Stone Care in the High Desert
Reno destroys stone with temperature swings. The high desert cold snaps are brutal. In cemeteries like Mountain View and Our Mother of Sorrows, the granite takes a beating.
Ice splits the stones, and pine trees drop sticky sap that turns black. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to seal deep cracks, dissolve hard pine resin, and reset markers that the frozen ground has pushed out of place.
Freeze-Thaw Cracking
Water gets into the granite pores. In a Reno winter, that water freezes and acts like a wedge.
It pops the face off the stone or splits it right down the middle. We fix this with deep-penetrating epoxy. We inject the adhesive into the crack. It flows deep inside, hardens, and locks the stone back together so water can't get in again.
Hard Water Scale
Summer irrigation leaves heavy calcium lines on the markers. The sun bakes this white crust onto the polished face.
It hides the name and dates. We use a buffered acid wash to melt the minerals. We scrub the residue off carefully. This reveals the clean stone underneath without burning the polish.
Frost Heave Leveling
The ground freezes deep here. The expanding soil pushes headstones up. When the thaw comes, the markers drop back down, but they settle crooked.
We lift these tipped stones. We dig out the mud and put in a deep base of angular rock. The gravel drains the water away so ice can't form under the base and heave the monument.
Pine Sap and Needles
Old pines drop sticky resin on the stones. It cures into hard black spots that soap won't touch.
Scraping it scratches the stone. We use a strong solvent that melts the resin. It wipes away clean. We also sweep away the needles, which trap moisture and rot the stone surface.
Snow Plow Damage and Salt
Plows hit markers near the road, and de-icing salt sprays onto them.
Salt soaks into the rock and makes it crumble. We use a chemical paste to suck the salt out of the pores. If a plow chips the edge, we grind and polish the break to stop it from getting worse.
Bronze Restoration
High altitude sun and winter snow destroy the coating on bronze plaques. The metal oxidizes and turns green.
We restore them in place. We use glass beads to blast the corrosion down to bare metal. We finish with a tough industrial clear coat that stands up to the snow.
Lichen in Shaded Areas
Lichen thrives in the damp winter months, especially in the shaded parts of Mountain View.
The roots eat into the stone. We don't scrape it. We soak it with a biological cleaner. The chemical kills the plant, and the dead growth washes off with the rain.
Service Costs in Reno
Repairing frost damage takes high-strength adhesives. Cleaning pine sap takes time and solvents. We check the stone personally to see if the break is structural before giving a quote.
- Crack Repair: Sealing split stone.
- Sap Removal: Dissolving sticky resin.
- Frost Leveling: Resetting stones moved by ice.
- Scale Removal: Cleaning summer irrigation buildup.
