Headstone Cleaning Project Description

The National Cemetery Administration, an agency of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), a component of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, are partnering to conduct research to determine appropriate treatment for the cleaning and maintenance of Federally issued marble veteran headstones. Current methods of cleaning VA markers keep the headstones free of biological growth, but they may also have negative effects on the physical and chemical properties of the stone, and therefore shorten their useful life.

Five VA cemeteries, each representing a different climatic, are included in the headstone-cleaning project: Alexandria National Cemetery in Pineville, La.; Bath National Cemetery, Bath, NY; Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo.; San Francisco National Cemetery, San Francisco, Calif.; and Santa Fe National Cemetery, Santa Fe, NM. The testing process will begin in the fall of 2005 with the identification of biological growth and the treatment of stones with five cleaners (D2 Architectural Antimicrobial, Daybreak, Kodak Photo-flo, H2Orange2 Grout Safe, World Environmental Group’s Marble Cleaners) plus plain water. A six-square grid will be marked out on each stone to allow identification of the placement of each agent. The biological growth and the effectiveness of the cleaners will be monitored, and the three most-effective cleaners will be chosen for further individual testing on whole headstones. Forty-eight headstones will be tested in each of the cemeteries. Twenty lab samples of marble will also be placed in each cemetery, treated with the cleaners, monitored and tested in the NCPTT lab in order to determine any physical and chemical changes in the stones. The testing process is projected for completion by the summer of 2007.

The results of NCPTT's testing may provide a more effective cleaning method that: 1) maintains the appearance of the stone, 2) removes and inhibits biological growth, 3) is easily applied, and 4) is more cost efficient than the current methods of headstone cleaning. The results will benefit all National and State Veteran's cemeteries, as well as any cemeteries containing marble headstones.