Stone Care in the Hardpan Desert
North Las Vegas has the toughest ground in the valley. The Caliche soil here is like concrete. In cemeteries like Bunkers Memory Gardens, the earth fights back.
The wind here acts like sandpaper on the polish. The irrigation water bakes into a white crust. Families looking for headstone cleaning services near me hire us to remove these calcium deposits, freshen up faded paint, and level markers that Caliche soil has pushed out of place.
Caliche Soil (Hardpan Leveling)
Caliche isn't normal soil. It is a layer of natural cement found just under the surface.
You can't just dig these out with a shovel. We use digging bars and jackhammers to break through the hardpan. We create a level pocket and fill it with sand and pea gravel. This cushion stops the hard earth from heaving the marker again.
Hard Water Scale (Irrigation)
Cemeteries water continuously here. The supply is heavy with calcium and lime.
The sun cooks the water off immediately. This leaves a white calcium ridge that bonds to the granite face. It buries the family name. We use a buffered acid wash to melt the minerals. We scrub the residue off to reveal the clean stone without burning the polish.
Wind Abrasion and Dust
The open desert surrounds the city. High winds drive sand and grit against the monuments.
This constant sandblasting dulls the polish. Dust packs tight into the engraved letters and turns to mud during rain. We steam clean the engraving to force the mud out. For stone that has lost its reflection, we use diamond polishing pads to bring the shine back.
Sun-Faded Inscriptions
The UV index here destroys Lithichrome (stone paint). Black lettering turns gray, and gold leaf peels off.
A marker without paint is hard to read against the gray granite. We clean the old paint out of the grooves. We mask the stone and apply industrial monument dye. This restores the sharp contrast so the lettering is readable again.
Bronze Restoration
Bronze markers in the desert lose their protective coating fast. The exposed metal oxidizes and turns chalky green.
We restore them on-site. We strip the failed lacquer. We blast the corrosion down to bare metal using glass beads. We seal the metal with an industrial clear coat built for high-UV exposure.
Ceramic Photo Re-attachment
Summer heat creates oven-like conditions that melt standard adhesives. Pictures simply slide off the stone.
We scrape the old adhesive away. We re-attach the photo using a structural epoxy. The bond remains solid through extreme daily temperature changes.
Vandalism and Graffiti Removal
Graffiti is a reality in some older sections. Scrubbing spray paint pushes the color into the stone pores, making it worse.
We use a gel solvent that lifts the paint to the surface. We rinse it away with low pressure. This removes the tag without leaving a "ghost" image or damaging the stone surface.
Service Costs in North Las Vegas
Working in Caliche is physically demanding and slow. Removing heavy calcium scale takes time and chemicals. We inspect the site to check the soil hardness and scale thickness before giving a quote.
- Leveling: Resetting markers on hard Caliche.
- Scale Removal: Dissolving irrigation calcium.
- Re-painting: Restoring faded Lithichrome.
- Bronze Refinishing: Stripping and sealing oxidized metal.