Questions and answers
Biohazard cleanup questions
Short answers to the questions people ask most. Each links to a longer guide where there is one.
Calls answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
About this line
Who actually does the cleanup?
An independent biohazard cleanup company. This site is only a referral line that puts your call through to one serving your area. That company gives you its own price and does the work.
Who answers when I call?
An independent biohazard cleanup company that serves your ZIP code, or the intake line that books its jobs.
Does this site get paid?
Yes. Cleanup companies pay this site or a referral network for calls. You don't pay this site anything. See the referral disclosure.
Is my call recorded?
Calls may be recorded by the referral network or the company for quality and billing. See the privacy policy.
Before cleanup
When can cleanup start after a death?
After the police and the coroner have finished and the home is released. Ask the officer in charge if you are not sure.
Who releases the person to the funeral home?
After the examination, South Carolina law says the body is released to the person lawfully entitled to it for burial (S.C. Code 17-5-570). The family chooses the funeral home.
How do I get the coroner's report?
In Charleston County, the legal next of kin can request the Coroner's Report and the autopsy report from the coroner's office. The Coroner's Report is the only one of these records available to the public under FOIA (Charleston County).
Paying for it
Does South Carolina's victim compensation pay for crime scene cleanup?
No. The Department of Crime Victim Compensation lists crime scene clean-up among the costs it cannot pay (FAQ). It may help eligible victims with other costs.
Does homeowners insurance cover biohazard cleanup?
Some policies do, some don't, and it often depends on what happened. Ask your agent or insurer before work begins.
Why is there no price on this site?
Because every job is different. The price depends on the area affected, the materials involved, how much time has passed and how much has to be removed.
The work
Can our family clean it ourselves?
For anything beyond a small spot on a hard surface, it is better not to. Blood and body fluids can carry infections, soak into materials you can't see, and are hard to face when it is someone you love.
What is removed and what is cleaned?
Hard, sealed surfaces can usually be cleaned and disinfected. Soaked porous materials such as carpet pad, cushions and sometimes drywall or subfloor are usually removed.
Will the smell go away?
When the material that absorbed fluids is removed and the area is treated, the odor usually goes too. Ask how the company checks before it leaves.
Can belongings be saved?
Many can. Tell the company what matters to you; items are sorted into keep, clean and discard with your agreement.
When you are ready
One call, and someone else takes this on
You don't have to clean this yourself, and you don't have to decide everything today. A short call is enough to ask questions and hear what the work would involve.
Talk to a cleanup company
The line puts you through to an independent biohazard cleanup company working in your ZIP code. Tell them what happened and where. You decide whether to hire them.
Call (843) 555-0162Calls answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
The referral network can record calls; the referral disclosure and privacy policy say how.