Original subtitles

‐ Everywhere you turn, you're going to find clutter.

(dramatic music)

‐ I would describe my father's house as uninhabitable.

‐ He's definitely got a problem.

‐ [Dennis] Judy was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

‐ But I think my mom deserves much better.

It's hard on my emotions when I go in there

and I see that they're living like that.

I'm sorry, I can't, I never saw this like this.

I mean this is too much.

‐ It's okay.

‐ This is the worst thing I could have ever experienced.

‐ We're not trying to screw you.

We're trying to deal with this.

‐ I'm a broken man, I have no spirit left!

You let me down so badly!

‐ Dennis please, we can leave.

‐ Dennis is gone, we need him here.

No Dennis, no finish.

(suspenseful music)

(dramatic piano music)

(upbeat music)

‐ I'm Dennis and I am a retired architect.

I've never thought of myself as a hoarder,

but I'm hoarding, I know that.

Anyone entering the house immediately becomes aware

that there's clutter here.

I've got hallways that are crowded to the point

where you can barely walk through.

In the living room, items are stacked

on top of one another almost to the ceiling.

Items at the bottom are being crushed.

Everywhere you turn, you're going to find clutter.

The other rooms in the house

are equally in as bad condition.

Kitchen area is hardly usable.

And my bathroom facilities aren't totally functional.

I've got three rooms in the house right now

that are so full you can't even get in the doorway.

They're stuffed full with boxes

that have things in them

that I haven't viewed for the last 12 years.

Don't know what's in a lot of them.

There's just so much, it's overwhelming.

‐ I'm Steve, Dennis is my dad.

I would describe my father's house

as uninhabitable at this point

because of the fact that there are so many items

in there that you can't move around.

You can't find anything.

He has managed to fill every room of the house

as well as most of the exterior places.

The property is almost half an acre

and he's managed to bring in all different types

of building materials, collectibles, he's got boats.

He's got several cars, he's got lots of tools.

They're all out in the way they're being exposed

and basically being destroyed.

‐ I'm Pam and Dennis is my father.

My father is definitely a hoarder.

He can't just have one of anything.

He needs to have five, 10, 20, 100.

He feels like everything's a treasure,

everything has value, everything has purpose.

He's definitely got a problem.

‐ I absolutely do like to collect things,

not with the intention of keeping them all for myself,

but possibly doing some resale.

But we never got around to doing enough of that.

‐ My father has always believed

that things have value and that things can be fixed,

and he likes to see things get repurposed.

But as time has progressed on,

the accumulation of materials

has been at a faster rate than his ability to use them.

‐ So I have acquired quite a bit

of sculptural work, woodcarvings.

There's a lot of lumber here.

There are scrap metals, multiple wheelchairs,

five motor homes which are stuffed full with things,

four of what I refer to as snack vans or bread trucks,

over a dozen cars, including classic cars.

I will never in my lifetime get to do

all that my ambitions have drawn me into.

‐ My dad is a dreamer.

My dad has had aspirations to do massive major projects.

He has the capability to do any one thing.

The challenge is, I think that

he gets too big in his dreams

and doesn't find ways to moderate those.

‐ One of the rooms that I have things in

is all trains at this point.

And I probably own almost every model that they ever made

and in some cases, duplicates.

‐ I have probably invested almost $80,000 in trains.

I don't do much cooking.

My main substances right now are the frozen dinners.

I use a microwave to cook with.

I have actually just one sitting space at the table.

The rest of the table is covered with things.

‐ I think for a long time,

my dad has been unwilling to admit

that his house and his property is not acceptable.

He's always felt like it was not as bad

as people say or think.

It's very frustrating.

‐ He's always made excuses

for why things are the way they are over there

and why he has all the hoarded materials.

But at this point, it is simply out of control.

‐ I'm Denise, I'm Steve's wife

and Dennis is my father‐in‐law.

Dennis' house was always very cluttered.

And in an uncomfortable way, cluttered.

We've tried over time to go over there to clean up,

but then he just moves new things in

or it'll last like a day.

So we've decided we can't really do anything else

to help him because he wasn't willing to accept the help.

‐ It's a classic story

of you can only offer help so many times

and if somebody's just not willing to accept it,

you have to kinda walk away.

‐ Dennis is an alcoholic also.

We're afraid he'll go back to drinking.

So we felt, at the time,

that the hoarding was better than the drinking.

‐ Unfortunately at this point,

it's very seldom that family or friends

come for any kind of a visit.

And it's pretty obvious why I don't invite them over.

The place isn't very hospitable.

and the majority of the relatives

have no idea what the conditions are here.

Right now, there's just so much everywhere I turn,

I find something that should be dealt with

that I'm just caught in a spin.

I never wanted it to be like this.

But here I am.

(suspenseful music)

‐ When we were kids,

the house was nowhere near what it is today.

There was nothing of this magnitude and nature

when we were growing up.

‐ Our childhood was very good.

We had a very good family life.

My parents have always had an excellent marriage.

They got married very young.

They were high school sweethearts.

‐ Judith and I were first married

when I was still in college,

and we've been married for over 50 years at this point.

I must say that Judy has been the love of my life

from the time I first met her.

We've been best of friends throughout the years

and we've always done things as a team.

After our son and daughter had left home,

as empty‐nesters, one of the activities

that we took pleasure in was going to flea markets,

going to thrift stores,

finding things that we considered to be treasures.

The thrill of the hunt was always the way we saw it

as something that we took pleasure in.

In most cases, it was our intention to resell

the things that we were acquiring,

knowing that the majority of it could be sold

for more than what we paid for it.

And we did quite well in the resale of the items.

Our house in Pittsburgh was actually

about 7,000 square feet under roof.

And it did provide for us to collect a lot of things

that you wouldn't have in a smaller house.

(dramatic music)

Judith was diagnosed with the Parkinson's

about three years before I retired

and before we left Pittsburgh.

We were very fortunate for years

that the medicine helped us go through

and keep her as functional as possible.

‐ In the early days, there were so many good days

and very few bad days.

‐ Initially, when you're diagnosed,

it starts out a little bit slower

but it is a life‐changer.

‐ It was around the time

that Judy was diagnosed with the Parkinson's

that we decided to come to California

to get closer to our grandchildren

and our son and daughter.

‐ When my parents decided to relocate to California,

my dad decided to handle the move

and the relocation himself.

‐ My father bought a bunch of defunct bread trucks

and motor homes and basically filled them to the brim.

‐ [] And hired a crew of guys to actually move

all of his worldly possessions across the country.

‐ He did about eight trips and spent probably

somewhere to the tune of about 80000 dollars.

‐ He had aspirations of selling off all these trucks

and making back all the money,

but here we are 10 years later

and the trucks are still full mostly

with the stuff that he brought from Pittsburgh.

‐ Part of the reason that I've been reluctant

to separate from the things

is because I do have a lot of money tied up.

So we brought it here

and that was a terrible mistake.

(suspenseful music)

‐ I didn't bring it in a little at a time.

It came in as an overwhelming abundance.

At this point, what I was considering to be assets

have become true liabilities.

‐ I'm very sad at the amount of money,

and time, and effort that my father has spent.

And he has drained his savings down significantly

as a result of all this.

‐ I will have to acknowledge

I have mistakenly invested heavily, to the point

where our retirement funds were put in jeopardy.

‐ I wouldn't be able to put an exact amount

on the amount that he's spent on the hoarding,

but I will say that it could be somewhere

half a million to a million dollars.

(dramatic music)

‐ Okay, nice and easy now.

Come on, you're coming up to the step.

At this point in time, I need to help my wife

with almost every life activity.

It actually has become very difficult

to get my wife from the bed to the living room space.

Okay, stand up until I get you there.

I try to assist her in walking as often as I can

but things have just become so crowded.

I'm gonna have to acknowledge

that this is probably not a safe environment

for even an able‐bodied person.

