Keeping a cemetery clean and well maintained is one way of showing respect to departed loved ones. Over time, however, external elements such as weather conditions affect the integrity of monuments—some stones end up cracking and falling off their place. If the monument to a grave is broken, you might want to restore the stone to its previous condition. Although some funeral homes offer cemetery restoration services, restoring a monument is something that you can do by yourself. However, you must approach the restoration process with care since mistakes might lead to extensive damages or significant changes to the monument's original look. This article highlights DIY tips for monument restoration.
1. Surface Preparation
The first thing you should do when restoring a monument is to prepare the surface. The process involves cleaning any broken pieces with a wire brush to get any loose dirt and debris off the surface. Most people avoid scrubbing a monument with a wire brush vigorously for fear of causing further damage. However, there is no reason to worry if a monument is structurally sound. Your objective at this point is to ensure that the surface is free of loose dirt. Notably, debris affects the binding action of epoxy and hardener, which are used at a later stage. You should stop scrubbing only after getting rid of all the loose dirt or broken pieces.
2. Use Colour Pigment
Once the surface of a monument is ready, go ahead and mix the epoxy, hardener, and colour pigment. Some people forget to add the colour pigment and only realise later when the hardener and epoxy mixture has a different hue from a monument. A colour pigment is supposed to make the epoxy-hardener mixture assume the colour of a monument once a restoration exercise is complete. For instance, if a monument is dark grey, you should add black and white colour pigments to the mixture. Most importantly, the use of pigment ensures colour uniformity and shows little sign of remedial work on a monument.
3. Add Colour Pigments Gradually
As mentioned earlier, you need a colour pigment to achieve flawless monument restorative work. However, you need to add the colour pigment slowly to avoid overwhelming a monument's original colour. For example, if the original colour was light blue, then you should add the white pigment powder first and follow it up with the gradual addition of the blue pigment. Doing so allows you to monitor the mixture as it changes colour until the desired hue is achieved.
Share31 August 2020
Planning a funeral can be extremely hard. You want to send off your loved one in style, but at the same time, your grief may be so heavy that it feels impossible to figure out the best way forward. Hi, my name is Julie. If you have recently lost a loved one, I offer you my condolences. I lost my mother and husband within the span of a year and became skilled at planning funerals. I know how hard it can be so I wanted to help others with organisation, decoration and other issues. I hope this blog helps you. Enjoy reading and thank you.