Gravestone Cleaning in Wake County
Cemetery and Monument Work in Wake County
Wake County’s cemeteries span an unusually wide range for one county, because Raleigh has been continuously settled and continuously growing since the 1790s. The oldest downtown burying grounds hold marble and slate markers approaching two centuries old, while newer memorial parks out toward Cary, Apex and Wake Forest are almost entirely modern granite, much of it flush bronze-on-granite markers set level with the turf.
Those flush markers need different work from an upright headstone. They sit in contact with soil and turf year-round, so they collect a dense layer of grass clippings, soil splash and organic growth, and their bronze plaques develop a verdigris patina that some families want removed and others specifically want kept. We ask before touching bronze, because that decision is a preference, not a technical question.
Upright stone in the older Raleigh cemeteries brings the opposite problem – decades of accumulated biological growth on soft marble that cannot take aggressive treatment. The mature hardwood canopy over much of the county keeps those stones damp and shaded for most of the year, which is exactly what lichen needs.
How We Clean, and What We Refuse to Do
Two things we will not do, on any stone in any cemetery: pressure-wash, and use household bleach. Pressure washing drives water into the stone and strips the surface of anything softer than granite. Bleach leaves salts behind that keep drawing moisture through the stone for years afterwards. The accepted standard for historic markers is a biological cleaner formulated for stone, applied gently and left to work over weeks – and it is worth knowing that a properly cleaned marker often continues to lighten for months after the visit.
As North Carolina’s most populous county and home to the state capital, Wake County has a wide mix of cemetery types – historic downtown Raleigh burial grounds, church cemeteries, and newer memorial parks in fast-growing suburbs like Cary. That range means we regularly work on everything from century-old marble headstones to recently installed granite markers. See the cities we serve in Wake County below.
