Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in St. George

Cleaning Pollen and Shade Algae in St. George

St. George is basically a forest compared to downtown Baton Rouge. The oaks and pines are everywhere out here. That makes cemeteries like St. George Catholic look beautiful, but those trees are a maintenance headache. They block the sun and drop debris constantly. Keeping a headstone clean here means fighting a constant battle against what falls out of the canopy.

Since the sun can't get through, the stone stays wet. That moisture feeds the green algae. It grows fast. You can have a brand new white marble angel that looks like it's made of moss by the end of summer. Then you have the spring pollen. It mixes with the morning dew and turns into a yellow glue. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to scrub off that sticky yellow crust or to remove the slippery green film that grows in the shade.

The "Yellow Paste" (Pollen and Sap)

In the spring, everything in St. George turns yellow. That pine and oak pollen covers the headstones. If it stayed dry, it wouldn't be a big deal. But it gets wet and mixes with tree sap.

It hardens into a paste that you can't just hose off. It fills the carved dates and names until you can't read them. We use a specific cleaner that melts the sticky residue. It lets us rinse the pollen away without having to scrub the polish off the stone.

Green Algae in the Shade

The tree canopy here is thick. The sun just can't get through to dry the headstones. That means the stone stays wet for days after a rain.

That dampness allows algae to grow wild. It turns the whole marker green. It looks neglected, and it gets slippery. We treat this with a solution that kills the growth. We kill the root deep in the stone so it doesn't grow back the next time it rains. It stays clean for a year or more rather than just a few weeks.

Mud Splashed by Mowers

The ground here gets soft after a rain. It doesn't drain fast. When the landscaping crews come through, their mowers sink in a little. The tires spin and throw wet, heavy mud all over the flat bronze and granite markers.

That mud dries hard. It covers the bronze plaques completely. We dig out the edges to get the grass off the marker, and then we carefully wash away the dried mud. We often have to reseal the bronze because the acidic mud eats through the protective coating.

Construction Dust

This area is building up fast. There is construction everywhere. The dust from those sites floats into the cemeteries. It is fine, gritty dust that settles into the rough parts of the granite.

It makes the stones look dull and grey. We give it a soft wash to flush that grit out. It makes the grey stone look bright again so the lettering stands out clearly.

Service Costs in St. George

Cleaning a marker covered in hardened sap and pollen takes elbow grease. Restoring a bronze plaque ruined by acidic mud takes specific chemicals. I need to see the condition of the plot to give you a price. We have an online tool that helps. You pick the cemetery, tell us the problem, and you get a clear price instantly.