With the passage of time and exposure to the elements, gravestone memorials and grave headstones will wane over time; inclement weather can hasten it along. Nevertheless, there are numerous ways to shield the final resting place of a loved one – even in winter.
Protection Dos:
1. Do use a stone consolidator, like Conservare H100, that fortifies the decaying stone. Treat the stone in cycles until it can no longer absorb any more of the Conservare.
2. Do use a stone or tile sealer for preserving headstones with caution. This technique doesn’t allow stone to breath as it locks in minerals and moisture; leading to deterioration.
3. Do use clean, natural water or even distilled water. This is the most nontoxic way to clean a grave headstone.
What not to do:
1. Do not use products with high acidic and alkaline properties, like bleach, muriatic acid and other cleaners.
2. Do not use any products with a protective coating; it will damage the stone beyond fixing.
3. Do not use an abrasive pad or harsh metal brush to clean the stone.
4. Do not use shaving cream, a common mistake, to clean a gravestone memorial or grave headstone. It’s immediate cleaning attributions are detrimental in the long stretch.
5. Do not clean a grave memorial or grave headstone more than once a year. Depending on the stone, some should only be cleaned every decade.
Weathering the future
Conversations about death, dying and the funeral process is macabre for a lot of people. It makes them uncomfortable so tasks, such as selecting a gravestone memorial or a grave headstone, is left to loved ones. At the time family members are making this selection, they will not be thinking about decades down the line and how they will protect the final resting place of a loved one.
Still, there are a few things to he/she/they should know before selecting a gravestone memorial or headstone that may make future protection a little easier to weather.
1. Limestone dissolves,
2. Marble crumbles,
3. Slate splinters,
4. Sandstone pops, and
5. White bronze breaks.
If longevity and easy care are important, there are only two stones that will exceed the criteria for a long lasting gravestone memorial or grave headstone; bronze and granite.
To clean a bronze marker, rinse it with water and then spray with distilled water. This will make the bronze surface chemically indolent. Wipe with a towel and the cleaning is done. Burnishing a skinny sheet of wax and lightly sweeping the surface with a shoe brush will preserve its beauty.
Too much work? Even without any care, bronze will remain in good standing for at least 100 hundred years; maybe longer since lettering on bronze grave markers are raised, making it more difficult for them to fade over time. Eventually, bronze will tarnish; turning green due to oxidation.
Granite is an igneous rock impermeable to hail, rain, mildew and mold. It is nearly impossible to break or snap. If there is one thing that prevents granite from being ideal as a headstone marker, it’s the painted lettering. Still, the headstone will last for centuries before freezing winters, blistering summers, and wind begin to corrode a loved one’s final resting spot.
To clean granite, use a mix of water and non-ionic cleaner. With a sponge, softly polish from the bottom upward. This will eliminate streaking. Rinse often during the process.
Pick the Right Stone Mason
When thinking about how to protect a gravestone memorial or grave headstone, considering who, when and how the stone comes to being isn’t generally given much consideration. However, it is important to pick a qualified mason with expert knowledge of stone to create a gravestone memorial or grave headstone that will stand up to time. For questions about grave markers and memorials, contact David Gibson, a master stone mason. With years of experience and expertise, DM Gibson offers a wide choice of stone masonry amenities, including stone carving, engraving and inscriptions.
Original source: https://www.gravestonepreservation.info/articles/sealing-stone#:~:text=Historically%20numerous%20substances%20have%20been,
the%20future%20deterioration%20of%20stone.
Sealing Stone
Historically numerous substances have been used, in an attempt to make stones last longer when placed outdoors. Olive oil, whale oil, turpentine, and wax represent just a few of the liquids applied to masonry in a mostly vain effort to inhibit the future deterioration of stone.
When epoxy and fiberglass resins were invented in the mid-1900s, they were at first thought, to be ideal alternatives to naturally derived products for the preservation of masonry. Attempts were made to coat gravestones and sculptural elements and seal them off from the elements. As it turns out, sealing is not what was desired. Anything placed outdoors must withstand a wide range of conditions in order to survive.
The thinking behind sealing a stone from the weather was simple, and seemingly flawless. If you could seal out the water, snow and ice, then nothing could penetrate the stone, so it would last forever. Just as people need to breath so to do stones. If a stone is sealed, it will trap moisture inside along with soluble salts.
When the moisture moves towards the surface during the evaporation process it carries a certain amount of mineral and salts along. This mineral migration accounts for a great degree of the case hardening often seen on softer stone types. Case hardening is when a harder protective crust forms on the outside of a stone, with a weakened interior beneath it.
If a stone is sealed the minerals and salts will still migrate towards the surface, but they will be unable to escape, and the stone will never dry out. This effect may continue without being noticed, but later may surface with a massive surface failure of the facade.
If that were not enough of a problem in itself, there is yet a bigger issue regarding tablet style gravestones. A tablet stone is monolithic, meaning it is one piece. It has to be partially underground by its very nature. A tablet stone acts exactly like a kerosene lantern. It will wick up what ever is underground. Through capillary action the buried part of the tablet will effectively be a wick. If the above ground section of a tablet stone is sealed, it will still wick up ground moisture and salts, but it will have no way to get out and evaporate.
Consolidating Stone
Many materials historically used to construct gravestones and sculpture has not endured as well as their makers had advertised. Purveyors of marble during the 1800s claimed their products were permanent, and would stand the test of time. They are not fully to blame; there was no way to anticipate the havoc acid rain would reek on the built environment. But, even without acid rain, nothing lasts forever. Some types of stone just last much longer then others. The important thing to remember is the rate of deterioration is variable based on the stone type. The granites used today just degrade at a very slow rate.
Luckily there are a few products now produced, which can effectively treat and help protect some of the weakest and most decayed stones. Instead of sealing a stone completely, a consolidate penetrates deeply beneath the surface and re-bonds the molecular structure on a cellular level. It finds the voids and fills them. It is not a sealer as the stone will still breath, but it will limit the absorption of moisture to a slower rate, then that of an untreated stone.
Prosoco distributes a product called Conservair which is produced in Europe. Like much of the preservation filed they tend to be more advanced in there technologies in Europe, then we are here in America. Conservair is a stone consolidate which actually helps strengthen a friable or weakened stone. It is considered a stone strengthener and works great on sandstone. I have had very positive results treating and strengthening Connecticut’s Portland
Brownstone, which is notorious for its crumbling and delaminating problems. It is applied in repeated treatment cycles, until the stone being is unable to absorb any more, or to the point of rejection.
With the use of a pre treatment it is now also possible to treat calcium carbonate based stones such as limestone and marble. This is a great step forward, as until recently there was really no effective way to treat and protect calcium carbonate based stones. Treating large numbers of marble gravestones, monuments and cemetery sculpture has thus far proved cost prohibitive, as most cemeteries and graveyards do not have adequate funding to undertake extensive preventive measures. It is my hope that as the technologies improve, consolidation products can be made more environmentally friendly, and less expensive.