Unattended Death Cleanup in Nashville

What an unattended death means for the home

An unattended death is one where a person dies without anyone present, and is found some time later. Most are natural deaths: a heart condition, a fall, an illness that progressed faster than anyone expected. Many involve older adults who lived alone, but it happens at every age.

The time between death and discovery is what shapes the cleanup. After a day or two, the body's natural breakdown begins to release fluids, and those fluids soak into whatever the person was resting on or near. A mattress, a recliner, carpet and pad, and sometimes the floor beneath. Odor follows the same path. None of this reflects on the person or the family. It is simply biology, and it is the reason a regular cleaning service, or a relative with a mop, is not equipped for the job.

Our work is to find every place that biological material reached, remove what cannot be saved, clean and disinfect what can, and leave the room in a condition where a family can grieve, sort belongings, or begin repairs.

What happens first: police and the medical examiner

When an unattended death is reported, police or deputies respond, and in Tennessee the death is typically referred to the county medical examiner. According to the Office of the State Chief Medical Examiner, county medical examiners investigate deaths that are sudden or unexpected, traumatic, suspicious, related to overdose, or that occur in custody. Many unattended deaths fall into the first category simply because no one was there.

A few points families often ask about:

• Autopsy is not automatic. The medical examiner decides whether one is needed. When forensic autopsies are performed, they are done at regional forensic centers and are not billed to the family.
• Reports take time. The state's published guidance says autopsy reports usually take about 10 to 12 weeks. Death certificates and estate matters may wait on this.
• The scene has to be released. Cleanup cannot start until law enforcement and the medical examiner are finished with the property. Once the person who died has been taken into the medical examiner's or a funeral home's care, the home is normally released back to the family or owner.

The medical examiner and police do not clean the home. That responsibility falls to the property owner, the estate, or whoever controls the property. That is usually the point at which people call us.

After the home is released: your first few decisions

Once you have the keys back, you do not need to do much. Your job is to keep people safe and leave things where they are until the area has been assessed.

If you are unsure whether something is safe to touch, call and ask. There is no charge for that conversation. Our guide on what not to do before an assessment covers this in more detail, and our guide for families arranging cleanup walks through the practical side from start to finish.

How unattended death cleanup works

Every home is different, but the order of work is consistent.

1. Phone conversation

   We ask where the property is, roughly how long the person may have been there, which rooms are involved and who has authority to approve the work. We confirm scheduling by phone; distance from Nashville can affect timing.

2. On-site assessment

   A technician in protective equipment looks at the affected area and traces where fluids and odor may have travelled: under furniture, beneath flooring, into adjoining rooms or ductwork. You do not need to be in the room for this.

3. Written scope

   You receive a written scope that lists the rooms, the materials to be removed and the cleaning planned. Nothing proceeds until the person responsible for the property approves it.

4. Removal and containment

   Porous materials that absorbed biological material, such as a mattress, upholstered furniture, carpet and pad, are removed, packaged and taken away for disposal in line with applicable Tennessee and federal requirements.

5. Cleaning and disinfection

   Hard surfaces are cleaned and then treated with EPA-registered disinfectants used according to label directions. Where fluids reached subfloor or wall materials, those sections may be cut out.

6. Deodorization and walk-through

   Once the source material is gone, remaining odor is addressed. We then walk through the result with you or your representative and provide photos and an itemized invoice.

For a fuller explanation of each stage, see Understanding Unattended Death Cleanup.

Help for your specific situation

Unattended deaths vary a great deal depending on how much time passed and what kind of property is involved. These pages go deeper on each situation:

• Decomposition cleanupWhy fluids move into mattresses, flooring and subfloor, and why surface cleaning is not enough
• Advanced decomposition cleanupLonger intervals where structural materials such as subfloor or drywall may need removal
• Odor-related biohazard remediationWhy odor lingers and how removing the source comes before deodorization
• Death scene cleanup in housesFamily homes, hardwood floors, crawl spaces, basements and HVAC returns
• Unattended death cleanup in apartmentsShared walls, neighbors, management and getting the unit ready to turn over
• Estate and property death cleanupFor executors and heirs, including those coordinating from out of town
• Death discovered after an extended periodWeeks or months later, with utilities off and the property in an unknown condition

Odor, porous materials and what can be kept

Two questions come up on nearly every call: will the smell go away, and what has to be thrown out?

Odor

The odor after an unattended death comes from biological material that is still present somewhere in the room. Sprays and candles cover it briefly. It fades properly only when the material producing it has been removed and the surfaces around it have been cleaned. That is why we focus on finding the source, including places that are not obvious, like the underside of carpet pad or a gap where flooring meets the wall. More on this is on our odor remediation page and in the guide Understanding Biohazard Remediation and Odor Concerns.

Porous materials

Anything soft and absorbent that came into contact with bodily fluids generally cannot be cleaned to a safe standard. That usually includes the mattress and box spring, upholstered chairs, carpet and pad, and sometimes clothing or linens nearby. Hard items like dresser drawers, metal frames, glass and sealed wood can often be cleaned and returned.

Photographs, jewelry, documents and other personal items in the room are handled with care. If you tell us what matters to you, we look for those items first and set aside anything that can be saved. The guide What Happens to Contaminated Porous Materials explains how these decisions are made.

Who usually calls us

The person on the phone is rarely the person who found the body. More often it is:

• A son, daughter or sibling who has just been told by police and now has to deal with a parent's house.
• An executor or personal representative, sometimes living in another state, trying to arrange things from a distance.
• A landlord or property manager whose tenant was found after a welfare check.
• A neighbor or friend helping a family who cannot be there.

You do not need to know the right terms or have everything figured out before calling. We can also explain things directly to an insurance adjuster or attorney if that helps. Landlords may find A Landlord's Guide to Biohazard Cleanup useful.

How this differs from other cleanup services

Unattended death cleanup centers on time and biology: the longer the interval, the further material spreads. Other types of scene have different priorities.

• Suicide scene cleanup involves a different kind of contamination and often more emotional weight for those left behind. If a death by suicide was not discovered for some time, our unattended suicide scene page covers both concerns.
• Crime scene cleanup follows a police investigation and may involve fingerprint powder and multiple areas.
• Blood cleanup covers injuries and incidents where nobody died, or where the person was found quickly.

If you are not sure which applies, describe what happened and we will sort it out.

What affects cost, and insurance questions

We do not publish prices, because two unattended deaths rarely need the same work. The written scope after assessment is what sets the cost. The main factors are:

• How long the person was there before being found.
• How many rooms, and how much flooring, furniture and wall material is involved.
• Whether fluids reached subfloor, joists or HVAC components.
• Access: stairs, upper-floor units, crowded rooms or locked areas.
• The volume of contaminated material that has to be packaged and disposed of.

Some homeowner's and landlord policies may cover some of this work. Whether yours does depends entirely on the policy and the insurer. We can give you photographs, a written scope and an itemized invoice to submit. Our pricing page and the guide on insurance questions after a biohazard incident go further.

If you prefer to start the process online, the Order Online page takes a $2,000 initial deposit. That deposit is not the final price, and it does not guarantee that work begins within a particular time.

Where we work

We are based in Nashville and one team travels out to homes across Middle Tennessee, including Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson, Sumner, Wilson, Montgomery and Maury counties and the surrounding rural counties. We do not have offices in other towns. See the full service area list, or the pages for Davidson County, Sumner County and Williamson County.

Questions people ask