Concho Valley Sandblasting
The wind in San Angelo carries sharp silica grit. It never stops.
At 40 mph, that grit hits the granite. It works like a sandblaster. It strips the polish right off the stone face. We see markers where the names are worn smooth. Wiping a dusty stone here is a mistake. You are rubbing sandpaper across the finish. You scratch it instantly.
We use a high-volume water flush. We flood the stone to carry the grit away. We get every grain of sand off the surface before we touch it with a brush.
Deer Musk and Waste
Fairmount Cemetery has a massive deer population. They cause two specific problems.
First, the bucks rub their antlers on the stones. This leaves a greasy, dark musk oil on the granite. It stains deep gray. Second, the droppings are acidic. They sit on the base and burn the stone. Standard soap won't remove the oil or the etch marks. We use an industrial degreaser to lift the musk oil. Then we use enzyme packs to neutralize the acid from the waste.
Sun Spalling
The sun here cooks the stone. The temperature swings are violent.
The outside of the stone heats up fast. The core stays cool. That tension makes the granite shear. The face pops off in jagged chunks. We call it "spalling." Water gets into the cracks. It freezes in winter. The stone splits. We inspect for these fissures during grave site cleaning services. We seal them to keep the water out.
Alkali Scale (Hard Water)
It is dry here. The cemeteries run sprinklers hard. The water is full of alkali salt.
The sun bakes the water dry instantly. The salt stays. It builds a hard, white cement crust on the base of the monument. It bonds to the granite. Scrapers just chip the stone. We use a buffered acid wash for cleaning stone gravestones. It attacks the salt bond. We melt the crust back into a liquid and rinse it away.
Caliche Ground Shift
The soil here is Caliche clay. It gets rock hard when dry, but it shrinks.
In a drought, the ground pulls away from the concrete footer. The monument loses support. When the rain comes, the soil swells and pushes the footer up unevenly. The monument tips. Shoveling dirt into the gap is useless. For permanent tombstone repair and restoration, we drill deep friction piles. We anchor the foundation into the stable subsoil so the shifting topsoil doesn't move the marker.
