Reaching both sides of the Lehigh River in Bethlehem
The Lehigh River splits Bethlehem into two very different halves, and we work in both. North of the river, the Historic District holds Moravian stone buildings, Main Street shops and narrow blocks of older homes. South of it, the South Side climbs from the SteelStacks campus on the old Bethlehem Steel site up toward Lehigh University, with rowhomes and twins packed onto steep streets. The Hill-to-Hill Bridge links the two halves, and our crews from the Allentown office cross it often.
Bethlehem also sits in two counties. The South Side and most of the city lie in Northampton County, while the western edge of Bethlehem falls in Lehigh County. That changes which coroner's office responds to a death, but it doesn't change how we work. We wait for the scene to be released, then start with a walkthrough so you know exactly what we plan to remove and why.
Cleanup calls we answer most in Bethlehem
What South Side student rentals need between tenants
Many South Side houses near Lehigh University are rented to students year after year. When a lease ends, landlords sometimes open a door to more than the usual mess: spoiled food left for weeks, pet waste soaked into carpet, a bathroom that hasn't been cleaned all year, or a sharps container that was never emptied. Most of this isn't dangerous in the way a death scene is, but some of it carries real health risks and plenty of odor.
We sort the job before we price it. Gross filth and urine-soaked flooring get removed and bagged, hard surfaces get cleaned and disinfected, and any needles go into rigid sharps containers. If an overdose or death happened in the unit, we treat it as a trauma scene and follow the full bloodborne pathogens approach. Our aim is a unit you can repaint and rent again, finished before the next tenants arrive.
Careful work inside Historic District homes
Homes in Bethlehem's Historic District can hold original woodwork, old plaster and wide floorboards that families want to keep wherever possible. After a death or a sewage backup in one of these houses, we take extra care about what comes out. We clean and test original materials first and only cut out what truly holds contamination, then record each decision in photos for you and your insurer.
Exterior changes in the city's historic districts go through local review, but our work stays inside the walls, so it rarely touches that process. Inside, we protect stair rails, door casings and floors along our path with coverings before we carry anything out. Older residents and long-time owners often live in these homes, so estate cleanouts and unattended death calls come up here more than rental cleanups. We move at the family's pace on those jobs and set aside every personal item worth keeping.
