Great video! To the point and informative. Something to consider is placing a layer of landscaper's fabric in the space before adding the pea gravel (which is a perfect choice of sub-layer IMO). The fabric will add "life" to the usefulness of the gravel by helping it to not migrate into the soil as quickly. Of course, over decades, the fabric will rot and cease being useful. Again, great video and technique. Just a thought on how to extend the number of years before the stone needs another adjustment.
I am glad to see you taking such an interest in the people who came before us. I tend to my families graves, there are over forty of them in half a dozen cemeteries. Keeps me busy.
I had this issue with an uncles bronze plaque marker, a Korean War veteran. It, and all the markers in his area were really sunken very badly. I contacted the cemetery and they raised the marker for me. I did all the prep work, removed all the encroaching grass and cleaned the plaque and stone below etc. It is still not raised as much as it should be, but better than it was. They did not use gravel unfortunately, so when there is rain you can tell is getting some dirt/mud washed over it still. I will keep tabs on it this year and may give them another call or go out and try it myself. There is no way I'd be able to lift it completely out like you did here though lol. I'm not that strong, but maybe lift and tuck some gravel under.
Yes! The gravel I feel is essential to allowing drainage under the stone… unfortunately not all cemeteries will do it correctly because they feel they only need to make whoever called happy in the moment and probably won’t have to deal with it again. I’m glad this video helped you in some way!
Thanks for the tip, I just took over a cemetery now for just over a year and noted a number of head stones that need to be raised. I have received a few concerns about some as well so now I feel I have the confidence to correct a number of them. Dave
The other cause of sunken markers is the mowers the use now are heavier than 20-30 years ago and they mash the headstones down into the ground. I noticed that the also knock the headstones off their bases and they never get straightened back. I spent many days straightening rows up once only to have them messed up the next time they mowed…city maintained cemeteries are the worst.
I have a repair question for you. In the cemetery that I take care of, there is a headstone made of old cinder blocks, the cinder block is deteriorating, what can I do to save the marker?
Cinder blocks are made of concrete… so you cloud use any kind of concrete material to patch it. Maybe mix some concrete up a little dry and trowel it on… or use hydraulic cement.
Need to raise my dad's marker up. We keep cutting and pulling away grass that's trying to creep onto the edges, but maybe raising it up would help us fight off that grass better.
Thanks for the great video. I need to raise a family marker like yours, but my problem is the marker has broken into 4 pieces. My idea would be to raise the stone like you did, put the pieces together as best i can. Should i fill the cracks with cement patching? If i don’t grass will eventually separate the pieces again. I would like to add a small marker (not sure what it should be made of) with the inscription. As it is getting hard to read. Thanks for any help.
Get some epoxy and glue and clamp the pieces together… they will never come apart again. I would not fill the cracks with cement patching… if the stone is marble use marble mortar to fill them.
@@Headstoneman You can mix marble sand with the epoxy until it is just barely sticky and work it into the cracks after epoxying it back together. If granite use a granite sand of a similar color. Sociality houses provide these materials for the amateur and professional gravestone repairer.
Thanks for the video. Any suggestions to prevent headstone from coming up missing? Cemetery switched ownership. They suck, but I'm out of State. Can a 3 inch flatstone marker be cemented to the cement pad? I don't want it taken again.
You could get some epoxy and epoxy it down… it’s not the best option because if it was ever hit by a lawnmower or something it will take more damage… but it won’t come up missing
Past Preservation, do you ask permission to do that type of work? Your work is very nice! I want to use it as a model to do the same work here in Lucas County, OH. #rvgminc
Thanks for this video. Is it necessary to ask for permission before attempting to raise the stone first? The cemetery where my family members are are less than stellar in their upkeep and family communications! If i could do it myself, i would. Also, if I get the cemetery to do this, what can I expect to pay?
I would go to them and ask if you can raise it… if they say that you can then go ahead and do it. They may have a flat rate cost for raising it… it really depends on the cemetery
Great video. My father's grave is in a different state so would this be something I can ask the grounds keeper to do, or would this be something I would need to do while I'm in that state?
I would definetly ask if I were you. I asked the grounds keeper to lift my sister's cement pad out the ground. He did, put lots of gravel under it, and leveled It. It depends on the cemetery owners.
It’s evenly distributed… also I’ve never known anyone that was able to successfully pack down pea gravel…. It has absolutely no binder in it so it stays loose all the time… which is why it is good for drainage… and exactly why I picked pea gravel for this and not something else.
