Scrubbing Highway Soot and Removing Red Clay Stains in Edison
Edison sits right in the middle of the busiest roads in Jersey. The exhaust from Route 1, I-287, and the Turnpike settles on the graveyards every day. It turns the stones in St. Peter’s and Piscataway grey and greasy. It isn't just dust; it is a traffic film that sticks to the rock.
But the real fight here is the mud. The soil in Edison is heavy red clay. It holds water like a bucket. Rain splashes the red mud against the base. The porous granite sucks the muddy water deep inside. It looks like a rust stain. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to pull those deep mud stains out of the granite and to degrease the soot that turns their monuments black.
Red Clay Staining
The clay here is full of iron. The stone sucks that red mud right in. It isn't just sitting on the outside. It dyes the rock deep down. The bottom of the monument turns dark red.
Soap won't clean this. The iron is inside the stone. We use a specialized clay poultice. We pack it onto the stained area and cover it. As the paste dries, it pulls the iron and mud back out of the stone. We peel the dried paste off, and the red stain comes with it.
Highway "Road Film" (Oily Soot)
The traffic never stops in Edison. Diesel smoke and tire rubber float into the cemeteries. It creates a black film on the markers. It feels sticky. Dust grabs onto that oil and makes the stone look streaked.
We use an industrial degreaser to cut through the road film. We spray it on and let it break down the oil. Then we scrub. We strip the grease away so the natural color of the granite shows through again.
Frost Heave in Clay Soil
Clay soil holds water. It doesn't drain well. In February, that wet ground freezes solid. The ice pushes up with massive force. We see heavy monuments tipped sideways because the ground heaved under them.
To fix it, we have to dig out that wet clay. We go deep. We replace the clay with crushed stone. The stone allows water to drain away from the base. If the ground stays dry under the monument, the frost can't push it around.
Tree Root Displacement
In the older plots, big oak trees are a problem. The roots grow right under the foundations. They lift the stone up on one side. It makes the monument lean dangerously.
We carefully dig around the base to find the root. We cut the offending root back without killing the tree. Then we re-level the ground with gravel and set the stone back down flat.
Lichen on Historic Brownstone
The old colonial markers in the local churchyards are made of soft brownstone. Lichen loves them. It digs its roots into the sand grains. If you scrape the lichen, the face of the stone comes off with it.
We spray a biocide on the growth. The spray kills the lichen dead. It dries out and crumbles off. We don't have to scrape it, so the soft stone stays safe.
Service Costs in Edison
Getting red clay stains out of white granite is hard work. It takes strong poultices and time. Digging in wet clay to level a stone is heavy lifting. We need to check the plot to see how deep the stains are or how bad the lean is before we give you a price.
- Clay Stain Removal: Extracting red mud stains.
- Soot Degreasing: Cleaning sticky highway exhaust.
- Leveling: Stabilizing stones in heavy clay soil.
- Root Pruning: Resetting stones lifted by trees.
