Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Greenville

Cleaning Red Clay and Granite Lichen in Greenville

Greenville is known for its red clay. If you live here, you know it stains everything it touches. That red mud splashes up onto the monuments in Springwood and Graceland and dries into a hard orange band. It dyes the stone. Scrubbing it with soap won't work. It just smears the red color around and pushes it deeper into the rock.

We also deal with the trees. The older cemeteries here are full of massive oaks and pines. They drop sap, pollen, and leaves constantly. This debris sits on the damp stone and feeds a hard, crusty lichen. This isn't soft moss. It is a scaly growth that digs into the granite surface. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to get that red clay dye out of the stone and to remove the lichen without chipping the rock.

Extracting Red Clay Stains

Upstate clay stains are chemical, not just physical. The iron in the soil bonds with the stone. You cannot wipe it off because the orange color goes deep into the texture of the rock.

We use a chemical poultice to remove it. We mix a thick paste that targets the iron. We smear it over the stained area. The paste dries and pulls the iron stain out with it. We hose it off, and the granite looks grey again.

Removing Hard Lichen

Lichen in the Upstate grows thick and fast. It looks like grey or green scabs on the headstone. If you try to scrape it off dry, you will take pieces of the stone with it.

We use a biological cleaner to kill it first. We soak the growth until it turns soft. Once it dies, it turns into a soft mush. We wash the residue away. The stone looks clean again, and we didn't damage the finish.

Cleaning Pine Sap and Pollen

The pine trees in this area are messy. They drip sticky sap constantly. It lands on the headstones and bakes in the heat. It mixes with pollen and turns into a hard black glaze that water won't remove.

We dissolve it. We use a safe solvent that breaks down the sap. We let it sit on the sticky spots until they soften, then we wipe them away. This leaves the lettering sharp and clean again.

Leveling Stones on Slopes

Christ Church Cemetery is built on a slope. Rainwater runs fast down those hills. It erodes the dirt under the bases, and the monuments start to lean downhill.

We fix the foundation. We dig out the washout and fill the void with crushed stone. We pack it tight. Water runs right through the rocks instead of washing the foundation away like it does with dirt. We reset the monument on this solid pad so it stays level.

Restoring Bronze Markers

Woodlawn Memorial Park has thousands of bronze markers. Over time, the protective coating fails. The metal oxidizes and turns a chalky green.

We refinish them right at the grave. We strip the old coating and the corrosion down to the bare metal. We sand the letters so they shine. We heat the bronze to remove moisture, then spray a heavy industrial sealer to keep the metal looking new.

Repairing Mower Scuffs

Landscapers move fast. They hit the corners of the stones. We see black rubber marks and chipped edges on granite bases all over the county.

We clean the tire marks with a solvent. For chips, we use diamond files. We grind the sharp, broken edge into a smooth bevel. It looks finished and prevents the mower from catching that same jagged spot again.

Service Costs in Greenville

We have flat-rate pricing for Greenville, Greer, and Travelers Rest. We don't need to visit the cemetery to give you a price. Check our subscription builder to see the exact cost for your plot.