‐ He is pretty much her full‐time caregiver.

My mother just has to be monitored 24/7.

It's constant intensive care.

‐ It's too cold?

I have to take care of all her body functions

and do her feedings,

which at this point are a liquid nutrient

that is put in through a pump.

‐ Things have progressed quite significantly

and she's lost a lot of the mobility

that she used to have

and she doesn't have a lot of the same ability

to socialize and communicate with us like we used to.

‐ Oh, you're saying to no, okay, I'm sorry.

‐ So it's hard, it wears on you.

‐ [Dennis] What would you like to watch?

‐ It's just very difficult.

It's hard on my emotions when I go in there

and I see that they're living like that.

I think my mom deserves much better,

and while we've tried to have people come in

to help with assisting with care

for my mother and cleaning,

frankly, no one will enter the house

because it's too cluttered.

It's a safety hazard.

They're afraid to administer shots

and things like that in there if they needed to.

It's just unsanitary.

‐ You okay with what I have on on the television?

‐ It's frustrated me that my dad has not prioritized

getting our house in a condition

where we could bring in an outside caregiver

to support my mom and him,

and I think they desperately need it.

(suspenseful music)

‐ Code Enforcement started contacting my father

approximately six years ago.

And as his hoarding has gotten worse,

they issued him some pretty significant citations and fines.

And now they are coming back with an ultimatum

that he must clean it up.

And they were very concerned about my mother's wellbeing,

so Adult Protective Services from the county came in

and they're gravely concerned

about the welfare of my mother

in the conditions she's living in right now.

‐ At this point in time,

in order to satisfy the City Code Enforcement group,

we have to clean up both the outside of the house

and the inside of the house.

‐ There's a great sense of urgency

around getting my parents house

and property cleaned up now.

It's gotten to a point where it's at the end game.

We're in a critical state,

where if he doesn't make amends

to this house on this property,

the city's gonna take it.

(dramatic music)

‐ It scares me to think that my parents might

lose their house if they don't remediate the property.

And that it's come to this state of crisis.

It's scary to think that they're living

this close to the edge in a last ditch effort

to resolve it before things go completely south.

‐ I'm very concerned about the condition of my home.

I'm just not living in a safe environment at this point.

I know that I need to clean up things soon as possible.

But one man against this amount is just hopeless.

‐ Hi, ‐ I'm Dr. Michael Tompkins.

‐ Oh, nice to meet you. ‐ Very nice to meet you.

‐ Would you like to come in? ‐ I would like to come in.

I'm Dr. Michael Tompkins.

I'm a psychologist and I specialize

in the treatment of hoarding disorder.

So this is the living room.

‐ This is it, you can see

that I have an abundance of things here

that don't belong.

I recognize that at this point.

‐ What is the hardest thing

about living here right now as it is?

‐ Just to the point where I'm so dissatisfied,

I can't walk through the aisles are too narrow.

I'm bumping things over,

my assets have become liabilities.

‐ It's very clear to me

that Dennis realizes that he has

put too much attention on the stuff.

Which is very insightful and very promising.

When was the moment that you said,

this is not any way to live?

‐ Prior to the code enforcement even coming back.

And I think that's probably why

I'm more ready to accept that at this point.

I just got to the point where I realized

that all of the ambitions that I had for projects,

I'm not ever gonna get to any of that.

So that it's not gonna serve any purpose.

‐ Part of what the letting go

is going to bring up for you,

is letting go of these plans that you had for things.

It's a dream that in a sense.

‐ I'm a dreamer. ‐ Yeah?

‐ I was an architect

and I'm creatively thinking all the time.

‐ That's right.

‐ He has something that's very common

for people with hoarding disorder.

He's a very creative thinker.

And so he's always thinking about how to use things.

I can see that's gonna be coming up

a lot when you make decisions.

What percentage of this stuff do you think,

you need to let go of?

And what percentage of the stuff

do you think you will let go of?

‐ I can see letting go of almost 80 to 90%.

I'm ready to see it cleared out.

‐ That's a lot.

I've never actually seen someone do that.

So we'll have to see.

‐ I understand that there'll be things leaving,

that I may may wish I had.

‐ So then, you're already anticipating

that you may have some feelings of regret.

‐ Yes, I'm talking about tools,

‐ Okay. ‐ Utilitarian things

that I might need for a project.

That's my primary interest at this point.

‐ So part of the loss that's gonna come up for you

is just letting go of that.

Dennis definitely suffers from hoarding disorder.

And the reason I say that,

is not just the amount of stuff,

show me another area of the house will you?

‐ Okay.

‐ But he shared many common beliefs

that people with hoarding disorder have.

‐ As you can see the clutter continues into here.

I sit here and I, along with using this as a desk area,

I eat at this point.

One of the main reasons that I have set up

this way is my wife's bedroom area

is right behind you.

And when she's in need,

I can hear her signaling me easily.

‐ Tell me what a typical day like

is in your home for you and Judy?

‐ Well, I get up at the crack of dawn

and I'm outside trying to shift things around.

Create some order.

Maybe an hour outside

and then I come in and check on Judy.

And administer her medications.

I'll change diapers,

change the ostomy bag out and get her comfortable.

Walk around.

‐ So I'm just feeling so sad

hearing this story about how ill Judy is.

‐ It's what it is.

‐ I know, but it's so sad I mean she's so ill,

‐ I know, but.

‐ how sad has it been for you? ‐ I know.

I know that if it were me

she would be doing the same thing.

‐ I'm sure, I'm sure.

It's really very difficult for me

to imagine just how difficult every day is for Dennis.

It would be a sad situation

if their home was pristine and neat.

How long has she been this ill?

‐ She's been in this state

for about two years at this point

and it's getting progressively worse.

Each day it becomes more difficult

for her to negotiate out to the living room area.

Unfortunately, she's to the point now

where she's not conversant.

She can't do anything, she can't rest

She can't, take her body functions.

‐ She's like a 100% dependent upon you?

‐ Absolutely. ‐ Yeah, I'm so sorry Dennis.

As you tell me about what a day is like for you and Judy,

It just, I feel sad about this,

It sounds so hard.

What is this like for you?

‐ At this point,

it is a routine that I have come to accept.

Truthfully it was in previous times

that I had the greatest fear, sadness, anxiety,

anticipating where we might wind up at some point in time.

We are there now.

There isn't much more that can go wrong.

‐ Absolutely, when you look at Judy now,

what do you miss about the Judy?

Because I can only imagine

what that comes up for you

‐ Having been partners and best friends all of our life,

There's an absence at this point.

‐ So now you look at her

and there so little of the Judy

that you know, that you knew. ‐ Exactly.

‐ That you fell in love with.

‐ I sit on the couch at times

and while she's not aware of it,

I'm looking at her, still admiring her beauty

and wishing to God that she was back

to the level that she had been at.

All through her life.

She could go into a room of complete strangers

and within 10 minutes,

you'd think she knew everybody.

‐ And that's something.

‐ She just engaged people. ‐ She would light up a room.

‐ Oh, absolutely.

‐ And that light it's not there anymore.

‐ There's nothing there.

I'm told that by the dermatologist

that there's just nothing more she can offer me.

And Judy had at one point in time,

asked me if it all possible

to keep her at home rather than put her

into an institution type of facility.

And I'm trying to live up to that.

‐ But Dennis, I'm deeply touched

and overwhelmed for you and Judy.

‐ I think other people feel more sadness

for me than I feel I deserve.

Honestly, I just, this is what needs to be done.

‐ Sounds like loyalty.

‐ We've always been best friends, good partners,

we worked as a team and raised

a wonderful daughter and son.

Those are, have to say

my greatest satisfaction at this point.

‐ That's right.

You know at the end of the day,

it's those attachments to people

that we love and who love us.

It's way more important.

‐ Absolutely.

