Ultimate ‘renovator’s surprise’ and business booming for modern day Ghostbuster
A ‘decommissioned’ relic was a big shock for this first homebuyer, who then had to decide what to do with it.
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Business is boo-ming for modern day Ghostbuster Martijn van Lith, who says he has seen “a lot of things” during his work as a decontamination specialist – from the quirky to the stomach churning to the downright terrifying.
In conjuring up the spirit of Bill Murray’s cult character Peter Venkman from the 1984 Hollywood blockbuster Ghostbusters, “extreme” cleaner Mr van Lith will take on “any job a normal cleaner can’t clean.”.
Since he started as a trauma and forensic cleaning specialist, his work has gone from virtually non-existent to almost over the top.
“If you go back 16 years when I started I would be lucky to get a few calls every month, now, it’s a few calls every day,” he said.
“I was due to take my first day off in over two months yesterday but something urgent came up. There is a lot of demand for this type of service these days.”
“We do anything and everything from crime scenes to hoarding and squalor to deceased estates, blood spills in apartments, squatter homes and jails.”
It’s one of those occupations where you never know what the next day will bring.
“Often we are contacted by clients on one of the worst days of their lives and our job is the take some of the stress out of the situation,” he said.
“It’s about turning the bad into good. About trying to restore the situation.
“Perhaps the easiest way to explain it is, that I’m like a chef, I’m presented with the raw product and have to create the end product.”
Essentially Mr van Lith cleans the almost uncleanable, he also deals with the paranormal, like Venkman and his Ghostbuster pals.
“There are those jobs where it’s a messy situation but there are also those jobs where you get the chicken skin and the hair raising on the back of your neck.
“Where there might be spirits or ghosts following us the whole time and it just doesn’t feel right.”
TRAUMA AND FORENSIC CLEANING SPECIALIST
Cleaning piles of rotting rubbish left inside squatter-affected properties, stumbling across the skeleton of a ‘once missing cat’ and being followed by a ghost is all in a day’s work for Martijn van Lith.
The trauma and forensic cleaning specialist has seen “a lot” of things in his time providing trauma decontamination services across south-east Queensland.
And, he says, the finds can be quirky, creepy and often very unexpected.
“We clean anything a normal cleaner can’t clean,” says Martijn. “From deceased estates to blood spills at an apartment, squatter homes, and jails.”
During a forensic house cleaning at a Morningside deceased estate a few years ago, Martijn was left feeling a “little on edge” when a white ghostly appearance started following him around the house.
He wasn’t the only one spooked by the white “eerie” sighting.
“Five others were helping to clean the property,” says Martijn. “The spirit was just following us and we didn’t feel right. We were constantly saying ‘Did you see that?’.
“It was a white ghost and it was like a spirit walking past the whole time.”
state of squalor
Other finds are even more confronting. Martijn says one of his colleague found a woman dead on the floor of her home, who made the discovery after the owner hadn’t answered the door after half an hour of knocking.
“No one was aware of her situation. The house was full of stuff, about 1.2m high, and the ground was compacted with faecal matter from her animals,” says Martijn.
He says they found a cat carcass under the rubble and baby wipe containers used as portable loos.
“It was all so eerie,” says Martijn. “This lady’s father was a pharmacist and there was squalor underneath the house too. So many chemicals. There was 2.5L of nitric acid and we had to call in specialists to remove it. There was a lab underneath and it was dangerous.”
Martijn says hoarding specialists are often informed about missing pets in homes they are asked to clean out.
“More often than not they are found under piles of rubbish, decomposed after something heavy has fallen on top of them,” he says.
“I’ve come across dead birds, mice and snake skins. I found a cat that was obviously knocked out when a heavy book fell on it, it was on the floor flat, just a skeleton.”
HOME RENOVATOR’S SURPRISE
Martijn isn’t the only one finding oddities at homes. For Sam Letchford, a first homebuyer on the Sunshine Coast, discovering a secret pool in his backyard was an “absolute surprise”.
Sam bought the house in March and decided to landscape the yard with some friends.
“When we were working on the yard we found a bit of concrete. We discovered it was actually a path that had been covered with grass. We followed the path around and it lead to the shell of a pool which we then dug out the outline of,” he says.
Sam contacted his conveyancer and was informed that due to the swimming pool being formerly ‘decommissioned’ the seller or agent didn’t need to tell him it was buried in the backyard.
“I’m not too sure if the agent did know about it. But I wasn’t told about it,” he says.
Sam is looking to revamp the area and create an outdoor alfresco with a sunken fire pit.
“A mate suggested a small skating bowl, or a bunker and I even had someone come over to give me a quote to make it an astro turf putting green. I’m open to options.
“Because I literally unloaded all of my funds into actually securing a place I can’t afford to do anything with it at the moment.
“I’m being told by mum and dad to get rid of it, to the extent where dad has actually got someone over to quote its removal ($1500).”
Master Builders Gold Coast regional manager Adam Profke says it’s always nice to find something significant in a building.
“It usually happens during renovations of older period homes, like Queenslanders or Victorian-style builds,” says Adam. “They used to use newspapers as insulation so it’s always nice when you come across them. Some people value those finds more than others. If you like looking at history it’s pretty unique.”
He says other popular finds include old photos of original home owners.
“Sometimes someone might buy a deceased estate and the new owners might find those old photos, or even a safe in the wall. Obviously we all want to find that pot of gold in the wall but that doesn’t always happen,” he says.
Originally published as Ultimate ‘renovator’s surprise’ and business booming for modern day Ghostbuster
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