The Salt Pond Effect
The salt ponds change the air here. It’s heavy. The morning dew is heavy brine. It sits on the stone like acid. It eats through bronze lacquer instantly, turning the metal green. Saltwater soaks deep into granite pores.
You can't just wash this salt off. It comes back the next day. We use headstone cleaning services near me that include a salt-neutralizing rinse. We pull the chlorides out of the stone and seal the face to stop the decay.
This isn't normal ocean air. The evaporation ponds concentrate the salt content. When this brine settles on bronze, it destroys the protective lacquer immediately. The exposed copper reacts, turning the marker a chalky green.
When the water dries, salt crystals expand inside the rock. This internal pressure blasts the face off the stone. We call this "salt spalling." We stop this process chemically. We apply a poultice that draws the salt out of the pores. Then we apply a heavy-duty sealant. This blocks the brine from entering the stone again.
Adobe Clay Expansion
We deal with heavy "adobe" clay. Winter rain turns this soil into a hydraulic lift. It expands violently. It pushes entire monuments out of alignment. In the summer, it cracks and drops them.
We see headstones at Irvington that are leaning because the ground moved. That isn't poor installation; it’s the geology. Our tombstone repair and restoration teams monitor for this seasonal heave. We stabilize the base with gravel drainage to keep the marker level despite the shifting earth.
This clay creates a cycle of destruction. Wet clay swells and lifts the foundation. Dry clay shrinks, leaving a void under the base. The monument rocks back and forth. This snaps the mortar joints. Eventually, the headstone tips over.
Adding dirt doesn't fix it. The dirt just moves with the clay. We fix the structure. We excavate the expanding clay from under the marker. We replace it with angular gravel. Gravel doesn't swell. It locks together. This creates a stable platform that drains water away, keeping the monument level year-round.
Green Algae in the Hills
Up near Mission Peak, the fog gets trapped. It feeds thick green algae that roots into the engraving. It makes the name look fuzzy and unreadable. Tending uses biological cleaners in our grave site cleaning services. We kill the spores at the root so the inscription stays sharp and clean.
The foothills create a microclimate. The fog hangs longer here. This constant moisture allows algae and lichen to dig deep into the granite. Scrubbing the surface is useless. You only remove the top layer. The roots stay inside the stone, and the green fuzz grows back in weeks.
We use a biocide that penetrates the stone. It kills the root system completely. We flush the dead organic matter out of the letters. We restore the contrast without scrubbing the polish off. This treatment keeps the stone clean for months, even during the foggy season.