Stone Care on the High Plains
Aurora is where the city meets the open plains. The wind out here never seems to stop. It drives dust deep into the engravings of headstones. But the biggest battle we fight here is against the water and the dirt.
Many grounds here use reclaimed water to keep the grass green. That water is full of minerals that bake onto the stone. The ground is also heavy clay, which moves constantly, causing markers to sink or tilt. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to remove these heavy mineral crusts and dig out markers that the clay soil has tried to swallow.
Reclaimed Water Scale
Irrigation is necessary here, but reclaimed water leaves a heavy footprint. It deposits thick layers of calcium and magnesium. It looks like a hard, white frosting that covers the dates and names.
Regular soap won't budge it. It bonds tight to the granite. We use a solvent to soften the buildup, but the rest is done with a blade. We work slowly to lift the crust without digging into the polish.
Sinking Markers in Clay Soil
The dirt here is heavy clay. It heaves when it gets wet and cracks wide open when it dries. That constant ground movement grabs the markers and drags them down or twists them sideways.
We often find markers that have sunk inches below the grass line. We dig them up and remove the clay underneath. We replace it with a solid base of compacted gravel. This stops the stone from sinking back down when the ground gets wet again.
Windblown Dust and Mud
The wind drives fine plains dust into the letters of the headstone. When the sprinklers hit it, that dust turns into a concrete-like mud.
It gets jammed in so tight you can't read the name. We use steam to push the mud out of the deep grooves. It cleans the letters out completely so the inscription looks sharp again.
Sun-Damaged Bronze
Like the rest of the metro area, the sun here is intense. It destroys the clear finish on bronze markers. Once that seal is broken, the metal turns a dark, muddy brown.
We restore these on-site. We strip off the old, failing lacquer and clean the metal down to the raw bronze. Then we apply a fresh clear coat that is rated for high-altitude sun exposure to keep it looking gold for years.
Goose and Bird Droppings
Cemeteries with large ponds, like Olinger Hampden, attract hundreds of geese. Their mess is acidic. If you leave it sitting there, it burns the shine right off the granite.
We scrub the mess off so it stops burning the stone. If the acid already ate the polish, we use diamond pads to smooth it out until it shines again.
Service Costs in Aurora
Removing that hard water buildup takes a lot of elbow grease. Dealing with the heavy clay soil often means extra digging. We always inspect the headstone first so we can give you an accurate price.
- Scale Removal: Cleaning heavy mineral deposits.
- Leveling: Resetting stones in clay soil.
- Mud Removal: Steam cleaning packed engravings.
- Bronze Care: Refinishing oxidized markers.
