Spanish Moss and Constant Wetness
Savannah is built on a swamp. It stays wet here. The Spanish moss on the oaks looks good on postcards, but it is bad for headstones. It drips water onto the granite all day long.
This keeps the stone soaked. Black mold loves it. We see markers turned completely black. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me often think the stone is ruined. It is just filthy. We don't scrub this with wire brushes. We use a biocide. We kill the growth. The black crust dies and falls off. The rain washes the rest away, and the stone looks gray again.
Salt Air Destruction
The ocean is close. The air is full of salt. That salt gets inside the old brick and soft marble.
It expands inside the rock. It blasts the face of the stone right off. We call this spalling. It looks like the stone is exploding in slow motion. You can't wash the salt out with a hose. We use a drawing poultice for grave site cleaning services. We suck the salt out of the masonry. We stop the crumbling before you lose the inscription.
Fragile Tabby Concrete
Savannah has old walls made of tabby—crushed oyster shells and lime. It is soft.
If you hit tabby with a pressure washer, you will destroy it. We see damage from bad cleaning all the time. We clean tabby and Savannah Grey brick by hand. We use soft-wash surfactants specifically for cleaning stone gravestones. We lift the grime without knocking the oyster shells loose.
Sinking in the Marsh
The ground here is unstable. The water table is high. Heavy granite monuments sink deep into the mud.
We find headstones where the dates are underground. Adding dirt on top is a mistake; the weight just pushes the stone down further. For tombstone repair and restoration, we hoist the monument out. We dig out the muck and pack in a base of crushed stone. We build a floating pad that holds the weight.
Resurrection Ferns
These ferns grow on the trees, but they spread to the stone markers. They look dead when dry, but turn green when it rains.
They form a mat that holds acid against the stone face. The roots dig into cracks. We remove these ferns carefully. We treat the surface to stop them from coming back. If you just pull them off, they grow back in a week.
Tourist Hand Oils
Bonaventure and Colonial Park are full of tourists. People touch the stones. They leave oil from their hands on the statues.
That oil acts like a magnet for dirt. It turns into shiny, dark patches. We use degreasers to remove these hand oils. We clean the stone so it looks natural, not greasy. We also fix minor vandalism, which happens when you have crowds.
Iron Fence Rust
Many plots here have iron fences. The iron rusts in the salt air. That rust runs down onto the stone coping.
It leaves bright orange streaks. Bleach sets this stain permanently. We use a chemical that targets iron oxide. We dissolve the rust without burning the stone. The orange runs off, and the stone returns to its original color.
