Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Spearfish

Removing Pine Pitch and Iron Stains in Spearfish

Spearfish is deep in the Black Hills. Ponderosa pines are everywhere, and they drop sap all over the cemeteries. At Rose Hill and St. Joseph, sticky pitch covers the markers. Sap drips on the stone and cooks in the sun. It turns into hard black bumps. Dirt sticks to that fresh sap, creating a gritty, dark mess that won't wash off.

The ground is another issue. The soil here is full of iron. It stains the bases of the monuments orange. It looks like rust because it is rust. The weather makes it worse. We get sudden freezes and sudden thaws here. That makes the ground heave more than usual, pushing markers out of place. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me use our app to book a cleaning for that sticky pine sap or to level a stone that the frost has tipped over.

Cleaning Hardened Pine Sap

Pine pitch is stubborn. It drips onto the marker and sticks. The sun cooks it until it is hard as rock. You can't just scrape it off. If you use a scraper, you'll take the polish right off with the sap.

We don't scrape pitch. We dissolve it. We apply a solvent to the black spots. It breaks the bond and turns the hard tar back into a liquid. Then we wipe it away. It takes time to get every spot, but it gets the stone clean without damaging the finish.

Red Iron Clay Stains

The dirt in the Hills is red because of the iron. When rain splashes that dirt onto a porous stone, it soaks in. You get a heavy orange ring right where the stone meets the grass. Soap won't clean this. It isn't dirt. It is iron rust soaking into the rock.

We use a cleaner made for masonry rust. We apply a poultice to the stain. It draws the iron particles out of the stone. The orange fades out, and the natural grey or pink of the granite comes back.

Lichen in the Canyon

It stays wet here in the hills. In the shade, lichen grows fast on the rough-cut stones. It forms green and yellow crusts. These plants dig their roots right into the rock surface. They hold water, which freezes in winter and cracks the stone.

We kill the lichen to get it off. We spray it with a biocide. The plant dies and lets go of the rock. It turns to dust. We scrub the dead material off with a stiff nylon brush. This stops the damage and cleans up the marker.

Frost Heave from Rapid Thaws

The weather here swings fast. We get deep freezes and sudden warmups. This makes the ground move more than usual. The frost pushes the stones up, and the thaw drops them down. They rarely land flat.

We fix leaning stones by rebuilding the foundation. We dig out the dirt that holds the moisture. We replace it with crushed rock. Gravel drains well. It creates a stable pad that doesn't shift as much when the ground freezes and thaws.

Hard Water Mineral Scale

The sprinklers run all summer. The water leaves calcium behind when it dries. On a dark stone, this looks like a white haze. It covers the lettering and dulls the shine.

We use a mild acid to clean this. We brush it on, and the white scale fizzes and dissolves. We rinse it immediately. You have to be fast. Acid eats the stone surface if you leave it too long. We wash it down with a lot of water to make sure it's safe.

Service Costs in Spearfish

Cleaning pine sap is slow work. We have to treat every spot individually. Pulling iron stains out of stone takes special materials. We don't guess at the price. You can see exactly what it costs for your specific needs. Select your cemetery and the service you want in our online tool, and the price is right there.