Cleaning Tombs and Whitewashing in the Crescent City
Cemetery work in New Orleans is different. You can't dig deep here because of the water, so we have the famous above-ground tombs. Maintaining them is a constant battle against the weather. It is hot, and it stays wet. A fresh coat of whitewash can turn grey and spotted in just a few years. The damp air allows black mold to cover entire monuments until you can't even tell they were originally white.
We also deal with the construction materials. Many of the older tombs in St. Louis Cemetery or Lafayette are made of brick covered in plaster (stucco). That plaster cracks and falls off. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to patch that crumbling stucco, kill the invasive ferns growing on the roof, or apply a fresh layer of traditional limewash to protect the family vault.
Black Mold on Marble and Plaster
The humidity in New Orleans stays high almost all year. That moisture clings to the cool stone. It feeds a heavy black mold. You see it everywhere—white marble angels that look like they were dipped in black paint.
This stuff is stubborn. If you use high pressure, you will blow the plaster right off the brick. We use a soft cleaner instead. We spray it on and let it work. The black stains loosen up and rinse away. The white stone comes back, and we didn't have to risk damaging the surface.
Repairing Stucco and Brick
Many historic tombs are just soft red brick with a layer of plaster on top. Over time, that plaster cracks. Water gets in, the brick swells, and the plaster sheets fall off. Once the brick is exposed, it starts to crumble fast.
We fix this by removing the loose material and applying new stucco. We match the texture of the old work. We finish with limewash. It sheds the water but lets the humidity escape. That prevents the brick from rotting inside the wall.
Ferns on the Roof
Green ferns love to grow in the roof cracks. They sprout up all over the cemetery after a rain. They look historic and scenic, but they are tearing the building apart.
The roots eat into the mortar between the bricks. They push the roof open and let water pour into the vault. We pull them out by hand. Then we treat the spot to make sure they don't grow back before we patch the hole.
Leaning Tombs in Soft Soil
New Orleans soil is soft. It sinks. It is common to see a heavy granite tomb leaning hard to the left or right. Sometimes they lean far enough to touch the tomb next door.
We fix this by jacking up the low side. We excavate underneath and pour a reinforced concrete footer or pack it with dense limestone. We get the tomb level again and make sure the foundation is wide enough to stop it from sinking back down.
Service Costs in New Orleans
Whitewashing a multi-vault family tomb is a big job. Jacking up a leaning granite monument requires heavy equipment. I can't guess the price over the phone. We have an online tool that helps. You pick the cemetery, tell us if it is cleaning or repair, and you get a clear price instantly.
- Whitewashing: Traditional lime treatment for plaster tombs.
- Mold Removal: Cleaning heavy black biological growth.
- Stucco Work: Repairing broken or missing plaster.
- Fern Removal: Clearing destructive plants from roofs.
