Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Lincoln

Cleaning Impacted Dust and Mineral Scale in Lincoln

The wind in Lincoln never really stops. It blows fine dust across the cemeteries every day. In open grounds like Wyuka and Lincoln Memorial Park, that dust packs tight into the lettering. It turns into hard mud that hides the inscriptions. You can't just brush it out; it is jammed in there.

We also deal with hard water. The sprinklers run all summer to keep the grass alive. The water leaves a heavy white film on the polished stones. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to dissolve that mineral buildup and to clear out the impacted dirt that makes the names impossible to read.

Impacted "Loess" Soil

The soil here is fine and powdery. The wind drives it into the carved letters on the headstone. Rain turns it into a cement-like mud. It dries hard. We see markers where the name is completely filled in with dirt.

A garden hose won't wash this out. We use soft picks and brushes to dig the dirt out of the letters. We work letter by letter. Once the mud is loose, we flush it away with water. The name becomes readable again.

Hard Water Mineral Crust

Lincoln water is full of minerals. When the sprinklers hit the black granite, the water dries fast in the sun. It leaves white lime and calcium deposits behind. The stone looks cloudy and dull.

Scrubbing doesn't remove this. It is bonded to the surface. We use a mild acidic cleaner made for stone. It dissolves the white crust chemically. We rinse it quickly to stop the acid from dulling the polish. The stone looks dark and clear again.

Lichen on Historic Sandstone

Wyuka has thousands of old markers made of soft sandstone. Green and grey lichen cover them completely. The roots of the lichen grow into the stone.

We don't scrape these. The stone is too soft. We spray a biological cleaner on the growth. The lichen dies and turns into dust. It washes off with the next rain. This cleans the stone without rubbing away the details.

Frost Heave and Leaning Stones

Winter is cold here. The ground freezes deep. The soil expands and pushes the monuments up. We see stones tipped over or pushed off their bases.

We have to reset the foundation. We dig out the dirt and put in a deep layer of crushed rock. The rock drains the water away from the base. Without water, the frost can't push the stone around. We set the monument back on the level pad.

Sinking Flat Markers

The clay soil gets soft in the spring. Heavy flat markers sink into the mud. Grass grows over the top.

We probe the ground to find the corners. We cut the sod and lift the marker. We pack gravel underneath it to stop it from sinking again. We set it flush with the ground so the mower doesn't hit it.

Service Costs in Lincoln

Cleaning impacted soil out of lettering is slow work. We have to be careful not to chip the stone. Removing thick mineral scale takes strong cleaners. We need to look at the plot to see how bad the buildup is before we give you a price.