‐ In my opinion, ‐ Unfortunately,

I've focus too much on the material aspects of life.

‐ So is part of your motivation,

also to make this situation easier for her to...

‐ I want her to be as comfortable as possible.

‐ But we're gonna do everything we can

to help you make that happen.

But at the end of the day,

it's your stuff and you make your decisions.

And I'm gonna be here to help you.

But what happens or doesn't happen

is ultimately up to you, okay?

It's clear to me that why he's doing this.

Is his loyalty to his wife

and his loyalty to taking care of her.

And I think as Judy faces mortality,

mortality is right in Dennis's face.

Maybe that's a wake up call for Dennis.

‐ My son and daughter and daughter in law

have all expressed concern

for the conditions that I've allowed to develop here.

They are certainly concerned

for my wife's health and our ability

to move her around within the home.

I just know that there's so much here

that is gonna have to be dealt with,

that it overwhelms me at times.

So it's time to just release, let go,

try to turn over a new leaf in life.

‐ Hello, ‐ Hi there.

‐ Hello ‐ How are you men,

nice to meet you. ‐ Good to meet you.

I am Matt Paxton, I'm an extreme cleaning specialist.

Alright introduced me to everybody else who is it?

‐ I'm Linda.

‐ Linda and you are, how are you related?

I am Denise's mother. ‐ The mother in law?

‐ Yes. ‐ Okay.

‐ I am Denise. ‐ Denise, good to meet you.

Okay, so this is like, really, really serious.

I was able to read the code violation

and it's very serious.

They want this whole yard emptied.

I haven't toured the entire property yet,

but just looking behind you two.

I mean, it just keeps going and going.

This is a packed yard.

I see stacks and stacks and stacks of wood and metal.

(dramatic music)

This is top 10 for me.

So Steve, what do you know about the code violation?

‐ So when I met with the Code Enforcement Department,

they indicated that first and foremost,

the front yard needs to be cleared out.

And they were also very concerned

about my mother's well being

and they said secondary needs

to be the inside of the house.

And last step in our backyard.

They basically said it needs

to happen and it needs to happen now.

‐ Can you understand why?

‐ Yes, yes, absolutely, yeah.

‐ Like the piles, I mean, they're as high as you are.

I mean, I'm looking. ‐ Yes.

‐ But he organized 'em so well,

I can see there's wood here, there's metal there.

I mean, he's got it all organized.

Which fits the brain that I talked to on the phone.

I mean, he's brilliant man, which makes this harder.

Because you and I see this,

what do you see when you look around all behind you?

What do you see? ‐ Junk.

‐ Junk. ‐ Junk.

‐ And what does your dad see?

‐ He sees value, he sees collectibles.

‐ Potential.

‐ Yes, he's potential.

‐ And so that's the really hard part here.

The only way, only way to help a hoarder like Dennis,

is to focus on the true crisis,

which is his wife's health.

Good news is he really loves your mom.

‐ Yes, he does. ‐ He has real motivation.

He's told me I can take everything,

which I won't believe (laughs)

‐ We don't believe it either.

‐ But if he lets me take half or 75% we'll be okay.

‐ Yeah. ‐ I never know

how these are gonna go.

He's either gonna let us clean

the whole yard really easy,

or he's gonna fight on every nail on every piece of wood.

And what he says may not be what happens.

And so we'll see when we get started.

I'd like to go in inside the house.

Do you guys want to go in and see it with me?

‐ Absolutely, sure.

‐ You've been inside. ‐ Yes, I have.

‐ Have you been inside? ‐ I have.

‐ All right and you have not been inside?

Okay, I have not seen the inside of the house.

I was told it's as bad as the outside.

‐ Yes.

‐ All right, I'm gonna let you lead us into the house.

‐ Okay, oh my God.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding.

Oh Lord, oh boy.

‐ All right, hang right there for me.

Are you okay? ‐ Yeah.

‐ You look rather shocked.

‐ Well yeah, I mean I was warned,

but you can't really be warned for this.

‐ This is really sad, really sad.

I mean...

‐ This is where they watch TV.

‐ This is where they hang out.

‐ So you call that the cockpit?

This is their safest space in the home.

So this is their happy place.

‐ This is sad.

‐ This is sadness, this is depression.

This is sickness. I mean, this is not a choice.

‐ No, no, this is really bad.

‐ So you know them very well.

I mean, they're amazing people.

‐ Amazing people and talking to them away from here.

You would have absolutely no idea they live like this.

No idea.

‐ I want to keep telling you

this is an example of his brain.

His brain is this full of good ideas.

This is the physical manifestation of all his ideas.

I'm freaking out a little bit,

I gotta clean this and the outside now.

I mean, this itself is a four day job,

‐ It's a lot of work, there's a lot here.

‐ This is a bad situation.

Mathematically, it's not really doable.

There's a ton of work here to do.

Did your dad or before your mom got sick?

‐ At some level,

but it's gotten progressively worse.

And I think it's been something

to help him fill a void or a need.

As a result of my mom's health condition deteriorating.

‐ [Matt] And this is what,

how long they've been here? ‐ Eight years.

‐ Eight years! ‐ Yeah.

‐ I mean, that is, dude I've seen some things

and to do this much volume in eight years,

is a full time job.

‐ I agree.

‐ Alright, so I do want to go see the bedroom

and then I'm gonna make a plan.

I'm starting to shift my needs.

Now that I See the inside.

‐ Okay? ‐ So I'm gonna let you

lead us that way.

We'll check that out.

‐ Okay. ‐ All right.

‐ That's good.

(dramatic rock music)

‐ Oh my God!

Oh my God!

Oh my God!

‐ Everything was pretty good

until we got into the bedroom.

And the bedroom is when we just fell off the rails.

Alright, this is where they're living.

(bleep)

‐ This is bad, holy cow.

‐ How are y'all feeling?

This is tough, you look devastated.

‐ I am.

‐ I'm gonna assume right off the bat,

you didn't know it was this bad.

‐ I did not, no.

‐ We would never have allowed this, never.

‐ It makes me very sad

that she's currently living in those conditions.

Had I known, I would have jumped in

and done something right away immediately.

I mean, my skin is crawling right now.

‐ Look, it is what it is.

‐ I know it's just really hard to see.

‐ Talk me through this, you're his son,

you love your parents, they're amazing people.

‐ I can't, I never saw this like this.

I mean, this is too much.

This is too much if I ever had any idea,

what's going on in here, I'm sorry.

‐ [Matt] It's okay. (sobbing)

‐ God, I mean it's just with the lights

and everything as you see.

I mean, it's usually dark in here

'cause my mom's sleeping.

To see it all it's just really hard.

‐ It's very common for a good hoarder

to be able to hide this from their family members.

Right, They'll say, mom's getting dressed.

I don't want you to go into the room, right?

'Cause they know how bad it is.

So they don't want you as a son, to see it.

‐ This is just not not for her.

She doesn't deserve this. ‐ We'll do it getting better.

‐ No, no!

‐ We're fixing it, we're fixing it.

‐ Hang in there honey.

‐ It's getting better okay?

‐ [Matt] I'm gonna let y'all go.

‐ Okay, Matt.

‐ I know this is super hard.

‐ It's really hard. ‐ I know it is.

Alright, we're gonna make this better

‐ Thank you

‐ And you're included,

We're all gonna do this together.

Let's go outside, I'll give you

a few minute break, just relax.

‐ Thank you.

‐ We've got to make a safe place for Judith to live.

So we've got to find a way to do it.

But this is going to be incredibly hard.

(gentle piano music)

This is absolutely a serious hoarding situation.

For us to save this house

and to make it safe for his wife,

he's gotta pretty much let us do what we want to do.

If Dennis fights this at all,

we can't help this family.

‐ Good morning everybody? ‐ [Crowd] Good morning.

‐ It's a lot of people here Dennis.

‐ They are.

‐ Big crew big job.

How are you feeling?

