Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Metairie

Leveling Sinking Tombs and Cleaning Marble in Metairie

Metairie is built on soft land. We are right next to the lake, and the ground never really dries out. That makes maintenance difficult. In places like Metairie Cemetery or Garden of Memories, the soil just gives way. We spend half our time jacking up tombs that are slowly sinking into the mud.

Then you have the cleaning work. Metairie Cemetery has some of the finest marble work in the country. But that white stone doesn't stand a chance against this humidity. It gets covered in black mildew. You have to be careful cleaning it. One mistake with a pressure washer can snap a wing off an angel. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me hire us because we know how to clean these statues without breaking them.

The Sinking Ground

The dirt in Metairie doesn't hold weight well. It compresses. We see massive granite tombs that have tilted six inches to the side. It puts stress on the structure and cracks the joints. If you let it go too long, the whole thing can separate.

We fix this with hydraulics. We dig under the low side and jack the monument back to level. Then we have to stabilize it. We pump a mixture of mud and concrete under the slab, or we pack it with crushed limestone. We have to give the tomb a wider footprint so it stops sinking.

Cleaning Delicate Statues

Metairie Cemetery is full of intricate marble carvings. Angels, weeping figures, heavy crosses. The damp air covers them in black algae. They look like they are covered in soot.

Cleaning these is scary work if you don't know what you are doing. A pressure washer will snap a marble finger right off. We use soft brushes and a slow-acting cleaner. We spray it on and let it sit. It breaks down the mildew so we don't have to scrub. The black grime rinses away, leaving the stone clean and undamaged.

Green Bronze Markers

In the newer parks like Garden of Memories, you have thousands of flat bronze markers. The damp air ruins them. The bronze oxidizes and turns a chalky green color. It gets so thick that the letters fill in, and you can’t read the dates anymore.

We strip that green corrosion off. We get the metal back to a rich, dark brown. Then we seal it with a clear coat. It keeps the damp air off the metal so it stays brown instead of turning back to green next month.

Tree Roots and Coping

The Live Oaks here are massive. Their roots stretch out forty feet from the trunk. Those roots love to grow under the concrete walls (coping) that surround family plots. They lift the concrete and snap it.

We have to be careful. We can't kill the tree, but we have to fix the wall. We bridge over the roots or re-route the wall slightly. Then we patch the concrete so the plot looks whole again.

Service Costs in Metairie

Cleaning a delicate statue by hand is slow work. Lifting a sunken slab takes a full crew. I can't guess the cost over the phone. I need to see the job first. We have an online tool that makes it easy. You pick the cemetery, upload a photo, and we send you a clear price.