How dirty would someone's house have to be before you refused to visit them?

I think this question is just perfect for injecting humor. Which kinda goes along with my response. I am not one to easily squirm about filth. God knows I’ve dealt with it that often. Every morning when I look in the mirror as a matter of fact. But unless there is a huge pile of overused greenish moldy heroine syringes in the living room of this house or pet urine soaked yellow couches that actually was green and I open the door and toilet smell knocks me out cold, then I’m still in, and the flies that usually tag along with me. I could always send my dog. Poor girl’s sense of smell is dead.

The slimy, smelly kind. Not just stuff everywhere, but stuff like food and litter that hasn’t been changed in weeks.

Poop on the floor. Otherwise, nothing.

My first job was a farm loan officer for a bank. I’d go and visit the farmers at their places. I could tell you some horror stories that would totally gross you out.

A little dust, a little fuzz, some clutter, no biggie.
Mold in the toilet, days worth of unwashed dishes, sticky floors and doorknobs, trash piled up, animal waste…um…get some help. lol

One of my biggest pet peeves are people who let their little kids run amok throguh the house with food. Years ago I knew this family and I swear, walking across their floors was liking walking on fly paper, and, EVERY doorknob in the house had peanut butter and jelly on it. lol

I have long ago left my younger days of perfectionism go, but, I am pretty tidy by nature. I couldn’t handle the way some people live.

Although by nature I am a somewhat relaxed housekeeper, I am surrounded by extremely tidy folks so I am rarely faced with this question in real life. I did have a friend once who was not the best housekeeper. I didn’t pay much attention to the piles of laundry, the rust around the faucets, or the stinky bathrooms, but my stomach lurched and I spent a lot less time there after seeing the maggot covered piece of rotting meat on the garage floor.

Dirtier than mine. Seriously, does anyone here live in a cave? Then I’m not likely to visit.

I recall during one period of a few months’ unemployment many years ago I worked with my father-in-law on a low-income housing winterization county grant program in SW Michigan. We did some work at the “Six Flags Hotel” in Niles, Michigan, where residents had long term tenancy and were responsible for their own cleaning – and didn’t do that very often. (Basically, a flophouse.) I came away from that place calling it the “Black Flag Hotel”. I wanted to burn my clothing after I left.

It would actually have to be dirty. I don’t think a messy house is that big of a deal, even though tidiness is preferred.

Urine smells.

Food sticky surfaces I can’t avoid such as chairs.

I’ve been to some pretty cluttered and slovenly homes- dishes piled up in stinky sink water, molding liquids in glasses scattered about, dirty laundry everywhere but if I don’t have to touch it or can block out the scents, I’ll visit.

It would have to be really gross. Clutter I can deal with; I have two kids so I’m used to clutter. Food laying out, trash everywhere, animal poo on the floor or furniture, etc… I know this couple with three children, but their house looks like they have about 20 children. There’s always clothes everywhere, trash everywhere, and when you walk in it smells like old, stale grease. The nasty grease smell is so potent that even when they leave the house you can smell it on them from 3 feet away. It’s pretty foul, and I don’t go over there unless I seriously have to.

I draw the line when you have to brush off week old used food containers just to find a place to sit, after walking across a sticky floor/rug, covered with so much trash you can’t avoid stepping on it. The place smells like spoiled food, and they are always complaining about the ants and mice. There are used diapers piled outside the front door.

I never visit my son and daughter in law because of that and their junk filled yard. It just breaks my heart, because we spent a fortune on their landscaping and the wall to wall carpeting was brand new when they moved in. The walls, which were freshly painted are now covered with splashed soda and other debris, and scribbled up with permanent markers up to three feet high. The bathroom is covered in mold, and I’m allergic to mold.

Two of the brand new screens we put in last year are broken, along with the locks we installed. The floor of the laundry room and the wall behind the washer and dryer is also covered with mold. They keep bread, crackers and other shelf food in the dishwasher, because there is not enough cupboard space and the entire kitchen is littered with dirty dishes.

@YARNLADY: That sounds exactly how my now ex husband and I once found a relative’s condition when we went to visit. At the time she had two small children under 5 yrs old. A decade+ later and you wouldn’t think they’re the same people- she’s so fastidious with her homes. They’ve become a destination for travelling relative from all over the states!

I really try hard not to judge people on their house keeping skills. But I’ve been in houses where I don’t really know where to sit or touch without sitting or touching something gross. I tend to draw the line there. I try to meet at my house if I like them that much…or at a park.

Piss and shit…strong smells or actual matter in the place. Or pathways through junk ala buried alive. I used to weatherize homes for low income people and that would be one of the reasons to not even do an assessment, let alone do any work there.

Back before cellphones were around I had to use a customers phone, one of those old timey Bell wall mounts. The old man living there was scummy looking and the phone had a layer of ear wax and boogers smattered in the push buttons and ear piece that I actually gagged while using it…touching “it”. I was calling my boss at the time and he had the quietest meek phone voice ever. I could barely hear him on the other end because of all the schmoots and shit plugging the holes and there was no f-ing way I was putting that thing near my head. I could just imagine what the old man’s bathroom was like. shudders.

I prefer to avoid a home that has dog poo all over the floor…Yuck!