‐ I'm feeling fine right now.

I'm ready, I need tthe help.

Everyone here wants to make a safe space for your wife.

‐ I appreciate that very much.

‐ Okay and we want to help you.

Junk guys, organizers, we got our hands full.

Normally we pick inside or outside.

We got to do both, this is real.

I mean, this is very serious.

Code Enforcement's made it very clear.

We got to basically start at the front of the property

and go all the way to the back.

That includes the inside of the house.

What are your thoughts and concerns,

before we get started?

‐ I don't have any concerns.

I'm more angry at myself for letting this happen,

letting it get to this point.

‐ Family, any thoughts?

‐ We have to do this.

This has been long incoming.

My mom deserves a safe place to be.

We wanted to do this for a long time.

And my dad wasn't ready.

And so, we're grateful that he's now ready,

because that's the only thing

that's going to make this happen.

And since his willingness and support to get it done.

‐ We all see that you're not safe

and Judy's not safe living in this environment any longer.

And I really want you to kind of like see that.

Because it's really important

that we solve that problem for you.

‐ Alright, I think we can do this man,

(mumbles)

Thank you for letting us even try.

‐ You don't know how much of a blessing

I feel this is ‐ Well,

let's talk in three days.

‐ I appreciate it. (laughs)

It won't change, it will not change.

‐ All right, this is old school.

Let's put our hands in.

We got this organizers everybody, come on in,

we can do this, one, two three,

(crowd shouts)

(dramatic percussive music)

‐ Normally I would only start in one area,

but just because of the sheer volume,

we've got to start both inside and outside.

Let me get my junk guys started outside

and I'm going to get my organizers started inside.

(wood cracking)

This morning is really just about building trust

and seeing where that goes.

so far plan's working.

The organizing are banging through,

they're sorting everything,

junk guys are moving things in and out.

Both groups are working fast,

but we need more space to tear apart this hoard.

The one problem we're starting to have

is there's no room to put anything.

Hey guys, we have like an actual problem.

You guys are doing so good

that I have nowhere to put all this stuff outside.

So I need you to like chill for 10 minutes.

I've gotta make space outside.

If you can...

‐ How much room you need.

‐ Well I'm about to move a huge RV.

(dramatic music)

This is probably the most successful

first hours we've ever had.

I mean we've already cleared out

almost four trucks and taking about 2000 pounds

of metal out of his house.

This is a challenge.

It's such a dense hoard,

that anytime you move anything, it just grows.

We have a tractor in here now.

We're doing a lot.

There's just so much stuff here

that it doesn't even look like we're doing anything.

‐ Can we let someone else enjoy this?

‐ Emma would love them.

‐ I was gonna wear those for Halloween

but it passed without my finding them.

‐ Someone else's treasure. ‐ Yes.

‐ Dennis has being entirely too cooperative.

For the first day of hoarding.

I've seen this in the past

where he's gonna say yes to everything.

‐ That can go.

‐ The bad news about this is tonight,

when we leave, he is going to freak out.

This is scary, he's gotta push back a little bit,

or it means he's not taking it seriously.

‐ Can we e‐waste this?

‐ Those are good for under the car.

Yeah we want to keep anything like that.

‐ They've become obsolete dad,

We should probably... ‐ What's that?

‐ The old electrical things,

the circuits on them are bad.

You can't keep those.

‐ All right.

‐ It is possible that he's actually okay

with everything going and he's chosen just

to let it all go to take care of his wife.

But it's not probable.

‐ What about this guy up here?

‐ You don't touch that.

‐ Why, what does he do?

‐ I just spent a lot of money on him.

‐ He's broken though.

‐ No, that's the antique patina the thing.

‐ Starlets on the bottom,

I don't really...

‐ His neck's cracked, he's almost decapitated.

‐ I don't know that it has...

‐ That it has that makes it more valuable.

It's a it's an old element.

It's not... ‐ I kinda doubt that actually.

‐ We can sell that, definitely.

‐ I don't know, I would say

if the group that's here, the cleaning group,

says that it's donate able, I would donate (mumbles)

‐ I guarantee you I can get $100 for it.

‐ I don't, I think you're dreaming, no way.

‐ It's worth that to me.

‐ Well I understand that,

but it's worth that to anyone else.

‐ What is it hurting?

‐ It's big, It takes up space, you need room.

Dad we're never going to get this done

unless we say yes, you're gonna have to say yes.

‐ On one item like that you're gonna draw a line.

‐ We're not gonna draw the line, I'm just saying.

I mean, if you can't come up

with a good purpose for it,

we need to evaluate whether

or not it really needs to stay.

‐ The fact that I appreciate it

isn't a good enough purpose?

‐ You appreciate a lot of things in here and I respect that.

‐ Take it away.

‐ Dennis did let it go but he wasn't happy about it.

And he was really then moved

into kind of feeling a little hopeless or demorolized

by the whole process and starts thinking,

Well, I'm gonna be living in a home

without anything that I appreciate.

Or anything that's beautiful, which isn't true.

But that's where he's sunk to in that moment.

‐ We're trying to be fair about...

‐ Take it away. ‐ Okay.

‐ Dennis is upset.

He's upset with a son for taking his toy horse.

He's been avoiding the reality all day

and now it just hit him.

And now I find out he's hiding

in the truck at the end of the block.

This is starting to weigh on him

and he's trying to avoid it instead of talking.

Avoidance is why we're in this situation.

‐ You all right men?

‐ Yeah, it's just getting to me a little bit.

‐ Well, yeah, I was like (mumbles) (chuckles)

‐ I just needed to get away. ‐ Okay.

I didn't want Dennis to quit.

If he disappears and we throw everything away.

We haven't done anything.

He's just gonna fill it right back up.

That is not the time to push on a toy horse.

Do you want to keep that?

‐ I wanted to keep it but it's done.

I mean, I gave in.

‐ Well, but you're still allowed to have a voice.

‐ I'd like to have a set aside at least

and then reconsider it later

after we've gotten everything to the point...

‐ Do you want a maybe power?

‐ Yeah, a maybe power or something like that.

‐ I think that's fair.

(gentle music)

This is a massive job.

And we've got a total of 10 tracks today.

A lot of times we don't get that done in a whole cleanup.

so we've gotten a lot done.

We didn't even really realize what clean,

when he wakes up and sees half an empty driveway,

I don't know how Dennis is gonna react.

Hiding in the truck and avoiding it

is why we got in this problem.

And I don't know what's gonna happen.

(t

‐ [Son] I want you to still be involved in the process.

I don't want you to shut down.

‐ [Dennis] It's gonna take time.

‐ I understand. ‐ Wounds like this just

don't heal by words.

‐ [Son] I understand, I understand.

‐ [Dennis] I really don't think you want me out there.

‐ Let's go hear him out.

‐ How can I put my faith into somebody

who's let me down that hard?

‐ I just got on the property

and I'm hearing Dennis is pretty mad at me.

‐ He's got a lot of words, lip service.

‐ Dennis is pissed.

He believes that I personally

threw away all of his tools.

‐ When there was a challenge about keeping

or getting rid of something,

you ultimately said, let it go.

My family is worth more to me than this stuff.

‐ And it completely is.

‐ So...

‐ That was no justification that I had

to distinguish between the two things.

‐ Yeah, dad I get it, I get it.

This is the one shot we have

to make it right so that.

‐ I know that.

‐ Dennis is a good guy

and I just need to sit down with him,

talk face to face and just let him

say what he has to say.

I feel it, I feel the anger.

‐ Damn right you do. ‐ [Matt] Okay, tell me.

‐ And you'll own it?

‐ [Matt] I am, I'm here to listen.

‐ You promised me that I had no reason to be concerned.

The things that I didn't want to go out of here.

We're gonna go out of here.

I had 14 laundry hampers.

Lined up along that wall yesterday

and out on the front.

And so clearly they were tools.

