Traffic Exhaust Film
NRH is boxed in by highways. Loop 820 and Airport Freeway produce constant exhaust.
Diesel soot settles on the stones. It creates a greasy, gray film. It bonds to the polish. Rain beads up on it. Soap won't cut it. If you scrub it, you just smear the grease.
We use an industrial degreaser for grave site cleaning services. We strip the oil film chemically. Once the grease breaks, the stone washes clean.
Blackland Clay Heave
The soil here is active clay. It swells and shrinks violently.
In summer, the ground cracks. In winter, it heaves. This motion snaps concrete footers. Monuments lean. Adding dirt to the gap is useless. The clay swallows it.
For tombstone repair and restoration, we bypass the surface soil. We install friction piers. We anchor the monument to the stable subsoil. The clay moves around the stone, not under it.
Hackberry "Honeydew"
Hackberry trees are everywhere here. They are messy.
Aphids feed on the leaves and drop sticky sap called "honeydew." It coats the headstones. Black mold grows on this sugar. It turns the stone black and sticky. You can't wipe it off dry.
We use an enzyme cleaner. It digests the sugar and the mold. It lifts the mess out of the pores so we can rinse it away.
Irrigation Scale
Cemeteries water heavily to fight the Texas heat. The water is hard.
The sun evaporates the water fast. White calcium deposits stay behind. They bond like cement to the base. Scrapers scratch the granite. We use a buffered acid for cleaning stone gravestones. It dissolves the mineral bond. We wash the crust away.
Fire Ant Acid
Fire ants use the stones for warmth. They pile dirt against the base.
The mound dirt is acidic. It sits against the polish and etches it. It leaves a rough, dull ring. You cannot wash this damage off. We treat the ground. Then we use alkaline cleaners to neutralize the acid and stop the burn.
