Inland Humidity & Canopy Shade
Coconut Creek sits inland. The ocean breeze is weak here. Heat builds up. The city has dense tree coverage. This creates deep shade. Humidity gets trapped under the branches.
Granite markers in the shade stay wet 24/7. This feeds aggressive lichen and thick moss. The roots dig into the stone face. Pressure washing destroys the polish. We use a biological inhibitor. It kills the lichen at the root. The growth falls off without scrubbing.
Tree Sap & Pollen Resin
The heavy tree canopy drops sap and pollen year-round. It lands on hot markers. The sun bakes it into a hard amber resin. Dirt sticks to it. It turns into concrete.
Soap cannot dissolve this resin. It just smears it. We use specialized grave site cleaning services. We use a solvent poultice. It melts the hardened sap chemically. We rinse it away. The natural shine returns.
Reclaimed Wetland Subsidence
The ground here is reclaimed swamp. It is organic peat and "muck." It is soft. Heavy granite bases compress this soil. They squeeze the water out. The ground collapses.
The monument tips. It sinks below the grass. Adding dirt fails; the stone pushes it down. For proper tombstone repair and restoration, we change the foundation. We dig out the soft muck. We install a pad of angular gravel. These rocks lock together. They create a friction pile. This supports the weight, even in soft swamp soil.
Canal Water & Fertilizer Runoff
Cemeteries pump water from local canals. This water carries runoff from golf courses and parks. It contains nitrogen (fertilizer). When it hits the stone, it feeds rapid algae growth.
It also leaves a hard white mineral scale. Scrubbing scratches the stone. We use professional cleaning stone gravestones chemistry. We use a buffered acidic cleaner. It dissolves the mineral bond safely. We rinse it away.