I pre sorted them.

I took the time to do that.

They're all gone.

I asked you about it midday,

you said he and you had set them aside.

‐ We had a lot of things. ‐ There are non to be found.

Thousands of dollars worth of tools.

Some of them are from my father's.

They meant a lot to me every time I used them.

You let me down so badly.

I don't know which way to turn right now.

This is the worst thing I could have ever experienced.

I'm a broken man.

I have no spirit left.

I'll have nothing to work with,

nothing to work with my grandsons on,

half my tools are gone.

You didn't keep the word and pass the word

that those things should never go to the dump.

‐ I want to acknowledge your frustration first.

I hear it, I feel it.

Not all the tools were tossed.

10% of this property has been cleaned.

There are other tools on this property.

Did we throw away a few things by mistake, I bet we did.

I absolutely bet we did.

‐ 14 out of 14.

‐ We did not throw away 14 out of 14.

‐ Yes you did. ‐ We did not.

‐ They're not here.

‐ You don't see them.

‐ Show me.

‐ I will, I'll spend two hours.

‐ You show me, ‐ Timeout,

timeout, I respected your silences.

Time out, I have allocated over 100000 dollars,

to clean your property.

That's a lot of frickin money dude.

‐ And you... ‐ To get, stop I'm talking.

I'm gonna listen to you when it's your turn.

You're gonna listen to me when it's my turn.

We're busting our ass to get you out of trouble.

You lose all of this, all of it.

If we don't do our job,

is some of it gonna get thrown away, absolutely.

Yes, are you pissed about it?

Absolutely, should you be pissed at me?

Yes, it's on me.

If I leave and all these fines go away

and this yard is clean and you're pissed at me, success.

'Cause it means you and your wife will stay here.

Am I gonna do my best

to save everything I can you?

Absolutely, I will.

If your dad's tools got thrown away,

that sucks and that is on me.

Did I save everything?

No, absolutely not.

That's why we're in the problem we're in.

This is not gonna be easy.

We talked about that yesterday.

‐ Mistakes were made,

mistakes probably will be made.

But I guess my question to you is like,

here's the situation,

Code Enforcement is breathing down your neck.

Life is really hard for you and Judy,

you won't have an opportunity like this again.

So my question to you is, where do you go from here?

Where do you go from here Dennis?

‐ The only thing I can do from here,

is sit back and let the havoc continue.

‐ Let's try and do a better job

at keeping an eye out today

for the things that really matter to you.

But understand, nothing was intentional

that we got rid of yesterday.

We're not trying to screw you.

We're trying to deal with this.

We want you guys to be happy,

you're gonna get kicked out of here.

If this doesn't happen.

I mean, maybe a few things went out.

I'm trying to keep an eye out

for stuff that is of good quality.

And if I accidentally threw something out

we shouldn't have, I'm sorry, okay?

That would not be my intent.

You know I love Grandpa,

I'm not trying to throw anything in his out.

But this has to happen and I understand it's hard.

‐ Then let it happen. ‐ But You have put trust.

‐ Let it happen.

‐ No, no, put trust in us though.

‐ The question is, given where you are right now

and given your lack of confidence in us

being able to take care of these things.

Can you move ahead with this?

Will you move ahead with this?

‐ I said, I'll be here, that's all I can offer.

‐ To me, that's amazing.

To be willing to actually move ahead with this.

Even feeling the way you're feeling.

That takes a lot of courage.

‐ Takes a lot of courage.

‐ It's taking everything I got.

‐ I hear you, I hear you.

‐ It would have been so natural

for me to go into the bottle last night.

‐ I know you can't possibly see it now

but we're gonna rebuild things on the other end.

You're gonna make it.

You're gonna make it through this.

I know that it's hard to see it.

But, you're gonna be good.

‐ You're gonna be okay, all right, okay?

(mumbles)

(upbeat music)

‐ Dennis and I had a pretty strong argument this morning.

And I think his best way

to deal with anything is to run and hide.

So right now Dennis is basically sitting

in his car in the middle of the street.

And I don't know when he's coming back.

‐ This is absolutely a serious hoarding situation.

‐ Here we are 10 years later

and the trucks are still full

with the stuff that he brought from Pittsburgh.

‐ It's really very difficult for me

to imagine just how difficult every day is for Dennis.

It would be a sad situation

if their home was pristine and neat.

‐ We're at a critical state,

where if he doesn't make amends

to this house and his property,

the City's gonna take it.

‐ This is the worst thing I could have ever experienced.

‐ Did we throw away a few things?

My mistake, I bet we did.

Right now Dennis is sitting in his car

at the end of the street

and I don't know when he's coming back.

‐ Feel like I can move this for us,

cause they need to get the junks.

That said if want to get out

and park it between those two cars at that end?

Thanks dad, appreciate it.

This morning my dad was really upset

that we got rid of a bunch of tools yesterday

that apparently are handed down from his father.

It was not intentional, accidental, but he was pissed.

And I don't know if he'll ever forgive us

for what happened yesterday.

He's still very mad about it right now.

(gentle electronic music)

Tools is what he cares about

and we're gonna focus on that today.

Sometimes when you're cleaning a hoarded house,

the most powerful tool is just to listen.

He likes the crew that was inside.

He loves you guys.

He knows you guys have an eye out for stuff.

He's pretty much mad at me.

And that's fine.

This guy needed to be heard.

We heard him, hopefully now we can start cleaning.

Bottom line, tools or where he's frustrated.

So all tools, I mean down to a screw,

keep it, keep all tools to the side,

we still gotta let him make that decision.

Plan today is to clean twice as much as we did yesterday,

we will have an eye out for all the tools.

I'm going to create a massive ridiculous pile

that Dennis can go through.

But I'm not just here to help Dennis,

I've got to help his wife as well.

She needs somewhere safe to live.

And right now, this place is not safe.

I mean right now, words are just gonna piss him off.

We just need to do some action

and get some clearing and he needs

to see a big pile of tools.

‐ Yep, there you go. ‐ Okay, all right, lets do it.

(upbeat hiphop music)

‐ We've got books under the TV,

we got books and boxes, books on the shelf.

Yeah, we got more books than people

have read in a lifetime (laughs)

that's a part of the train thing yeah?

That's all train tracks.

(mumbles)

‐ With the bullet?

We just need one working that's the best bullet.

We may wanna see about doing a train zone.

Where we start to have some boxes of train stuff.

‐ I've never thought I'd be living in a society like this.

You don't have the privacy of your own home.

That is ridiculous.

It's my responsibility whether I'm safe

or I'm in healthy conditions.

My wife wasn't complaining.

She wasn't hurting from anything that was going on here.

I'm not allowed to live the way I wanna live.

I got a big piece of property now

that I'm not allowed to do a damn thing with.

That is absurd.

I would have been just as well off

to have the left the police take over.

I'm not gonna be happy when this is done.

I'll be relieved that it's over,

but I'm not gonna be happy.

‐ Do you have any more small boxes?

My dad came into this with good intentions

and a lot of positive thoughts about

what this was going to do for us as a family, for him.

But just like we've seen before in things,

it's like he starts with a great attitude

and a positive mind about things.

And then I think when the reality sets in,

sometimes it's a little more shocking to him,

than I think he would have ever imagined

and he's angry, he doesn't feel like anybody

should have the right to tell him

how he should live his life

and what he's allowed to have and not have

and he's just, he's having

a he's having a super hard time.

‐ Dennis is feeling powerless, hopeless,

demoralized, out of control, overwhelmed,

terrified, anxious and yet

he's willing to move ahead with this process.

And moving ahead with all those feelings,

I don't know that we can ask a human being more than that.

We can't really ask them to not feel what they're feeling.

What we can ask them to do

is to feel what they're feeling and move ahead.

And Dennis has given us that

and I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.

