Indian Point Decommissioning Dust
Indian Point is coming down. Demolition creates clouds of concrete dust. It settles on local cemeteries.
Concrete dust is highly alkaline (pH 12). When wet, it becomes a caustic paste. It chemically etches polished granite. Standard washing spreads the alkali burn. We use specialized grave site cleaning services. We apply acidic buffers. These neutralize the pH balance. We rinse the particulates away safely.
Hudson Highlands Slope Instability
Cortlandt sits on steep terrain. The soil is rocky glacial till.
Heavy rain lubricates the bedrock interface. The soil layer slides slowly downhill ("Creep"). Monuments tilt. Foundations wash out. Adding topsoil increases the dead weight on the slide zone. For permanent tombstone repair and restoration, we anchor the sub-grade. We install friction piles keyed into the bedrock. This locks the ground in place.
Bear Mountain Bridge Fog
The Hudson River narrows and deepens here. The water is cold. It creates dense, persistent fog.
Granite absorbs this moisture. Saturation hits 100%. When ambient temps drop to 0°F, pore water freezes. Ice expansion is 9%. Internal pressure hits 2,500 PSI. The stone face shears off. Searching for headstone cleaning services near me leads to pressure washing ads. That drives water deeper. We use hydrophobic sealers to block the pores.
Route 9 Road Salt Aerosol
Route 9 is a primary trucking corridor. Winter crews use heavy rock salt and brine. Traffic creates a saline mist.
The brine coats the roadside stones. Water evaporates. Salt crystals grow inside the pores ("Sub-florescence"). The internal pressure crumbles the surface. We use desalination poultices. These clay packs act like a magnet for chloride ions. We extract the salt and flush with distilled water.
Iron and Manganese Oxidation
The local Gneiss bedrock is rich in metal. Groundwater wicks iron and manganese into the stone base.
Iron oxidizes to orange (Rust). Manganese turns black. These are inorganic metallic stains. Biocides do not affect them. Bleach sets the stain permanently. We use ammonium thioglycolate for iron. We use reducing agents for manganese. We liquefy the metals and extract them chemically.
