When someone was not found right away

Unattended death cleanup in San Jose

It often starts with a welfare check, a landlord's key or a neighbor who noticed the mail. If you are now the one responsible for the home, this page is for you.

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An empty bedroom with a bare oak floor, white walls and a wood-framed window, after cleaning.

Before anything else

If you have found someone and nobody official has been there yet, leave the home and call 911. Police will bring in the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office, and nothing inside should be moved until both are done.

Once the home is released, you do not have to go back in. Many families hand the keys to the cleanup company and never see the room again.

Why time changes the job

After a few days, body fluids pass through bedding and a mattress, or through carpet into the floor underneath. Odor soaks into curtains, clothing, drywall and the dust in the ducts. Flies and other insects often arrive. None of it means anyone did something wrong. It is what happens when a person is not found quickly, and it is why ordinary cleaning does not work.

The mattress, chair or flooring where the person lay is removed, sealed and labelled as regulated waste
The floor or wall is opened as far as the fluids went, which can be further than the stain
Insects are treated where needed
What remains is cleaned and disinfected, and the odor is dealt with by filtration and sealing, not by perfume
You are told what a contractor will have to rebuild afterwards, such as subfloor or drywall

Rebuilding is separate work. California's public health department points out that some restoration jobs need a licensed contractor; the Contractors State License Board (800-321-2752) can tell you which.

Belongings and paperwork

Tell the company before it starts if there are things you need found: a will, a wallet, keys, photographs, a list of medications, a phone. Items the fluids did not reach can usually be cleaned and kept. Soaked items are a harder call, and a careful company asks before it discards anything personal.

If the Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office took property for safekeeping, your funeral home can send in the release form for it, or you can book a time with the office to collect it.

Who usually carries the cost

A home the person owned

The estate, or the relative handling it. Many homeowner policies respond to this kind of loss and many do not. Phone the agent or the insurer and ask before the work starts.

A rental

The landlord normally arranges work on the unit, because the unit is the landlord's property. Whether any of the cost is recovered from the estate or a deposit is between the landlord and the estate.

The state program

The Victim Compensation Board reimburses clean-up after a crime. It is not there for a natural or accidental death.

Two things people ask

How long does unattended death cleanup take?

It depends on how long the person lay there and on what. A room found within days is a much smaller job than one found after weeks, where flooring may have to come up. The company can tell you once it has seen the room.

Will the smell come back?

It should not, if the source was fully removed. Odor that returns usually means fluid reached something that was left in place, such as subfloor or the foot of a wall. Ask the company what it will do if that happens, and get the answer in writing.