(soft ballad music)

‐ If he chooses to reengage and participate in this,

does that, in your experience,

increase the chances that he can be successful ongoing?

‐ Yeah. ‐ I feel like

him being part of it

is gonna help him come to terms

with some of this stuff and see the things

that he had that he really shouldn't have had

and doesn't need to keep.

‐ Absolutely, people who participate in the process,

do better than people who don't participate in the process.

Because if he participates in the process,

then it's not like we're doing this to him.

‐ Yeah,

‐ He will learn some things.

And one of the things he'll learn

is that he can handle the feelings

that come up around letting go.

‐ Yeah.

‐ But if he doesn't participate in that process,

he doesn't learn that, right?

And the other thing now is people who participate

in the process are a little less likely

to fall back into it than people

who don't participate in the process

because their experiences that something was done to them.

‐ Right, right.

‐ You know, have to kind of see how things go.

But at some point, would you be willing

to talk with your dad

and invite him back in to participate?

‐ Sure.

‐ I think that in general,

the way I would suggest you approach this

would sound something like,

I know this is really hard for you dad.

And I want us to solve this problem as a family.

If you're able to present it that way,

you present a whole different reason to participate.

Because it is about your family, the end of the day.

It's about your family.

‐ Yeah.

‐ And doing good for your family.

And I think if you could present it that way,

you kind of hook in a little bit

to a value that your dad has,

I think, he loves your mom tremendously.

He loves you.

I think at the end of the day,

he's going to be willing to do hard things,

but only because of what it stands for

in terms of being a family.

‐ Sure, that seems to be the glue

holding him together right now.

‐ So if you're comfortable,

and you say, I would like you

to actually to participate in this.

Not, you should be participate in this,

not, I need you to participate in this.

‐ Right?

‐ I would like you to because we want

to solve this problem as a family

and you're an important part of our family.

‐ Dennis is gone, he's been stewing all morning.

Dennis is honestly and truthfully upset.

So he just drove away, we need to find him.

(upbeat dramatic music)

‐ Hey, I just saw your text,

we haven't seen my dad yet.

‐ I guess he doesn't have any particular places

that he goes to that you know of?

‐ No, there's I mean, the only thing I can think

is large parking lots where he might have

just wanted to kind of pull out of the way

and take a nap, I hope.

Probably take a, grab my brother's keys

and take his car and go drive the neighborhood

and see what I can find.

I mean, it's frustrating, he doesn't have his phone.

I think he was just, he was angry this morning,

he left it plugged in inside.

I pulled it out to make sure it didn't get swept away.

And he left without it.

‐ Dennis disappears, when things are uncomfortable.

This is only gonna get more uncomfortable.

‐ I'm either gonna find him or I'm not.

I mean, I don't know, there's

a 1000 million places he could be.

‐ You can eat turtle soup,

if the turtle stays in the shell.

‐ All right, see you guys in a bit.

‐ One hand I'm really really concerned where is he?

Hopefully he's just asleep in his car somewhere.

But the other hand, if I don't finish this job,

Then he loses his whole house.

So we need him here.

‐ As we, the hours tick away, he's not here.

Obviously my concern grows a little bit.

We'll continue to clean as much as we can.

With all the volunteers that we have.

I just don't want to do more harm than good.

‐ A question it's gonna come up at some point,

is whether we can continue this, without him here?

‐ We got buy in with the family

but there's only so much we can remove

from the property without Dennis being here to approve it.

It's still legally his stuff

until the city takes it away from him.

There's a fine line between helping a hoarder

and stealing stuff off his property.

At some point today, I need labor,

I need trucks and I need Dennis.

We do need to find him ‐ understand

‐ At some point, okay?

All right and we need to keep doing

what we're already doing.

Alright, good job.

This is a huge hoard.

If everything was perfect,

I didn't know we didn't have time to finish it.

Now with him gone for four hours.

It's a massive delay.

No Dennis, no finish.

I mean he's got to get here.

(upbeat music)

‐ How's it going?

‐ So two seconds ago it was all right.

I go in there, find everything has been stripped away.

‐ Well, really, what do you mean?

‐ All my furniture?

‐ Dennis, Dennis please let me talk with you for a minute.

‐ Listen, there isn't any amount of discussion

that is gonna change what has happened here?

Those furnitures weren't causing

any health or welfare problems.

Why were they taken?

‐ I don't know, I actually...

‐ Nobody knows, I can't get answers from anybody.

‐ Here's a situation, at the end of the day,

we can leave.

And we actually will have to leave if you're not here.

So as hard as this is,

if you want this to continue, you have to be here , okay?

‐ So what I can do is suffer through it?

‐ As I said before, you're at the very beginning.

You're in charge.

‐ Sure.

‐ You really are.

'Cause if you said everybody off the property,

we would we would leave.

We don't want to leave.

But we would have to leave.

‐ I come back feeling more relaxed.

I walk in and say more disaster.

‐ I understand, I hear you, I hear you.

I get that, I really get that.

But the decision is yours in terms

of whether we continue or not.

And if you're not here, we can't continue.

‐ I'll think about that for the rest of the day.

‐ Okay. ‐ I'll let you know

before the end days.

‐ Okay.

Like by when?

‐ It may be ending.

‐ Okay, at the end of the day?

all right.

(dramatic music)

‐ Dad are you okay?

Dr. Tompkins talked to me

about pulling him into the process

and doing it as a family effort

and making sure he understood this was

for the better of the family.

What's going on?

‐ I walk in here and find half my furniture gone.

My China closet from home, it's gone.

‐ Even though mainly why is because there was rat urine

and rat poop all over the place.

I begin with a hazmat mask on

to clean up the rat droppings.

‐ Okay, ‐ I'm sorry.

‐ I didn't know that.

‐ I mean, I'm not trying to throw your (bleep)

away but I mean, if it's infested

or it's got rat urine on it, it's gotta go.

‐ You might as well tear the house down.

‐ No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Hey, seriously, we're not doing this

for any other reason other than our love dad.

I mean, it's (mumbles).

We're trying to make this.

We want you and mum to be happy.

We want to be able to come over here.

Okay, tomorrow morning, will you agree

to try and come in and start,

‐ Ill come in and I'll get started in the morning.

‐ Okay.

‐ Today started off pretty rough.

With Dennis being angry about us

throwing some things away.

I promise you it's a better scenario

than the county throwing everything away.

‐ All right I'm gonna get back in there

because I got to work sun up to sun down buddy.

To get this done.

‐ I don't want to say this

but if Dennis doesn't show up in the morning,

we can't continue and if we don't continue,

the city is going to take everything.

‐ Okay.

(soft orchestral music)

‐ Good morning, everybody?

‐ [crowd] Goodmorning

‐ All right, day three,

this is kind of the pinnacle day.

A lot of emotions have naturally

flown over the last few days.

And that's normal.

That means we're all taking this very seriously.

If there's no emotions, I'd be concerned.

It's a new day, it's a new Dennis.

He came in excited, ready, cooperative.

He wants us to get going,

Dennis, you've gone on a journey, man.

physically and emotionally, you've gone on a journey.

Right, you took off for a couple hours yesterday.

I kind of respect it now that I know you were safe.

‐ Yesterday is a blurb, I'm sorry.

It's a new day, I'm in a new place.

I have unfortunately, some emotions about things.

Probably disproportion with everything that's going on here.

‐ Do you think it's disproportionate?

‐ No, I don't, and I agree.

I don't think it's necessary for you to apologize.

This is this is rough Dennis.

Dennis made this huge emotional shift last night

and he's in a completely different space.

‐ You could have quit yesterday.

‐ I kind of had blinders on.

‐ Why can we ask why didn't you quit?

‐ I'm a stubborn son of a gun.

‐ Okay, all right.

(mumbles)

It would have been easier to quit and you didn't.

‐ Absolutely, neither one of us

would have benefited from that.

That's behind us.

‐ Okay.

‐ Let's just look forward positively.

