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Estate cleanouts and hoarding cleanups in Lethbridge: what actually happens

What an estate or hoarding cleanout in Lethbridge involves, what can be donated and where, what the City's free programs cover, and how the rest is priced.

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Home › Guides › Estate cleanouts and hoarding cleanups in Lethbridge: what actually happens

What a cleanout involves

An estate cleanout is a whole house, not a pile. In Lethbridge that is often a north-side bungalow that one family lived in for fifty years, or a south-side condo after a move to care. The job runs in a fixed order: the family removes documents, photos, jewellery and anything with a name on it; usable furniture and housewares are set aside for sale or donation; hazardous items such as paint, solvents, propane and old medication are separated for the City's free drop-off; and everything left is loaded by volume and sorted at the truck into metal, clean wood, electronics and garbage so the disposal fees stay low.

The crew we connect you with quotes the whole house from a walk-through or a set of photos, room by room, and can work in stages if the family is still sorting. Loading is by the truckload; a typical house is several. There is no charge for the walk-through.

Hoarding cleanups are the same job with more care

A hoarding cleanup differs in pace and in who decides. The occupant or the family stays in control of what leaves, and the crew works one room at a time, bagging garbage, boxing keepers, and flagging anything that looks important before it is loaded. Sharps, spoiled food and animal waste are handled with gloves and sealed bags; the City accepts medical sharps free from Lethbridge residents at the Waste and Recycling Centre. Nothing about the job is a spectacle, and the truck does not advertise what it is doing.

Expect several truckloads and more than one day for a full house. Pricing is still by volume, quoted per stage so the family can pause between days.

Where things can go instead of the landfill

Donation in Lethbridge is narrower than people hope, so check before loading the car. The Second Door Thrift Store at 1103 3 Avenue North, run by the Interfaith Food Bank, takes dishes, glassware, cookware, small appliances such as toasters and coffee makers, books and trinkets, Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and turns them into food-bank funds. It cannot take furniture, clothing, large appliances, electronics, textbooks or encyclopedias, and it does not pick up. Its number is 403-320-8779.

Salvation Army Thrift Stores accept clothing and linens, footwear, housewares and small appliances, books and media, computers and electronics, toys and antiques, but nationally they refuse furniture, mattresses, large appliances, construction materials, pianos and infant equipment, and they do not offer pickup. Habitat Canada's ReStore locator lists the nearest ReStores in Medicine Hat and Calgary rather than Lethbridge. Working furniture in good condition therefore usually moves through a local buy-and-sell listing or through a hauler who diverts usable pieces where an outlet exists.

What the City's free programs cover, and where they stop

If the house still has an active City utility account, it is entitled to two free Large Item Service pickups a year, three months apart, each up to 250 kg or five large items that two people can lift, set out at the curb or alley 24 hours before. Residents can also bring 250 kg to the Waste and Recycling Centre free every Saturday. For a small apartment that may be enough.

For a full house it is not. The Large Item Service refuses electronics, tires, renovation material, fences, decks, concrete and hazardous waste, caps each visit at 250 kg, and needs the items already at the curb. An estate cleanout is measured in tonnes, most of it inside, and the executor usually has a possession date. That is the point where a hauler is cheaper than the time.

Practical sequence for an executor

First, secure documents and valuables and change nothing else. Second, photograph every room and send the photos for a quote, so you know the cost before you commit. Third, list or donate what is worth it, using the outlets above. Fourth, book the cleanout in stages if the family is still deciding. Fifth, arrange disconnection of gas appliances and the hot water tank before the appliance day. The crew handles the rest, sweeps out, and sends a photo of the empty rooms if you are not in town.

Need it hauled or installed?

Call (587) 813-0710 or request a call back. This website connects Lethbridge residents with a local, licensed and insured junk removal company. Calls and form submissions go directly to that company, which quotes and completes the work.

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