Construction Dust "Cement"
South Jordan is growing fast. There is always a construction site nearby. The wind picks up that heavy excavation dust and drops it right on the cemeteries.
Rain turns that dust into a thick paste. Then the sun bakes it. It dries into a hard, gray material that acts just like cement. It fills up the engraved letters. You can't just hose this off; it is packed in tight. We don't use high pressure because that blows the paint out. We use fine detailing picks and soft brushes. We clean every single letter out by hand. It takes time, but it saves the paint and restores the contrast.
Canal Water Algae
South Jordan runs on secondary water. It’s dirty. By August, it is loaded with algae and moss spores.
The sprinklers run at night. They coat the stones in green slime. By noon, the sun cooks it into a hard, dark crust. Scrubbing is the wrong move. A brush just grinds the green stain deep into the stone pores. We apply a liquid biocide. It soaks into the crust and kills the algae spores. The slime turns to dust, and we rinse it away. We get the stone clean without using a wire brush that scratches the polish.
Sinking in Soft Farm Soil
This area was farming ground for a century. The soil is soft. It settles constantly under the weight of a heavy monument.
Flat markers sink here. We see them drop an inch or two every year until the grass grows right over the top. Families lose track of where the grave is. We locate the edges and dig the marker up. We don't just put it back on the dirt. We compact a heavy layer of road base gravel underneath it. This gives the stone a solid platform. It sits level on the rock, so it doesn't sink back into the soft farm dirt.
Hard Water Glaze
The water here is hard. When it hits a hot monument in July, it dries instantly. The water evaporates, but the calcium stays stuck to the granite.
It clouds up the polished black granite until it looks gray. It covers the names. Scrapers are a bad idea; they scratch the stone face. We use a specialized acid for cleaning stone gravestones. It chemically melts the calcium bond. We brush it on and watch the white scale bubble up. Then we wash it away safely. The black stone looks black again.
Mower Tire Burn
South Jordan Cemetery has acres of flat markers. The mowers run fast to cut it all. They drive right over the stones.
The mower tires heat up and burn rubber right onto the granite face. It leaves a black stripe across the name. We use a solvent that melts the rubber. It wipes off without hurting the stone. Then we trim the grass back. This gives the mower a buffer zone so the tires hit dirt instead of the memorial.
Alkaline Salt Damage
The soil in the valley bottom is salty. That salt attacks the concrete borders around the markers.
It eats the concrete until it crumbles into gravel. This lets water get under the headstone. The foundation softens, and the stone starts to tip over. We tear out the rotten concrete. We pour a new, reinforced border that handles the salty ground better. Many folks looking for headstone cleaning services near me ignore the concrete border, but we fix that too because it supports the whole monument.
Service Costs in South Jordan
Price depends on the specific problems. Removing a rubber tire mark is cheaper than rebuilding a concrete foundation. We break it down by the labor required:
- Construction Dust Removal: Hand-detailing to remove packed dirt from lettering.
- Algae Treatment: Chemical removal of canal water slime and moss.
- Marker Leveling: Excavating sunken markers and installing a gravel base.
- Rubber Removal: Dissolving mower skid marks and edging the grass.
We assess the grave. We check the sinking. We check the mineral buildup. Then we give you a set price.