Pea pebbles are considered about 99% compacted as soon as they're laid down, so no need to pack it down. Source: I work in the gravel/aggregate industry.
My sister's headstone is baby's Stine. She was a month old when she died. Her stone is just placed on a cement pad. There a small angels head on the top of the headstone. Right after the stone was installed someone stole the marble angels head from the stone. My mom was very upset. I need to have the Stine attached to the cement base.
Sometimes attaching it to the stone can be worse than leaving it loose. If you attach it to the concrete and a mower hits it, it can cause a lot more damage than if it were loose.
Aw sarcasm...... ;) .......never under stood how mowers could be so careless, if you can't respect the job then find another one, for me mowing right over an gravestone is disrespectful, even if it's ground level.
I agree! The guys in my local cemetery are good about this stuff… I only raised them enough to stop them from getting covered… they shouldn’t get hit by the mower
The headstones on both sides of my grandfather's grave have headstones 🪦 completely buried under many inches of grass and soil. How about using bricks or paving blocks from the garden departments of home improvement stores to raise those long forgotten grave markers?
The nice thing is that you demonstrate that anyone can do it! Thank you for showing the way!!
I always feel sad when I see a marker disappearing into the earth. Nice job.
Me too! I wish I could just fix them all!
Thank you! My hubby & I went and raised 5 gravestones on Father's Day and this is the video that we used to teach us how!
Awesome! I’m so glad it helped!
Great video! To the point and informative. Something to consider is placing a layer of landscaper's fabric in the space before adding the pea gravel (which is a perfect choice of sub-layer IMO). The fabric will add "life" to the usefulness of the gravel by helping it to not migrate into the soil as quickly. Of course, over decades, the fabric will rot and cease being useful. Again, great video and technique. Just a thought on how to extend the number of years before the stone needs another adjustment.
This is wonderful, thank you for doing this. So nice to know someone cares
Thank you!
I am glad to see you taking such an interest in the people who came before us. I tend to my families graves, there are over forty of them in half a dozen cemeteries. Keeps me busy.
It certainly is a busy job!
I had this issue with an uncles bronze plaque marker, a Korean War veteran. It, and all the markers in his area were really sunken very badly. I contacted the cemetery and they raised the marker for me. I did all the prep work, removed all the encroaching grass and cleaned the plaque and stone below etc. It is still not raised as much as it should be, but better than it was. They did not use gravel unfortunately, so when there is rain you can tell is getting some dirt/mud washed over it still. I will keep tabs on it this year and may give them another call or go out and try it myself. There is no way I'd be able to lift it completely out like you did here though lol. I'm not that strong, but maybe lift and tuck some gravel under.
Yes! The gravel I feel is essential to allowing drainage under the stone… unfortunately not all cemeteries will do it correctly because they feel they only need to make whoever called happy in the moment and probably won’t have to deal with it again. I’m glad this video helped you in some way!
I learn soo much from your FYIs sir much respect 👏✊
Thanks for the tip, I just took over a cemetery now for just over a year and noted a number of head stones that need to be raised. I have received a few concerns about some as well so now I feel I have the confidence to correct a number of them.
Dave
Easy peasy! Good luck! I took over as sexton at a cemetery in January… so I know exactly how you feel!
Nice job - especially for a veteran head stone
Thanks!
Thank You For the Wonderful Kindness and Caring.💕💕💕👍
Thank you Kelly!
Thank you sir... perfect. Exactly what we needed to know.
Bill Karas
Flushing
I have to set my brother's marker this weekend and this was very helpful.
I’m glad this could be of some assistance!
Wish we had people doing this work here in Essex County, Ontario, Canada
Thank you always for what you do ❤
You’re welcome!
Thank you very much❤
You're welcome 😊
Thank you!
You’re welcome!
Hey I'm also in Michigan! I think I've seen you on TikTok doing a tour of the museum in Frankenmuth. Any tips for cleaning a bronze marker?
Soap and water, rinse well and apply a thin wax like Renaissance wax
The other cause of sunken markers is the mowers the use now are heavier than 20-30 years ago and they mash the headstones down into the ground. I noticed that the also knock the headstones off their bases and they never get straightened back. I spent many days straightening rows up once only to have them messed up the next time they mowed…city maintained cemeteries are the worst.
