Chemical Plant Fallout
Texas City is industrial. The air holds chemical exhaust.
This isn't normal dust. It is oily soot from the stacks. It sticks to the polish. Rain beads up on it. Soap won't cut it. If you leave it, it eats the finish.
We use an industrial degreaser for cleaning stone gravestones. We strip the chemical film. Once the grease is gone, the stone washes clean.
Salt Air Pitting
The wind comes off Galveston Bay. It carries salt.
Salt eats granite. It settles in the pores and crystallizes. It pops tiny chips off the face. It turns bronze markers green. Wiping it dry grinds the finish.
"Tending is a platinum standard cemetery/headstone restoration company. I can’t say enough good things about Tending!"
— Beatle, Texas
We use fresh water to flush the stone for grave site cleaning services. We remove the salt before it pits the surface.
Marsh Mud Sinking
The ground is soft marsh clay. The water table is high.
Heavy monuments sink. Flat markers get buried in the mud. Digging them up is useless. The ground is too soft. It swallows them again.
For tombstone repair and restoration, we install a stabilizer grid. We lift the stone. We slide the grid underneath. It spreads the weight. The stone floats on the mud.
Coastal Algae
It is always humid here. The stone stays wet.
This breeds black algae. It looks like soot, but it roots into the stone. Pressure washing is a mistake. It drives the roots deeper.
We use a biocide soak. It kills the roots inside the rock. The dead algae rinses off.
Mower Scuffs
Grass grows fast in the humidity. Crews cut close.
String trimmers hit the stones. The nylon melts on the hot granite. It leaves black plastic streaks. You cannot scrub this off. We use a solvent. It melts the plastic residue. We wipe it clean.
