David Terriquez -- aka "Dirty Dave" -- gets a certain amount of satisfaction from cleaning up foreclosed homes, many of which are filled with garbage.

Terriquez works as the field foreman for Columbia Heights-based DuAll Services, a company that specializes in property preservation.

To set an example for the workers he manages, "I have to show that I'm willing to do the dirtiest work," he said. Hence the nickname.

The company, which usually is hired by banks trying to prepare properties for sale, cleans up mostly foreclosed houses all over southern Minnesota. The circumstances run the gamut, but often they're so-called hoarder or garbage houses. DuAll cleans the homes within a two-day period.

Peter Majerle, who juggles communications and hands-on work at the company, said workers go into "places where entire families have dumped all of their refuse on the floor for years."

Majerle said he prefers the homes that seem too far gone to rescue. "I see it as a personal challenge," he said. "Some people run marathons or join Mensa. This is how I like to push the limits of my existence."

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House after being cleaned by Columbia Heights-based DuAll Services.

'Trash-out'

During "trash-out," or debris removal, workers might come across layers of mold on the walls, sewer backup, rotting meat, mice, stagnant water or a variety of other messes. At other times, however, such things as an abandoned Camaro, unused furniture and well-stocked cupboards also have surfaced.

Cost of the cleanup can range from about $950 for a typical house to more than $10,000 in the worst cases, Majerle said.

Along the way, Majerle snaps photos of the homes, mostly to document them before the cleaning crews come in, for billing purposes. But he also tries to capture details about the lives left behind, which is also the subject of an art show he's putting together.

He's struck by a flat-screen TV box, for instance, or a gold watch that has stopped ticking, or clothing that still has the price tags on it -- all symbols of "American excess," he says, which can be found amid the trash.

On the company's blog, he elaborates on his "archaeological voyeurism," as he describes it.

It's not uncommon to take out as much as 10,000 pounds of garbage from a house, he added. Much of the junk gets dumped, although the company recycles whatever it can.

White glove test

After the "trash-out," a crew comes in to clean a place to the company's white-glove standard.

In each home, the workers try to "remove all traces of the previous owner," Majerle said, going so far as to take down a nail on the wall where a picture once hung.

Within 48 hours, the change is dramatic and tangible.

DuAll also continues to mow the grass or shovel the sidewalks. "We make sure that the foreclosed properties are among the neatest on the block, so you don't get that overwhelming feeling of desolation and decay," Majerle said.

Anna Pratt is a Minneapolis freelance writer.