I have a repair question for you. In the cemetery that I take care of, there is a headstone made of old cinder blocks, the cinder block is deteriorating, what can I do to save the marker?
Cinder blocks are made of concrete… so you cloud use any kind of concrete material to patch it. Maybe mix some concrete up a little dry and trowel it on… or use hydraulic cement.
Need to raise my dad's marker up. We keep cutting and pulling away grass that's trying to creep onto the edges, but maybe raising it up would help us fight off that grass better.
Probably… just use some good gravel or river rock and it should stop sinking.
Thanks for the great video. I need to raise a family marker like yours, but my problem is the marker has broken into 4 pieces. My idea would be to raise the stone like you did, put the pieces together as best i can. Should i fill the cracks with cement patching? If i don’t grass will eventually separate the pieces again. I would like to add a small marker (not sure what it should be made of) with the inscription. As it is getting hard to read. Thanks for any help.
Get some epoxy and glue and clamp the pieces together… they will never come apart again. I would not fill the cracks with cement patching… if the stone is marble use marble mortar to fill them.
@@Headstoneman You can mix marble sand with the epoxy until it is just barely sticky and work it into the cracks after epoxying it back together. If granite use a granite sand of a similar color. Sociality houses provide these materials for the amateur and professional gravestone repairer.
Thanks for the video. Any suggestions to prevent headstone from coming up missing? Cemetery switched ownership. They suck, but I'm out of State. Can a 3 inch flatstone marker be cemented to the cement pad? I don't want it taken again.
You could get some epoxy and epoxy it down… it’s not the best option because if it was ever hit by a lawnmower or something it will take more damage… but it won’t come up missing
@@Headstoneman Thank you, you're right. I may get a shorter grave marker and epoxy it down.
Past Preservation, do you ask permission to do that type of work? Your work is very nice! I want to use it as a model to do the same work here in Lucas County, OH. #rvgminc
Yes. This particular one I had permission to clean and raise anything in the entire veteran section
@@Headstoneman Thank you! excellent!
Thanks for this video. Is it necessary to ask for permission before attempting to raise the stone first? The cemetery where my family members are are less than stellar in their upkeep and family communications! If i could do it myself, i would. Also, if I get the cemetery to do this, what can I expect to pay?
I would go to them and ask if you can raise it… if they say that you can then go ahead and do it. They may have a flat rate cost for raising it… it really depends on the cemetery
@@Headstoneman thanks
Great video. My father's grave is in a different state so would this be something I can ask the grounds keeper to do, or would this be something I would need to do while I'm in that state?
I doubt that the grounds keeper would do it. You’ll probably have to do it when you are there
I would definetly ask if I were you. I asked the grounds keeper to lift my sister's cement pad out the ground. He did, put lots of gravel under it, and leveled It. It depends on the cemetery owners.
Don't you pack the gravel down? Even just stepping on it would help make it evenly distributed.
It’s evenly distributed… also I’ve never known anyone that was able to successfully pack down pea gravel…. It has absolutely no binder in it so it stays loose all the time… which is why it is good for drainage… and exactly why I picked pea gravel for this and not something else.
Pea pebbles are considered about 99% compacted as soon as they're laid down, so no need to pack it down. Source: I work in the gravel/aggregate industry.
👍🏼
My sister's headstone is baby's Stine. She was a month old when she died. Her stone is just placed on a cement pad. There a small angels head on the top of the headstone. Right after the stone was installed someone stole the marble angels head from the stone. My mom was very upset. I need to have the Stine attached to the cement base.
Sometimes attaching it to the stone can be worse than leaving it loose. If you attach it to the concrete and a mower hits it, it can cause a lot more damage than if it were loose.
But now those lazy cemetery workers can't mow right over the top of it :/
Aw sarcasm...... ;) .......never under stood how mowers could be so careless, if you can't respect the job then find another one, for me mowing right over an gravestone is disrespectful, even if it's ground level.
I agree! The guys in my local cemetery are good about this stuff… I only raised them enough to stop them from getting covered… they shouldn’t get hit by the mower
The headstones on both sides of my grandfather's grave have headstones 🪦 completely buried under many inches of grass and soil. How about using bricks or paving blocks from the garden departments of home improvement stores to raise those long forgotten grave markers?
May work for a while
What about recycling used bricks to elevate the headstone? 😮
You could crush them up and use them like gravel