Airport Soot and Oily Film
South Fulton sits right next to Hartsfield-Jackson. Planes fly over us all day. That exhaust doesn't just disappear. It settles on the ground, and it settles on the cemeteries.
This creates a greasy, dark film on the headstones. Dust and pollen stick to this oil. It creates a layer of grime that rain cannot wash off because it is waterproof. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me often wonder why the stone looks dull and hazy. It is coated in hydrocarbon residue. We use industrial degreasers to cut through this film. We strip the oil without harming the granite. The shine comes back once the grease is gone.
Heavy Pine Sap
We have a lot of pine trees here. They drop sap year-round. It lands on the markers and hardens into amber-colored beads.
In the summer heat, this sap turns black and sticky. It fills the engraved names. Dirt gets stuck in that glue. If you try to wash it with water, you just smear the black goo across the stone face. It creates a bigger stain. We use heavy-duty gel solvents for cleaning stone gravestones. We melt the resin chemically. The sticky binder dissolves, and we rinse the dirt away. The lettering becomes sharp and readable again.
Red Clay Stains
Our soil is red clay. It is full of iron. When heavy rains hit, this mud splashes up onto the base of the monuments.
The clay dries, but the iron rusts into the stone pores. It leaves a deep orange stain. We see people try to clean this with bleach. That is a mistake. Bleach reacts with the rust and locks it into the stone permanently. We use specialized iron-removers for grave site cleaning services. We dissolve the rust particles. The orange stain vanishes, and the stone returns to its natural gray or white.
Kudzu and Ivy Encroachment
Many historic cemeteries in South Fulton, like Red Oak or Owl Rock, are right on the edge of the woods. Nature moves fast here.
Kudzu and English Ivy grow over the walls and cover the plots. The vines attach to the stone. If you pull them off violently, you chip the rock. We sever the main stems at the ground. We leave the vines to dry out and turn brittle. Once they are dead, we remove the debris. We push the tree line back so you can walk to the grave again.
Moss and Shade
Because of the heavy tree canopy, many graves never see direct sun. They stay wet.
This dampness breeds thick patches of green moss and black algae. It covers the dates completely. It makes the stone slippery and ugly. We don't pressure wash this. High pressure damages the stone surface. We use a biological soft-wash. We kill the root system of the moss. It dries up and falls off naturally.
Erosion and Tipping
The clay soil gets slick when wet. On hillsides, heavy rains wash the dirt out from under the monuments.
We find headstones tipping forward. Adding loose dirt doesn't fix it; it just washes out again. During cemetery plot maintenance, we lift the stone. We pack the void with angular gravel. The gravel locks in place and lets water drain through. The foundation stays solid, and the marker stands straight.
Fire Ant Mounds
Fire ants love this clay. They build mounds right against the warm stone bases.
The dirt in these mounds is acidic. If it sits on the stone, it etches the polish. It leaves a dull, rough patch. We clear the mounds and treat the area. We move the colony away from the monument to stop the damage.
