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Estate cleanouts and hoarding cleanups in Chilliwack: what happens, where things go, how long it takes

How an estate cleanout or hoarding cleanup runs in Chilliwack: sorting, donating to the ReStore and MCC Thrift, what the landfill takes, and timelines.

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Home › Guides › Estate cleanouts and hoarding cleanups in Chilliwack: what happens, where things go, how long it takes

What a cleanout actually involves

An estate cleanout is a whole house emptied to the walls, usually on a deadline set by a listing, a lease end or a family that lives elsewhere. A hoarding cleanup is the same job with more volume per room, less sorting done in advance, and often an occupant still living there. In both cases the work is four steps: decide what is kept, pull out what can be donated or sold, haul what cannot, and leave the rooms swept.

The keep pile is yours and should be decided before a crew arrives. Paperwork, photographs, jewellery, medications and anything with a name on it should be boxed and removed from the house first, because once loading starts, the crew's job is to move fast and they will not be reading labels. If you are doing this from out of town, a local friend or the executor walking through with a roll of tape and a marker the day before saves a lot of phone calls.

Where the good things go in Chilliwack

Chilliwack has real outlets for usable goods, and using them cuts the landfill share of the job. The Habitat for Humanity ReStore at Unit 103/104, 7900 Evans Road in Sardis takes new and used furniture, appliances, decor and building materials, and says pickup is usually available for very large donations; call 604-392-7892 to confirm what they will take that week, because every ReStore sets its own list. It is open Monday to Saturday 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm.

The Chilliwack MCC Thrift Shop at 45774 Kipp Avenue downtown (Monday to Saturday 10 am to 4 pm, 604-792-3731) is the long-standing option for household goods, kitchenware and clothing. The Salvation Army thrift store network accepts clothing and household donations; check thriftstore.ca/locations for the nearest store and its current rules. Chilliwack Community Services does not run a thrift store, but it accepts gifts in kind for its programs (equipment, supplies, silent auction items, and toys at Christmas) through a form on its website; email [email protected] before showing up with a load.

Anything with a plug that still works can go to the ReStore; anything with a plug that does not can go free to the Chilliwack or Sardis Bottle Depot under the electronics and small appliance programs. Large appliances are free at Bailey Landfill under MARR whether they work or not.

What the landfill takes, and what it does not

Bailey Sanitary Landfill at 5940 Matheson Road charges by weight: $140 per tonne for garbage with a $7.50 minimum per load, on the July 2026 schedule. An average house clearout is measured in truckloads rather than tonnes, so the disposal fee is a modest part of the bill; the labour of carrying a lifetime out of a 1970s split-level in Fairfield Island is most of it.

The banned list matters more in an estate than in a normal cleanout, because old houses hold old things. Tires, car batteries, waste oil, electronics, light bulbs, paint, solvents, pesticides and propane tanks are all banned from the garbage face; most go free to a bottle depot, and the City runs a free Household Hazardous Waste Day every October for the rest. Propane tanks are free at Bailey in residential quantities. Anything that looks like asbestos, from an old furnace wrap to vinyl floor tiles being pulled up, stops the job until it has been tested.

Hoarding cleanups: the differences

Volume is the obvious one. A hoarded bungalow can produce several full truckloads where the same floor plan normally produces one, and the crew cannot see the floor to plan the route until the first load is out. Quotes for these jobs are given in stages for that reason: a firm price for the first truck and a range for the rest, revised once the rooms are visible.

Sorting is the other. In a hoard, valuables and documents are mixed into the pile rather than set aside, so the pace is slower and someone who knows the person should be present or reachable. Food, animal waste and sharps change what the crew wears and how bags are handled. Say so on the phone; it changes the plan, not whether the job gets done.

If the occupant is staying, the aim is usually to clear exits, the kitchen and the bathroom first so the house is safe, then work outward. That order is worth stating before the crew arrives.

Timelines and what to have ready

A three-bedroom house that has already been sorted by the family is normally one long day for a two-person crew, sometimes two days if there is a full garage and a shed. A hoarded house is two to four days depending on volume and how much sorting happens on site. Donations should go out on the first day so the good pieces do not get buried or damaged.

Have ready: keys or a lockbox code, the keep list, a decision on appliances (going or staying), a contact who can answer questions by phone, and a photo of each room. Send the photos when you call; the hauler we connect you with quotes from them and confirms on site before loading.

Need it hauled or installed?

Call (778) 860-0420 or request a call back. This website connects Chilliwack 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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