What decomposition cleanup means
Decomposition cleanup is the work that follows a death where the person wasn't found for some time. It begins after the medical examiner and funeral home have taken the person who died into their care and the home has been released. What remains are fluids that soaked into the materials where your loved one was found, and an odor that has worked its way into the home.
We'll describe this as plainly and gently as we can, without detail you don't need. In short: the more time that passed, the deeper the contamination tends to go, and the more of the home's materials need to be removed. We do this work in single-family homes, rentals and businesses, for families, landlords and estates.
How far contamination can travel
Fluids move with gravity and find the easiest path. On a bed, they pass through bedding and mattress and can reach the floor. On carpet, they soak through the pad into the subfloor and spread along seams. On a second story, they can reach joists and the ceiling of the room below. Heat and humidity speed this up, so summer and closed-up homes often see more extensive damage.
- Bedding, mattresses, recliners and sofas
- Carpet, pad and tack strip
- Hardwood, laminate and the gaps between boards
- Plywood or OSB (oriented strand board) subfloor and floor joists
- Baseboards, door casings and lower drywall
- Ceilings and light fixtures in a room or unit below
- Concrete slabs, which are porous and can absorb fluid
Signs the damage goes deeper than it looks
An odor that comes back after the visible area has been cleaned is the clearest sign that contaminated material is still in place. Other signs include staining on the underside of a carpet, discoloration around baseboards, warped or lifted flooring, and staining on a ceiling below. We check each of these before giving you a scope.
Removal, step by step
- Contain We seal the affected area, protect walkways and set up so odor and contamination don't move into the rest of the home.
- Recover belongings Before anything is removed, we review nearby items with the family and set aside what can be kept or cleaned.
- Remove soft materials Furniture, bedding, carpet and pad in the affected zone are cut down if needed, bagged and labeled.
- Open the structure Where fluid has reached them, we remove sections of baseboard, drywall and subfloor until we reach unaffected material.
- Clean and disinfect Exposed joists, framing and slab are cleaned and then disinfected with EPA-registered products according to label directions.
- Seal and deodorize Treated wood or concrete may be sealed with an odor-blocking primer, and remaining airborne odor is addressed once the source is gone.
Insects, ozone and other honest limits
Insects are common in these situations. We remove affected materials, but applying pesticides for hire in Tennessee requires a pest control charter. If treatment is needed, a pest control company handles it.
Odor equipment has its place, but EPA says ozone may mask odors with little scientific support that it removes them, and high-concentration ozone is only for unoccupied spaces. If odor has entered ductwork, cleaning or replacing ducts is work for an HVAC contractor. See our page on decomposition odor removal for more on this part of the job.
Before you go back inside
- Wait until the authorities have released the property
- Avoid entering the affected room; if you must retrieve something, ask us to bring it out
- Don't run fans or the HVAC system to clear the air, which can carry odor through the house
- Keep windows and doors closed if neighbors are close by
- Contact your insurer early; coverage depends on your policy and the circumstances
After we finish
When removal and treatment are complete, the area is ready for a contractor to rebuild what was taken out. If structural removal was extensive, our subfloor and structural remediation page explains that hand-off in more detail.