's not schizophrenic, then I am not writing this right now. My company has done countless free jobs for the elderly, the poor, and just people I have felt sorry for in the past. To do free jobs, I usually do them myself to avoid paying out labor. I can only do so many free jobs every year and still try to maintain a profit. This particular job would absolutely not be a free job. I'll explain why.
The woman, who I'll call Mary led me to the side door of the house. When she opened the side door leading to the garage I was immediately hit with a strong odor of urine, mold, and dampness. I saw roaches scurry among the clutter. The garage was completely full with appliances, furniture, clothing and other pack rat items that are worth absolutely ZERO. She started talking to herself out loud and I mumbled under my breath how disgusting this shit was. Then we walked in the main living area, and I was cussing myself out underneath my breath. Why you ask? Well mainly because I had given a bid a few weeks ago at a cat house that was also condemned and I wasn't given a warning before walking in. Needless to say when I got out of that house 15 minutes later I was eaten alive by fleas. This particular house was sitting vacant for so long that I figured the fleas had all died because their host was gone. NOT QUITE!!!!!
As I walked in I saw probably 50 red bags of O'l Roy dog food that was chewed up and strewn all over the house. The feces was so old and dried up it had turned into a grey dust. Some of the formation of dog feces was still present and it was evident of what it was. The furniture was eaten, wood on the arms of chairs exposed. The mattresses had huge holes in them, covered with feces. Parts of the ceiling was gone, and the beams were the only thing left. Some insulation was hanging out of the wall. The bathrooms had brown stains all over the tile. The kitchen was non functional, and appeared to not have been used in years. The back patio sliding door was slightly ajar which led me to believe someone or something had been coming and going as they pleased. I could see the large fruit trees in the back yard were over grown and had an abundance of fruit.
"Mary" started to get agitated and yelled that she thought someone had been in the house rifling through her stuff. Did she not realize that nothing in that house was even nice enough to be pissed on at a truck stop? Did she not realize that living that way is not Ok? Those are thoughts that go through my head, but I never ask. Most times they are embarrassed enough, other times, they have no idea what's going on and really don't care.
This woman has no money, and the house is being foreclosed on. The bank will eventually hire us to clean it up so they can get contractors in there to repair the structural damages and flip it in this crazy market. All in all I feel horrible for the animals. We get so many of these calls for cleanups after the animals have been removed. My heart breaks for these animals. They are held captive in these houses and very hungy. By looking at the furniture its evident they were very hungry.
That's how the other half lives!
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