Unattended death and decomposition
Unattended death cleanup in High Point
A neighbor notices the mail, or a landlord uses the spare key. Someone has died alone, and some time has passed. It is nobody's fault, and it is more common than people expect. What it leaves behind needs a specialist company, not a strong stomach.
Phone picked up day and night, every day of the week
Why time changes the job
After a few days, fluids leave the body and move into whatever is beneath it: a mattress, a recliner, carpet, then the subfloor. In a second-floor room they can reach the ceiling below. The odor that comes with this settles into drywall, curtains, clothing and the ductwork.
That is why opening windows and shampooing the carpet does not work. The source has to be found and taken out. A cleanup company removes the affected materials down to clean, dry structure, disinfects, and treats the air and surfaces until the smell is gone, not masked.
Summer heat in a closed-up Piedmont house speeds all of this, so the sooner the work starts after the home is released, the less of the house is involved.
Until they arrive
What to do, and not do, in the meantime
- Keep the door to that room shut and stay out of it.
- Leave the heating and air conditioning off if it draws air from that part of the house.
- Don't carry out the mattress, bedding or chair yourself, even bagged.
- Collect what you need from other rooms only: keys, a wallet, medication lists, the address book.
- Tell the company about pets that were shut in, and about any flies or other insects you have seen.
- Ask them to set aside papers, photographs and jewelry they come across.
First things first
The medical examiner comes before the cleanup
- Who is told
- A death with no doctor in attendance is reported to the county medical examiner. State law names the officers who answer the 911 call among the people who may report it.
- Where your relative goes
- For Guilford County the state lists the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Raleigh, (919) 743-9000. Its questions page explains that many people are first taken to a county facility.
- What you do
- Choose a funeral home or crematorium and give its name to the center. The state's guide for families says you have up to 10 days from the date of death to make arrangements unless the medical examiner agrees otherwise.
- Belongings
- Items found with the person are listed and passed to the funeral home, unless officers keep them as evidence.
What decides the price
No honest company prices this work before seeing the room or good photographs of it. The things that move the figure are how long it was, what the person was lying on, how many layers of floor are affected, whether fluids reached a level below, and how much furniture has to go. Ask for those points to be written into the scope so you can see what you are paying for.
Questions families ask
Can the furniture and clothes in the room be kept?
Hard items such as a dresser or a metal bed frame can often be cleaned. Soft items that touched fluids can't. Clothing and fabrics elsewhere in the room may hold odor; the company will tell you what is worth trying to save.
My mother rented her apartment. Is this my job or the landlord's?
It varies with the lease and with who holds insurance. Talk to the landlord early. The page for landlords sets out how the pieces usually divide.
I live out of state. Do I have to be there?
Usually not. Companies often work with a key from a relative, the landlord or a lockbox, and report back with photographs.
High Point and the Triad towns nearby
Nobody in the family should have to clean that room
Give them the address and one sentence about what took place. They will want to know if the officers and the medical examiner are done there, and then they will describe their approach.
When you are ready, call.
Whoever picks up is with a separately owned local firm that does biohazard and trauma cleaning around High Point. Listen to their plan and their price. Whether you hire them is up to you.
Call (743) 256-4780Phone picked up day and night, every day of the week
Your conversation may be recorded. The referral disclosure says who pays for this service, and the privacy policy covers what is kept.