Headstone Cleaning Project Description
General 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 climate, were included in the headstone-cleaning project starting in 2004: 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 began in fall 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 was marked out on each stone to allow identification of the placement of each agent. The biological growth and the effectiveness of the cleaners were monitored, and the three most-effective cleaners were chosen for further individual testing on whole headstones. Forty-eight headstones were 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 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.
Project Update January 2010:
Based on findings from the first part of the project, NCPTT determined that it required additional study time to analyze bio-growth treatments, initially in the field as well as in the laboratory. Due to initial rates of biotic re-growth, the three cleaners remaining in the study are: D/2, Daybreak and Marble Cleaner. In 2008-2009, the project was extended and the final report is due later this calendar year.
