Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Warwick

Stabilizing Sandy Plots and Cleaning Airport Grime in Warwick

Warwick is tough on stone. You have the salt spray from the bay and the exhaust from the airport. The wind blasts the old marble with sand, and the planes from T.F. Green coat the granite with soot.

But the main reason folks call us isn't dirt—it's gravity. The soil in Warwick is basically sand. It shifts constantly. We also see a lot of ant activity undermining the foundations. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to lift these sunken markers and to strip the sticky jet fuel residue off the granite.

Sinking Markers and Ant Damage

Ants are a nightmare in this sandy soil. They build nests under the flat markers to stay warm. They push the sand out, leaving a void underneath. Once that support is gone, the rain washes the rest of the sand away, and the stone tips over.

Don't bother packing more dirt under there. The ants will just clear it out again in a week. We pull the stone up and dig out the sandy base. We replace it with crushed stone dust and gravel. Ants can't tunnel through gravel. It packs tight and keeps the marker level.

Airport Fallout (Oily Residue)

If you visit Pawtuxet Memorial Park, you can hear the planes overhead. You can also feel the result on the stones. The exhaust leaves a tacky film on the granite. That oil catches everything—dust, pollen, dirt. Rain just smears it into a muddy mess.

A garden hose won't touch it. We have to use a chemical stripper to cut the grease. We soak the stone, let the chemical work, and then scrub it. When we are done, the stone is smooth and clean, not sticky.

Wind Erosion on Marble

The wind here works like a slow sandblaster. It picks up grit from the shoreline and grinds away at the soft marble. First you lose the sharp corners, and eventually, the lettering wears down until you can barely read it.

We can't bring the lost detail back—that stone is gone forever. But we can stop the decay. We clean out the moss that is wedging the cracks open. Then we apply a consolidant. This is a liquid that soaks into the stone and hardens the surface, helping it resist the wind and salt air.

Lichen on Rough-Cut Granite

Many monuments in Warwick have "rock pitch" edges—that rough, natural look. It looks nice, but it grabs onto lichen spores. The growth gets deep into the jagged crevices where a brush can't reach.

Scrubbing rough stone just shreds your brushes. We flood the stone with a biocide that soaks deep into the pores. It kills the lichen at the root. We leave it there. Over time, the wind and rain knock the dead material loose, leaving the stone clean.

Service Costs in Warwick

Lifting a marker in sandy soil is tricky because the hole keeps collapsing. We often have to use shoring boards. Cleaning airport oil requires expensive solvents. We need to walk the plot and check the ground conditions before we can give you a price.