Top Headstone Tips – Caring For Your Monument
- May 19th, 2010
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It is a very troubling time when someone you love passes away but you can help to overcome the grief by ensuring that they have a good headstone. There are many different materials available for making sure that your relative has a marker that ensures that they will not be forgotten. Many of us are guilty of neglecting headstones once your loved one is buried. Read on for top tips on caring for your headstone to allow the memory of your loved one to shine brightly.

The care that the headstone needs largely depends on the material that it is made from. The most common materials used for headstones nowadays are marble, granite and bronze. For marble and granite headstones, keeping them clean is a relatively easy task. The headstone can be gently cleaned with a solution made of 50% water and 50% bleach. Soak the headstone with the solution using a paper towel.
After putting the mixture onto the headstone you need to allow it to seep in. It should be left to do its work for around 30 minutes. After this time you can then rinse the water and bleach solution off with plain water. This process will have left the stone clean and sparkling.
If your relative has a bronze headstone the situation is slightly different. Bronze headstones are made from a mixture of other metals and so it is necessary to know what metals are included in your relative’s headstone. You should be able to get this information from the salesman who sold you the headstone.
If you are unsure of these details and would still like to care for the headstone, you can take a simple solution of 1 tablespoon of ivory soap and 8 ounces of water. After being mixed together, take a small bristled brush and vigorously apply it to the stone. Wash the mixture off with water and do again if necessary. You can then give it a final rinse with distilled water and polish it to make it gleam.

You can purchase ready-made kits that are designed to clean dirty headstones. These are generally inexpensive and can easily be found from online sources. By ensuring that your loved one’s headstone is clean and visible, you can make sure that their memory is never forgotten.
Before you buy any granite headstone online or offline, make sure you read Tom Tree’s excellent tips on purchasing a granite gravestone.