Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Greenville

Delta "Buckshot" Soil

This Delta soil is moody. In the summer heat, the "buckshot" clay cracks open. You could lose a set of keys in those gaps. But add water, and it turns into "gumbo"—heavy, sticky mud.

That swelling and shrinking moves the ground constantly. We see headstones at Greenville Cemetery that have tipped over because the dirt underneath just moved away. We provide professional grave site cleaning services that include leveling. We dig out the unstable clay and pack in a gravel base that stays put.

Crop Duster Fallout

Come cotton season, you hear the planes buzzing all day. That spray drifts. It settles on the graveyards just like it settles on the fields.

It leaves a greasy yellow film on the polished granite. Rain won't touch it—that spray is made to stick. If you leave it, it burns the finish. We use a chemical wash that cuts through the agricultural residue without harming the stone. We get that yellow haze off so the stone shines again.

Pecan Tree Sap

We love our pecan trees in Washington County, but they are messy. They drop sticky sap, heavy pollen, and husks that stain everything black.

That sap acts like glue. It catches all the dust and dirt, building up a black crust on the markers. Scraping it damages the finish. We use a sap solvent that melts the resin. It turns the hard black spots into liquid so we can wipe the stone clean.

River Humidity and Mold

Being right on the Mississippi River means the air is wet. That humidity feeds a thick green mold that covers the north side of every stone in town.

It gets into the engraving and makes the name unreadable. We don't blast it with high pressure; that can chip the old marble. We spray a biocide that kills the mold. Once it dies, it turns brown and washes away with the rain.

Cypress Knees Pushing Stones

In the lower parts of our cemeteries, the Cypress trees grow big. Their "knees" pop up out of the ground and push whatever is in their way.

We've seen headstones lifted completely off their base by a growing knee. You can't cut the knee without hurting the tree. We carefully move the marker and adjust the foundation to work around the roots.

Hardened River Silt

The Delta is built on silt. When we get high water or heavy flooding, that fine silt settles into the carvings on the headstones. When it dries, it packs in like cement.

A brush won't move it. We use a masonry cleaner that softens the dried mud. Then we pick it out of the letters by hand. It takes patience, but it restores the inscription so you can read it from the road.

Bronze Corrosion

The humidity and the chemicals in the air are hard on bronze. The clear coat peels off, and the metal turns a chalky green.

That isn't a nice antique look; it’s rot. We strip it down to bare metal. We shine it up and seal it so the damp Delta air can't get to it again.

Rust Stains from Iron Fences

Many of the old family plots are surrounded by iron fences. Over time, they rust, and that rusty water runs onto the headstones. It leaves deep orange streaks on the white marble.

Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me often find that bleach sets the stain permanently. We use a chemical poultice that draws the iron particles out of the stone. It lifts the stain without dissolving the marble.

Ant Mounds in the Clay

Fire ants build rock-hard mounds in our clay soil. They tunnel under the stones, creating voids. When the heavy rains come, the ground collapses into those tunnels, and the stone tips.

We treat the mound to remove the colony. Then we fill the voids with gravel and soil to create a solid foundation again.

Service Costs in Greenville

Pricing depends on the job. Digging a marker out of "buckshot" clay is harder than washing off pecan sap:

We look at the marker. We see what the Delta has done to it. Then we give you a price.