What's the difference between a hoarder and a pack rat?
"When I have to use my shoulder to push the door in, that probably means we're going to take the job," said Todd Reese, co-owner of Georgia Clean and Associates, which helps hoarders reclaim their homes from collectibles, debris and worse. The niche service has become a booming business for Reese and his associate, Gordy Powell, who recently combined their two companies to deal with demand.
They've overseen some well-publicized clean-ups, including the Sandy Springs home belonging to Mary Minter, who had to be rescued from chest-high debris in late June. She died two weeks later.
"People used to write [hoarding] off as someone just being messy, or lazy," Reese told the AJC. "But I think people are learning that it's a serious problem because of all the publicity from the TV shows."
There's currently three cable programs dedicated to the disorder: A&E’s "Hoarders," TLC’s "Hoarding: Buried Alive" and "Confessions: Animal Hoarding."
"I think some of the things they do [on the TV shows] are silly," said T.C. Griffin, owner of Bio-Hazard Services Inc. in Douglas. "To go into a bathroom covered in feces wearing just a pair of sanitary gloves is so unsafe."
Companies that clean up after hoarders deal with such scatological nightmares all the time. Reese said that on one job he discovered a pile of used toilet paper by an able-bodied hoarder's bedside.
"One man started tearing up, he was just so ashamed at the way he was living," Reese said. "I still can't understand how people can arrange their lives to live among trash."
Some researchers classify hoarding as an isolated disorder while others believe it's a symptom of another condition, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A recent study, conducted by the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program at the University of California, San Diego, found that hoarders tend to have decreased activity in the part of the brain involved in decision-making, focusing attention and regulating emotion.
"It's a hard illness to treat, but there's success," said Dr. Dave Davis, an Atlanta psychiatrist who's dealt with hoarders or 40 years. "It's not a new phenomenon, but I am treating a lot more people lately because of the publicity. It's been good, because it lets people know there is a treatment for it."
But the first step is acquiring a facilitator -- a company like Georgia Clean or Biohazard -- to handle what is typically an overwhelming mess.
It takes a stiff upper lip, a short memory and, if you're lucky, a weak sense of smell to work on a hoarding clean-up crew. And if you're afraid of rodents or bugs, consider another line of work.
"We work with some very valuable [subcontractors]," Reese said. "Not everyone can do what we do." Added Griffin, "You gotta be born to do this. We've had some people quit. Couldn't handle it."
Respirators and Hazmat suits are a must. Also, a detailed list of valuables within the house. Before they discard anything, clean-up crews attempt to recover items worth saving.
"It's the toughest part of the job because you really have to dig through everything carefully," said Reese, who got his start cleaning up crime scenes and bio-hazardous waste. Hoarders now account for about half his business, a total in line with Griffin's customer base. A typical clean-up job runs between $1,500 and $2,000, Reese said.
Animal hoarders are perhaps the most difficult to deal with, he said. The smells produced by, say, 60 cats, are beyond noxious.
A little gallows humor helps them cope. Reese recalled one of his first visits with a potential client whose home had been overrun with animals, wild and tamed.
"I was wearing a white suit and when we came out I was covered with fleas. I mean, you could see them all over my suit," he said. "I learned, no more white suits. "
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