Red Construction Dust
Bentonville feels like one giant construction site right now. The air is thick with red dirt from all the road work and new buildings. It covers everything.
On a white marble headstone, that red dust is a nightmare. A garden hose won't touch it. That red clay soaks right into the grain of the marble. It looks like the stone is rusting from the inside out. When folks call us for headstone cleaning services near me, they usually think the stone is ruined. It isn't, but soap won't fix it. We apply a thick paste that slowly sucks that red dirt back out of the stone.
Sprinkler Crust on Bronze
The memorial parks here keep the grass perfect, so the sprinklers run constantly. Our water is hard. It hits those flat bronze markers and dries in the hot sun.
It builds up a thick white crust that hides the names. It looks like dried toothpaste. If you try to chip that crust off, you'll gouge the bronze. Then it looks even worse. We use a specialized acid wash. It eats the calcium deposit but leaves the bronze alone. We dissolve the white crust, and then we oil the metal to make it shine again.
Bradford Pear Mess
There are Bradford Pear trees everywhere in town. They drop soft berries that smash onto the headstones.
Those berries rot into a black, sticky goo. It sets like glue. Scrubbing it just smears the black stain around because it is so sugary. Soap won't cut it. We use a cleaner that digests the sugar. We have to dissolve the sticky mess chemically before we can wash the stone, otherwise, it just stays sticky.
Fertilizer Burns
Green grass needs fertilizer. Sometimes the landscaping crews get careless and spill pellets on the stones.
When those pellets get wet, they melt and release iron. It leaves tiny rust speckles all over the granite base. It looks like someone shook orange pepper on the stone. We use a rust remover for grave site cleaning services. We chemically lift those spots off without damaging the polish.
Winter Ground Heaving
Under the grass, the soil is heavy clay. In winter, it freezes hard. It pushes everything up.
We see flat markers pushed up sideways, creating tripping hazards. Mowers hit them and chip the edges. During cemetery plot maintenance, we pull the marker up. We shovel out that heavy clay and fill the hole with sand or gravel. That drains better and doesn't push the stone around when it freezes.
Traffic Tar
With all the new traffic, exhaust is an issue. It mixes with pine sap and creates a black tar on the stones.
The sun bakes it hard. Water won't touch it. We use organic solvents to melt that tar layer. We wipe it away carefully to reveal the clean granite underneath.
Shady Algae
In the old sections of the cemetery, the big trees block the sun. The stones stay damp all day.
Green algae covers the names and dates. It gets slippery. We use a biocide for cleaning stone gravestones. It soaks deep into the rock and clears out the spores hiding in the pores. If you don't get the spores out, the green just comes back next week.
