The "Gumbo" Soil Headache
Everyone in Conway knows about the gumbo soil. It isn't just mud; it is heavy, shifting clay. It heaves when it gets wet and cracks open when it dries.
The ground here fights us. It pushes headstones out of level constantly. We see markers leaning hard to the side because the clay moved underneath. During cemetery plot maintenance, we can't just straighten them. We have to dig that unstable clay out completely and pack the hole with rock. Rock doesn't heave like gumbo does.
Sweetgum Ball Stains
Sweetgum trees are a plague in our cemeteries. They drop thousands of spiky balls. They pile up on the stones and sit there.
When they rot, they leak a dark brown juice. It stains the granite a nasty yellow color, almost like tobacco stains. Sweeping the balls off doesn't fix it because the stone has already soaked up the juice. We have to apply a chemical paste that slowly pulls that brown color back out of the rock.
Interstate 40 Road Grime
The highway runs right through town. Thousands of trucks blow diesel smoke every day. That smoke is oily. It lands on the stones and sticks.
Rain won't rinse it off; water just beads up on the oil. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me often worry the stone is rotting. It’s usually just dirty. We use an industrial degreaser to cut through that road grime. We strip the oily layer off so the stone looks like stone again.
Fire Ant Mounds
Fire ants love building nests against the warm stones. They pile loose red dirt all over the base of the marker.
That red dirt stains the stone orange. Worse, they tunnel underneath the foundation. The stone starts to sink into the hollow ground. We flatten the mound and clean the red stains. Then we fill the tunnels with gravel so the monument has something solid to sit on again.
Lake Conway Algae
With the lake nearby, the air is thick. Green algae loves it. It grows in heavy streaks down the front of the monuments.
It gets so thick you can't read the dates. Scrubbing is a temporary fix. The roots are still hiding inside the rock, so the green comes back in a week. We use a cleaner that soaks in deep. It kills the roots you can't see, so the stone stays clean for months, not days.
Sprinkler Crust
Some memorial parks use city water for sprinklers. Our water is hard. It leaves white, crusty rings on bronze plaques and granite.
It looks like chalk. If you try to scrape it off, you will scratch the metal. We use a wash that eats the calcium but leaves the bronze alone. We dissolve the white crust gently, and the plaque looks bright again.
Spring Pollen Paste
In spring, the oaks cover everything in yellow dust. When it rains, that pollen turns into a thick paste.
The sun bakes it onto the stone. It turns hard and black over time. We use specialized cleaners for cleaning stone gravestones to break that paste down. We wash it off before it ruins the finish.
Weed Eater Marks
Mowing in gumbo soil is tough. The crews use heavy string trimmers to get close to the stones. They hit the bases a lot.
We see black rubber marks and green grass smears beaten into the rock. We use solvents for grave site cleaning services to wipe those marks off. We can't fix the chips, but we can get the ugly marks off.
