Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Flathead Reservation

Cleaning Lichen and Leveling Stones in the Mission Valley

The Mission Valley is beautiful, but it is hard country for a headstone. From Polson down to St. Ignatius, we deal with extremes. The mountains block the morning sun, keeping the older cemeteries damp. That dampness feeds the lichen. You see it everywhere—bright orange and yellow growth covering the faces of the old missionary and tribal markers.

The ground here is also tough. It’s full of glacial rocks ("till"). When the frost hits, it pushes those rocks up, and they take the headstones with them. We spend a lot of time fighting that rocky soil to get markers level again. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to get that crusty lichen off the family plot or to reset a stone that the frost has heaved out of place.

Lichen on Rough Stone

The rough-cut stones in the older sections of Ronan and St. Ignatius are magnets for lichen. The growth gets into the jagged surface and holds on tight. It isn't just a surface stain; it bonds with the rock and slowly ruins the face of the marker.

You can't just scrape this stuff off. If you do, you pull chunks of stone with it. We have to kill it first. We soak it with a special biological cleaner. Once it dies and dries out, it brushes right off. This cleans the stone without tearing up the surface.

Frost Heave in Rocky Soil

Digging in the Mission Valley is like digging in a gravel pit. The soil is full of river rock and cobbles. When the ground freezes, those rocks move. They push up against the bottom of the headstones. We see markers that are tipped sideways or heaved up so high they look like they are floating.

Fixing this takes muscle. We have to pry the stone up and dig out the rocks that are pushing it around. We replace the uneven dirt with crushed gravel. The gravel packs tight and doesn't heave like the big rocks do.

Hard Water Scale

This is farm country, and the water is hard. At Lakeview in Polson, the sprinklers run all summer. The water hits the hot granite and evaporates, but the calcium stays behind. It creates a white haze that hides the polish.

We use a strong cleaner to melt that mineral crust. We scrub the cleaner on and rinse it off the second the white scale dissolves. Speed is the only way to do this safely. If you let acid dry on the stone, it ruins the shine. We use plenty of water to wash it clean.

Animal Damage

In the rural cemeteries, we deal with animals. Deer, and sometimes loose cattle, rub against the stones. They can knock over the taller tablet markers or break the glue on the vases.

We reset these stones using a heavy-duty epoxy. We scrape the old adhesive off, level the base, and glue it back down. We make sure it is solid so it can handle the wildlife rubbing against it without tipping over again.

Service Costs in the Valley

Scrubbing lichen off a rough stone takes patience. Digging rocks out from under a sinking marker is hard labor. We don't guess at the price. We have an online tool that gives you the number. You pick the cemetery, tell us what needs fixing, and you get the cost right there.