Grave Site Cleaning

This is quiet work and we treat it that way. Most of the families who call are not local anymore and cannot get out to the cemetery the way they would like to.

The single most important thing about cleaning a headstone is what you do not use. Household bleach, acidic cleaners, wire brushes, and pressure washers all damage stone. Marble and limestone are soft and calcium based, and acid dissolves them outright — that is what erases the lettering on older markers. Pressure washing drives water into the stone and blows out the surface. Damage from any of these is permanent.

“Bleach and a pressure washer will make a marble headstone look bright for one season and take decades off its life. Soft brushes and D/2 is the standard conservators use.”

What we use is D/2 Biological Solution with water and soft nylon brushes. D/2 is the product used by monument conservators, by the National Park Service, and in national cemeteries. It is pH neutral, it kills the algae, lichen, and biological growth that Florida humidity encourages, and it keeps working for months after the visit — a stone often continues to lighten for weeks after we have left.

Granite is the most durable and handles cleaning well. Marble and limestone need the gentlest approach. Bronze markers on granite bases are their own case — bronze develops a protective patina, and stripping it back to bright metal is usually the wrong call unless the family specifically wants that.

Around the marker we hand trim rather than run a string trimmer hard against the stone, because trimmer line chips and scars edges, especially on marble. Grass gets cut back off the base, the plot is cleared of leaves and debris, and old flowers and vase inserts are removed and replaced if you would like.

We photograph the site before and after and send the pictures to you. For families several states away, seeing that it was actually done and done properly is most of the reason to hire someone.