Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Erie

Winter Damage and Lake Wind in Erie

Erie winters wreck granite. Snow piles up fast here. In places like Erie Cemetery, the markers are buried under five feet of powder for months. That wet snow packs tight against the granite, keeping it soaked.

The wind off the lake is another problem. It throws grit and ice against the markers until the polish wears off. We spend our summers fixing the cracks caused by the frost and repainting letters that the wind wiped away. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to repair split bases and to wash off the road salt that eats into the stone.

Cracked Granite Repair

Moisture soaks deep into the stone. Then it freezes solid. That pressure splits the granite wide open. We see corners snapped off and tablets cracked right down the center.

You can't hide a crack that big, but we can seal it. We scour the loose grit out of the fissure. Then we inject a stone epoxy. It fills the void and bonds the pieces so water can't get back in to do more damage.

Frost Heave Leveling

The frost line here is deep. The ground swells when it freezes, shoving the monuments up. In the spring, the mud turns to soup, and the heavy stones sink or tip over.

We hoist the marker out of the way. We shovel out the wet clay and dump in a thick layer of crushed stone. Gravel drains properly. It gives the monument a solid footing that won't move when the ground freezes again.

Lake Algae Cleanup

The lake keeps the air wet all summer. Green slime covers the stones in the shaded parts of Wintergreen Gorge. It gets thick fast.

Scrubbing the surface leaves the roots behind. It just grows back in a week. We spray a cleaner that kills the plant entirely. The moss dies and washes off. The stone stays clean because there is nothing left to grow.

Road Salt Removal

Plows spray salt on the cemetery roads. That salt spray hits the nearby stones. It soaks in and pushes white crystals out through the face of the granite. It makes the surface flake off.

We have to draw that salt out before it ruins the marker. We apply a chemical paste that sucks the salt crystals out of the pores. It takes a few days. We rinse it thoroughly to make sure no chemical is left behind to corrode the stone.

Wind-Blown Wear

The wind here acts like a sandblaster. It carries sand and ice that grind the face of the stone. After a few decades, the lettering goes soft and hard to read.

The polish is gone, but we can save the inscription. We clean the grooves out. Then we paint the letters with a special monument ink. It makes the name pop out against the gray stone so you can read it from the road again.

Hard Water Scale

Cemetery sprinklers leave a mess. The water evaporates and leaves a hard white layer of calcium on the bottom of the stone. It covers the dates.

Chipping it off scratches the finish. We use a solution that melts the calcium bond. We wipe the white crust away, revealing the dark stone underneath.

Service Costs in Erie

Digging out a sunken foundation is heavy labor. Extracting deep salt damage takes specific chemicals and time. We check the marker first to see how bad the winter damage is before we give you a price.