Tire Factory Soot
This is the Rubber City. For decades, the tire plants pumped smoke into the air. That "carbon black" didn't just blow away. It landed on the headstones and stuck there.
This industrial soot is greasy. It fights off water. If you try to scrub it, you just push that black gunk deeper into the rock. It makes white marble look dirty and gray. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me often worry the stone is ruined. It isn't. We use a heavy-duty degreaser meant for factory grime. It cuts through the grease so we can wash the stone clean.
Valley Dampness
The Cuyahoga Valley keeps everything damp. Cemeteries like Glendale are full of big trees and deep shade. The sun never dries the stones out completely.
That is why we see so much heavy moss here. It grows thick and locks moisture against the stone. On soft stone, those roots do real damage. We don't scrape it off; that can hurt the stone. We spray it with a cleaner that kills the plant down to the root. The moss turns brown and falls off, and the stone can finally dry out.
Peeling Sandstone
You see a lot of Berea sandstone in our older cemeteries. It is soft stone. It holds rainwater inside. When winter comes, that water freezes and forces the layers apart.
The face of the stone starts to flake off in sheets. You can't glue those flakes back on. But we can stop the rot. We clean the stone gently and apply a hardener. It soaks in and locks the surface together so it stops shedding.
Sliding Clay Hills
The hills in Akron are mostly clay. Rain makes that clay slick. We see the ground moving downhill, carrying the monuments right along with it.
We find markers leaning forward or twisting out of line. Propping them up won't fix it; the ground will just move again. We provide grave site cleaning services that include leveling. We dig a flat shelf into the hill and pack it with sharp gravel. That gives the stone a base that bites into the ground and stays put.
Hard Water Stains
The water here is full of minerals. The cemeteries run sprinklers all summer. The sun dries the water off the stone, but it leaves a white calcium crust behind.
It builds up a layer that covers the names. A wire brush won't scratch it off. It is bonded to the stone. We use a cleaner that melts that mineral buildup chemically. The white haze disappears, and the polish shines again.
Winter Cracks
The weather changes here are brutal on granite. It freezes, it thaws. Over and over. That stress breaks stone.
Water seeps into a hairline crack. Overnight it freezes solid. That pressure snaps the stone in two. We see bases split right down the center. We provide professional grave stone cleaning services to fix this. We clean out the break and inject a stone adhesive. It welds the pieces back into one solid block so the water can't get back in.
Mower Scuffs
The grass grows thick here. The mowing crews move fast. They often bump the corners of the flat markers or the bases of uprights.
This leaves black rubber streaks burned onto the stone. It looks bad. We have a solvent that melts that rubber residue. It wipes right off. Then we trim the grass back from the edge to keep the mower blade away from the stone next time.
Service Costs in Akron
We price based on the work needed. Stabilizing a crumbling sandstone marker takes more time than washing a granite one:
- Carbon Cleaning: Removing heavy industrial soot.
- Stone Hardening: Treating flaking sandstone.
- Leveling: Resetting stones on sliding clay.
- Moss Removal: Killing algae and lichen.
We check the stone. We look at the damage. Then we give you a price.
