Grave Cleaning & Headstone Restoration in Vancouver

Killing Moss and Cleaning Douglas Fir Sap in Vancouver

Vancouver is wet. The rain off the Columbia River never seems to stop, and that keeps the cemeteries soaked. Go to Park Hill or Old City, and you see the result. Green moss covers the dates. Black algae slime coats the granite. It isn't just ugly; it makes the stone slick and eats away at the surface.

We also deal with the big trees. The Douglas Firs and Cedars are huge here. They drop needles that pile up on flat markers, trapping water against the stone. Then there is the sap. It drips down and cures into hard black lumps on the headstones. Families searching for headstone cleaning services near me call us to kill that thick moss and to scrape away the sticky pine mess that covers their family plots.

Killing the "Green Crud"

Moss loves this climate. It grows fast. The roots dig into the pores of the granite. Scraping it dry is a mistake. The roots hold on tight, and you end up pulling little chips of stone off with the plant.

We soak it with a biological cleaner first. It penetrates the growth and kills the root. The moss turns brown and releases its grip on the stone. Then we brush it off. You have to kill the root, or the damp air will feed it right back.

Cleaning Douglas Fir Pitch

Fir sap is nasty stuff. It lands on the stone and hardens like epoxy. It attracts dirt and turns black. You can't chip it off; a scraper will skip and gouge the polish.

We use a solvent to melt the pitch. It turns that hard rock of sap into a sticky liquid. We wipe it up carefully. It is slow work, but it gets the stone clean without scratching the polish.

Lifting Sunken Flat Markers

The ground here gets soft in the winter. Heavy granite markers sink. At Evergreen Memorial Gardens, we see military plaques that are half-buried in mud. Grass grows over the edges until the name is gone.

We cut the sod back. We pry the stone up out of the muck. We don't just put it back in the dirt. We pack the hole with crushed rock. Rock doesn't shift like mud does. The stone stays level and visible.

Restoring "Sugaring" Marble

The pioneer stones at Old City Cemetery are melting. The rain dissolves the binder in the marble. The surface feels like rough sand. If you scrub that, you wipe the name right off.

We spray a consolidator on these. It soaks in and hardens the stone. It locks the grains together. We stop the erosion so the inscription stays there for another generation.

Scrubbing Hard Lichen

Lichen is stubborn. It creates hard, crusty patches that dig into the stone surface. You can't just brush this stuff off. It bonds to the granite.

We soften it with chemistry. We apply a cleaner and let it sit. It turns the lichen into a mush. Then we scrub it with stiff nylon. It comes off clean, and we didn't have to grind the stone to get it.

Service Costs in Vancouver

We have flat-rate pricing for Vancouver, Camas, and Washougal. We don't need to visit the cemetery to give you a price. Check our subscription builder to see the exact cost for your plot.