Lagoon Humidity & Algae
Melbourne sits on the Indian River Lagoon. The water stays warm. It pushes humidity into the air. Dew covers headstones every night. Granite drinks this water. It stays wet inside. This feeds Gloeocapsa magma (black algae).
You see a dark, oily film. It traps heat. It hides the dates.
Searching for headstone cleaning services near me often points to pressure washing. Do not do it. Pressure drives water deeper into the stone. It feeds the roots. We use specialized grave site cleaning services. We use a biological soaking agent. It penetrates the rock. It kills the algae chemically. The black crust lifts off. The stone stays clean.
Sugar Sand Washout
Melbourne sits on ancient sand ridges. The soil is loose. It moves. Heavy rain turns the ground into soup. Water rushes under the concrete base. It scours the sand out.
The foundation floats on nothing. The monument sinks. Dumping topsoil fails. The rain takes it immediately. For lasting tombstone repair and restoration, we stabilize the sub-base. We dig out the loose sand. We install angular gravel. The rocks lock together. They create a friction pile. The rock pile holds the weight. Wet ground doesn't move it.
Lagoon Salt Corrosion
The Lagoon water is salt-heavy. The wind carries chlorides. This destroys bronze markers. It eats the clear coat. The copper corrodes. You see green, chalky rot.
This pits the metal lettering. We use strict cleaning bronze cemetery markers protocols. We strip the dead coating. We neutralize the chlorides. We heat the metal and reseal it with marine-grade clear coat. This blocks the salt air.
Irrigation Rust (Well Water)
Cemeteries irrigate constantly. The water comes from deep wells rich in iron. Sprinklers hit the hot stone. The water evaporates. The iron bonds to the granite.
It creates heavy orange streaks. Scrubbing scratches the stone face. We use professional cleaning stone gravestones chemistry. We apply a chelating paste. It pulls the iron particles out of the pores. We rinse it away. The stone looks new.