I know we're all gonna pitch in,

I'm going to pitch in today.

We're gonna pull things and throw them.

‐ We still have two whole days.

Today is the day we're gonna kind of settle down.

We've added labor, we've got more organizers.

Thank ya'll for coming.

We've got more green shirts, the junk guys here.

We're gonna see a lot of space start to prevail today.

We're proud of you, today.

You're back here, you're focused, everybody is,

you guys ready to get started?

‐ Let's do this.

‐ Hell yeah.

(mumbles)

(upbeat orchestral music)

‐ Thursday is really the most important day.

This is a big job and we finally got the space

to ask for help in.

We've got a lot of new organizers,

we've got a couple extra new junk guys.

And we've even got a lot of family friends

that have showed up.

We've got a lot of work to do.

We're gonna have almost 10 people

working inside on multiple rooms

and then we'll have another whole junk crew outside.

It is just a lot of chaos going on in the home.

And the reality is, we must get this house clean for Judith

and for Dennis or they cannot live here.

The first project of the day is the master bedroom.

I need Pam and Steve to really get focused

on their mom and dad's bed.

It's pretty gross and we need to clean the entire room out.

There's rats, there's blood,

there's just a lot of gross stuff.

And I need the family to focus on

in the morning so we can get it done.

I think the emotion for you

was in this room a couple days ago.

How are you feeling, I mean, what is this?

This is where your mom sleeps,

like how are you feeling?

‐ I'm still very sad about it.

But I'm also very excited to get it out of here.

And make it better.

So, I've come to accept it is what it is.

It sucks, yeah, I mean, this is awful.

‐ And we wanna get the place in order

so that he can get someone to come in

and help him with more of housekeeping.

And healthcare, he needs help.

‐ All right, I'm gonna get my guys in here.

‐ Okay, we'll get it done.

‐ I need bed and mattress out.

‐ Bed and mattress, okay?

Pam and Steve are just ready to get this over with.

They don't really wanna stare

at all the bad things anymore.

They just wanna get down and get this house cleaned.

I'm seeing a lot of urgency from the family,

because they really know that

they're on their own when we leave.

‐ That's a go, go, go, go.

‐ Dennis was working with one of the organizers.

And he said he would probably

let go of about 20%,

but he was consistently letting go of about 50%.

‐ That can go, go, go.

‐ And then I came in and I had to tell him

Hey man, the donation is a no go.

I hate to do this to you guys,

I have gotten a call from both donation places.

And they are now telling us they can't accept our donation.

‐ Okay.

‐ So how does it make you feel?

‐ I'm disappointed, but at the same time

I know it has to get out of here.

‐ Well, that's what I was avoiding saying to you.

‐ Are you?

‐ No, I mean if they, if we've offered it,

‐ [Matt] Yeah. ‐ And it's been declined.

‐ I mean, ‐ We've offered it to two.

‐ Well, everything that we have

set aside for donation put in the dumpster.

I don't know what else to say.

‐ So that changes our playing a little bit now.

It's pretty much keep or trash.

‐ Yeah, let's do it.

‐ Hey, complete turnaround in 24 hours,

‐ Thanks Matt ‐ Thank you man,

you're doing great, really good.

‐ Okay.

‐ Awesome, you're doing great.

‐ I'm hopeful with Dennis's behavior

that we got a chance to finish this thing

and then I walk outside and I look in the backyard.

And I realize, dude,

this is going to be almost impossible to finish.

This is just too massive of a job.

I don't think we'd have enough hours.

(upbeat rock music)

The next thing that I look up,

Code Enforcement has come a day early.

I thought we had another day.

We've got an uphill battle.

We've added people we're giving everything we got.

Now, I've already taken 200000 pounds of trash out of here.

But I still don't think it's enough.

‐ I mean, California man,

they got drone technology to check in

on the houses that are hoarding.

Now, they have permission from the family

to check on them via drone.

They did tell me that

but they were just sending the drone over

and then they were looking at the entirety

of the property and they saw that

we had moved a lot of stuff,

but they see the whole property.

So they also saw that we hadn't taken everything out.

‐ Well, I can see just from the entrance,

when we inspected last week,

this whole entire thing was blocked.

‐ Yeah, there was RVs and trucks here.

‐ Yeah, ‐ They're gone,

we're in the middle of pulling this whole area here.

‐ Yeah, you got the box cuts, you got more RVs.

‐ I think I know the answer to this.

Obviously, we worked really hard.

But are we anywhere close to being code back here?

‐ No, I think that you guys have done tremendous work

with the progress that you've shown

from the beginning of the property back here,

but I definitely can see that there's still

a lot of work that needs to be done,

but you're definitely on the right track.

‐ I'm very concerned that we're not gonna get enough done

to make them happy by end of day tomorrow.

(dramatic synth music)

It's been a really good day.

We've done an enormous amount of work

between inside and outside,

we're taking about 10000 pounds an hour.

And we're still just kind of

barely making a dent in this property.

Started clearing out the driveway.

And if there's one part of the property I hadn't seen yet.

Once we uncovered it, It looks to be about

a 25 foot long by about 15 foot wide,

just a row of concrete blocks.

This is a massive pile of stone and brick.

And I don't have a solution for it right now.

This is a massive hurdle I did not have time for.

Sometimes I really hate my job.

Last day cleaning, and we still got

a lot of work to do more than we normally

would have on the last day.

But it's a new day.

‐ There's been amazing progress

over the last few days but feels like

still so much ahead of us, could be a long day.

‐ I have to say I'm very concerned,

there's still a lot of things remaining.

The carpets aren't pulled up.

I'm very worried right now

that we're not gonna complete this.

‐ I think Dennis is pretty good.

Dennis needs to go on a journey emotionally.

And I think each day he gets excited

and then he gets upset and then takes a break

and then comes back and gets refocused.

I think that's just his daily journey.

And he's letting us take things away

and he's actually making really good decisions.

A lot of the family stayed late and worked last night,

they wanted to do everything they could

so we could have the best chance to finish this

and he continued to let that 80% of the house go.

But there's a massive pile of stuff

on the outside of the house today

that was thrown out late into the night.

And now Dennis is picking through it.

He's gonna find a problem with what's been thrown away.

That's just the nature of hoarding.

I don't know where Dennis is gonna go emotionally.

But we got to really just push forward

and keep cleaning because we've got

Code Enforcement coming midday today

to give us the final sign off.

So we really don't have time for mistakes today.

(upbeat rock music)

We have about 5000 pounds of cinder block we get to move.

We had to get rid of it.

We didn't know where to go and we got really lucky.

We call it Habitat for Humanity

and their restore is gonna come pick up

all that stones and extra brick.

That's the good news.

Bad news is we got to load it.

So we're gonna try to get the family

kind of pumped up, ready to go.

Alright, everybody, all family, come over here, please.

We've got to get all these bricks,

it goes all the way to the street.

We've got to get them on pallets.

But this is one of the last things

that's holding us back on compliance with code, right?

We're gonna haul brick for the next two hours.

And then we'll just finish up the house.

All right, let's do it man.

We're running out of time, we gotta do this.

(upbeat orchestral music)

‐ The materials that we're picking up here at Dennis'

will be taken back to our restore

and sold to the community a fraction of price

to help divert pounds in the landfill,

and the proceeds will help to build homes

for people in our community who desperately need them.

‐ I believe it's very important for my dad

that these materials go to a good use.

Like maybe repurposed.

So we're real excited

about Habitat for Humanity taking these materials.

And we'll hopefully help somebody in need.

That's really important to us.

(dramatic synth music)

‐ It's one of those things where you can't

get mad at Dennis,

he's let us do our job.

He's just so much volume that it's hard to do the job.

‐ Okay, let me deal with a little one over here first.

And then let's deal with the big one

because I have a feeling that one's

gonna find anything, you wanna puke.

