The Brownstone Problem
New Jersey has some of the oldest cemeteries in the country, and many use brownstone. It gives our graveyards that distinct look, but it is fragile. Over time, brownstone peels like an onion.
Water soaks into the layers and freezes. That expansion pops the face of the stone right off. Once it starts flaking like that, scrubbing just tears more off. A power washer will destroy the stone in seconds. We treat brownstone with extreme caution. For tombstone repair and restoration, we clean the biological growth forcing the layers apart. In severe cases, we use a stone consolidant. It soaks in and hardens the rock, gluing the layers back together from the inside so the decay stops.
Turnpike Soot and Grime
In North Jersey, we deal with heavy traffic and industry. Exhaust from the Turnpike and Parkway creates a greasy, black film on granite.
This isn't normal dirt. It is sticky, oily carbon from the exhaust. Rain doesn't touch it. It bakes onto the polish and kills the shine completely. If you use dish soap, you just smear the grease around. We use industrial-grade degreasers for our headstone cleaning services. They cut through that oily traffic film. We lift the soot without harsh scrubbing, and the natural color of the granite comes back.
Salt Air Corrosion
Down the Shore, the air eats everything. The salt spray settles on monuments and crystallizes. On granite, it leaves a hazy white crust that feels rough to the touch. On bronze markers, it causes rapid green corrosion.
You have to get that salt off, or it will pit the surface. We wash it with a neutralizer to break down those salt crystals. On bronze, we strip the green rot off and seal the metal with hot wax. That barrier stops the sea air from eating the lettering, even right by the beach.
Acid Rain and Marble
We have a history of heavy industry here, which means acid rain. It hits our white marble veterans' markers hard. Acid eats the calcium binder in the stone. The smooth finish turns rough and gritty, just like sugar. We call it "sugaring."
If you scrub that rough surface hard, the name wipes right off. We stick to soft brushes and water. We carefully lift the mildew out of the pores without losing any more stone. We clean it just enough to read the inscription again.
Overgrown Ivy
Ivy looks nice on old churches, but it destroys headstones. It grows rampant in our climate. The vines send tiny rootlets into the mortar joints and the pores of the stone.
Yanking thick ivy off a standing stone is dangerous. It can pull the whole monument down. We cut the vines at the ground first. We wait until they get brittle and let go of the rock. Then we pull them down safely. For cemetery clean up, we also dig out the root ball to stop it from climbing back up next spring.
Pine Barrens Sap
In South Jersey, we have the pines. Pitch pine drops a heavy, sticky sap. In the summer heat, that sap bakes onto the headstones and turns into hard black lumps.
You can't scrape this off without scratching the polish. We use a solvent poultice for cleaning stone gravestones. We apply the paste to the resin spots. It softens the sap back into a liquid, and we wipe it clean. It gets the mess off without damaging the finish underneath.
Moss in the Shade
Jersey is humid. In shaded, tree-lined cemeteries, moss takes over fast. It grows thick on the north side of the markers and in the engraved lettering.
Moss holds water against the stone, which speeds up freeze-thaw damage in winter. We don't just scrape the top off. We use a biological cleaner that soaks into the root system. It kills the growth dead. We let nature do the rest. The rain washes the dead moss away, and the stone dries out clean.