As we're trying to get to the final stretch

of cleaning my parents bedroom we found two more rats.

Dead against the walls, in different spots

and one was fairly small and one is just huge.

‐ Hey that is big, oh my God.

That's a 10 pounder, you okay?

‐ Get it out of here.

‐ You guys should get in the rodent business.

You've got a future.

‐ Is there another one out here?

‐ Yeah.

‐ Oh my God.

(bleep)

‐ Its impossible to see this stuff.

It's right where their bed is.

Right by where they sleep, unbeknownst to my mom,

What's going on behind, around her?

She sleeps a lot.

And so she was in that room a lot.

It just sucks to see that that's what was going on.

This is too much.

It's just too much to see this in their,

in their house and their room, its too much.

‐ It got to you, too bad.

‐ I can't believe it, I can't believe it.

‐ Well, it's gonna be all worth it.

And everything. ‐ It's so scary.

‐ Yeah.

‐ My dad's got to stop, he's just,

he's got to stop bringing stuff into his house.

He's got to prioritize my mom

and her care and his health and well being.

He needs to change his priorities.

He needs to willingly accept help.

If he doesn't keep his house in order.

We can't get him the help he needs.

So it's critical, it's like life or death

at this point, I mean,

if he can't figure out how to hold it together,

i dont know what's going to happen?

‐ The last day, there's still a ton to do.

Is the whole yard being cleaned

by end of day four doable?

No.

Is getting the house in the side yard

and the front yard to code?

Yes, we still have a small chance to do that.

But we're gonna need every second of cleanup to get it.

We've been banging out all morning

and Code Enforcement is already here.

I thought we had a few more hours,

but I'm a little nervous how they're gonna feel about it.

Lieutenant. ‐ How you doing?

‐ [Matt] How are you men?

‐ Good to see you. ‐ Good to see you.

We've made some progress.

‐ Wow, you have.

‐ We're not done by any means.

‐ Okay.

‐ Do you see at least an effort's been made in progress?

‐ Absolutely, this is night and day.

I didn't even realize this was what

this area looked like, quite frankly.

‐ It's a nice property once it's empty.

‐ Yeah.

‐ So I wanna show you the house

I think that's where we're probably most proud of.

‐ Okay. ‐ All right.

‐ So we'll kind of let you look around,

obviously, we're still cleaning.

Check it out and then we'll meet back here in the kitchen.

‐ Okay, wow.

‐ Code enforcement came and they saw

a lot of work done in a short amount of time.

And now they just wanna make sure

that we're gonna continue

to see progress over a longer time.

What are your overall thoughts?

‐ I'm just impressed with how much you've actually moved.

And I knew there was a lot here

and obviously there's still some items

you're still working on.

But it's amazing how much stuff's come out of here.

This is impressive.

‐ Does this buys us more time?

Like what do we what are we looking at?

‐ This this is definitely a step in the right direction.

definitely buys some more time.

But this is huge forward progress

from what we've seen in the past, impressive.

‐ Well he let us.

I wanna say, there was a moment

where he could have quit and he didn't.

He really just let everything go since then.

‐ We're just impressed

with everything that's been done here.

‐ Thanks, all right.

I'm gonna get back to work man.

I appreciate your help and your patience.

They were happy, they look at this as a win.

That means we did a good job.

If we didn't do a good job.

They would have been siting this house today on site.

But code is happy, we should have about six months

to work on kind of plan B.

(upbeat music)

‐ [Organizer] Let's go guys.

‐ We've got a lot still to do with only one hour to go.

This has been a mad final foot.

We've got furniture coming, We've got people scrubbing,

people cleaning, we're pulling carpets.

We're bringing in new beds,

we're bringing in new furniture.

Everything is happening this last hour.

I'm excited, but I'm still a little nervous.

‐ But we're here because we've heard

that Dennis was in a situation

and we're happy to help out the community here

in Sacramento area where we can.

‐ We did it, end of day four,

we cleaned a lot of trash out over 500 tons.

Which is a million pounds.

That's an enormous amount of weight.

We didn't finish, but we did a good job.

There's still a long ways to go

but the house looks great.

I'm really pleased the family can now

finally go in and live in this house.

‐ [crowd] Oh my word!

(soft rock music)

‐ [Dennis] I can't believe this.

‐ Oh my God, look at the kitchen.

(joyous laughter)

‐ You don't recognize this room anymore do you?

No, it's quite a bit different?

‐ So you can see, the house has been emptied

of a few things.

You can see it's been thoroughly cleaned.

We've got a new couch, we've got new tables,

we cleaned out the bedroom.

We have a new bed for you.

The kitchen is clean,

the refrigerator is fully clean

and it's totally usable, it's really good.

‐ This is fantastic, just fantastic.

‐ How are you guys, family, what do you thinking,

how are you feeling?

‐ I'm blown away, I mean, this is just,

I can't believe this is the same house we started with.

‐ I've got a wonderful place to start over.

‐ I'm grateful that you let us help do this.

‐ Yeah, so am I.

‐ It's been a huge weight on our shoulders,

for a lot of years and it's amazing.

‐ It's livable again.

So I just thank everybody involved

and all of people that donated things.

It's just, I gather there's still things we have to do,

but this is just overwhelming.

Thank you all very much, we appreciate it.

‐ It's shocking to see the transformation.

It's just, it's shocking.

‐ There have been some mighty,

beautiful people gotten involved here.

I just, I can't thank everybody enough.

‐ Yeah, so Dennis you have space back,

you have light back, now, all this love and care

in your family can come in and fill it, in any way.

‐ That's just amazing.

‐ How's it feel to have all the space

‐ For for whatever I've lost, look what I've gained.

‐ What do you think mom?

‐ How're you feeling, can we get a smile?

(mumbles)

‐ You like it?

Okay, I'm sure she's happy.

‐ Just looking at Judith and Dennis,

I can tell they're happy.

And that's what we're here to do.

This is where we'll be sleeping tomorrow night.

look a little different?

Sure does, fresh and clean.

Dennis and Judy can finally spend the night

in a clean house for the first time in a long time.

Check this out dude.

Oh wow, the whole thing is raising.

‐ [Matt] We're raising it up so, it raises up..

‐ Oh, it is all going up.

‐ I believe that the way the house looks now

is gonna be a life changer for my mom.

I think she's gonna feel different when she wakes up.

She's gonna feel encouraged to come out

and enjoy relaxing in the house.

This is gonna give her a good shot

at wanting to have that have that life back.

(soft acoustic music)

‐ It's bright in here.

‐ Beyond anything I could have imagined?

‐ Those bathrooms have been thoroughly cleaned.

‐ This morning, we still felt like there was a lot to do.

We really didn't think of what's gonna happen honestly.

I think it's wonderful.

There's so much room in here

my parents can actually move around now

and enjoy themselves, it's well lit, it's clean, it's safe,

far exceeds any expectation I had, it's amazing.

‐ It makes me feel good.

I think this is going to be the way I wanna keep it.

This is absolutely going to be fresh start.

I'm going to do everything I can to preserve it.

Don't want to let it get back

anywhere near what it had been.

‐ This was a massive crisis.

Inside was dangerous, outside was dangerous.

There were fines and we were able

to handle all of those.

What we have achieved is they have options,

the county's gonna work with them

and they're able to make

really good long term decisions for both of them.

This was a win.

‐ Thank you, very nice meeting you Judy.

Dennis and his family have come a long way.

They started out feeling hopeless.

And now they're at a place where

they can actually see the light

at the end of the tunnel here.

But they're certainly not out of that tunnel.

No one in this family can for a moment walk away

and assume that Dennis is going

to be able to manage this on his own.

Particularly, if he doesn't take advantage

of the counseling that will be offered to him.

‐ Did we help this family?

Yes, we did.

What I love about this job was

the city worked with us, the family worked for this,

and it came to a happy ending.

(dramatic synth music)