St. Patrick’s Cemetery Clean Up
The Cemetery Staff asks all family members to remove all Christmas decorations by February 1 (before Lent begins). The Annual Spring Cemetery Clean-Up will begin on February 2nd. Thank you for your assistance in keeping our cemetery clean and reverent.
These rules and regulations are put in place for the safety of our visitors and staff, and to keep our cemetery beautiful for all. Thank you for your understanding.
Decoration clean-up for our cemetery will begin on March 28, 2022. Lot owners are requested to remove any Fall or Winter decorations they wish to save before March 28, 2022.
Fresh cut flowers in a floral cone or basket are always permitted, provided they are in good condition. .Artificial flower saddles secured on top of the monuments are permitted. All other decorations will be removed during the cleanup. During the cleanup cemetery staff removes and disposes of all items not permitted from graves.
Groundskeepers are instructed to leave any permitted new seasonal decorations that appear to be newly placed and are in accordance with the current cemetery Rules and Regulations.
Items not permitted include, but are not limited to:
Glass urns
Corner posts
Glass of any kind
Flags and flag holders
Toys or stuffed animals
Solar lights
Plantings of any kind
Flower planters, boxes & pots
Trellises
Wooden or plastic crosses
Shepherd hooks
Crushed stone or wood chips
These rules and regulations are put in place for the safety of our visitors and staff, and to keep our cemetery beautiful for all. Thank you for your understanding.
For more information regarding our cemetery guide-lines, please visit our website at www.stpatrickathenscatskill.org .
GRAVE STONE CLEANING INSTRUCTIONS
You will need:
1. Plenty of water. If there is no access to water on site you can fill new 5 gallon gas containers with
water. Do not use containers that have held gasoline in them.
2. Two 1 ½ gallon hand pump water sprayers
3. Standard size plastic dish pan
4. Assortment of nylon bristle brushes. You’ll want a small still bristled brush for detailing and larger
5. Plastic scrapers
6. Wooden sticks (manicure sticks work)
7. D/2 Biological Solutions purchased from: www.atlaspreservation.com
8. Rubber gloves to protect your skin.
Start Cleaning:
1. Make sure the stone and all carvings/decoration are stable. Old monuments are often loose on base
and will topple with little effort. Crosses are often pinned with iron that has rusted. These things are
dangerous. Do not touch an unstable monument.
2. Use plastic scrapers and dry brushes to rid the stone of any loose lichen or moss.
3. Starting at the very BOTTOM of the stone use the water pump to spray a section about one foot high
at a time around the stone. Cleaning from the bottom up is important. Cleaning from the top down will
cause streaking that will be difficult if not impossible to clean. Get as much dirt off as you can using the
water and brushing. Rinse your brush often in the dish pan filled with water. Keep changing the
dishpan water as it blackens. Using water as a first step to cleaning will save you money.
4. Add the D/2 Biological Solution in another sprayer and apply to the stone once you have rinsed as
much grime off as you can. Again start at the bottom and spray, scrub well and rinse in small sections
working your way around the stone.
5. Repeat until the water you apply to the stone for rinsing runs clear.
6. Use the wooden picks and small brush to clean detailed areas i.e. carving and inscription. Rinse with
sprayer until all is clear. About the Cleaning Product and Method:
D/2 Biological Solution is the best cleaning agent on the market for gravestone restoration work. Do not
use household bleach or anything abrasive on stone. Never use metal scrapers or picks.
Granite may be power washed if the stone is stable. Marble should never be washed with a PSI higher
than the stream of a garden hose. Marble is a soft stone and will chip or suffer stress cracks if not
treated carefully. You will need a lot of water so if water is not on site, plan to bring several 5 gallon containers of clean
water.
What to Expect:
D/2 will turn the stone a lot of different colors before it dries and lightens over the course of several
weeks (more if the weather is damp). The colors mean it is working deep in the pores of the stone
killing all lichen and moss. The stone will eventually brighten in the sun. Pollutants deposit on the stone
over years and may cause black stains that are permanent unless steamed cleaned or sand blasted.
Black stains will fade significantly with cleaning.
Restoration Material:
You can buy all of it on-line. Check out https://limeworks.us/ and
http://www.granitecitytoolvt.com/ and https://www.stoneboss.com/
Akemi Epoxy 2010
Lithomex mortar
Setting compound (Joint Tite)
Jahn 110 Pointing Mortar
Tools:
You will need a few sets of tools: https://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece-masons-hand-tool-set35402.html?cid=paid_google|*PLA+-+Top+SKUs+-
+All+%28Main%29||35402&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&mkwid=s|pcrid|38362914
1625|pkw||pmt||pdv|c|slid||product|35402|&pgrid=76603533005&ptaid=pla293946777986&pcid=1398685905&intent=&gclid=CjwKCAjw2qHsBRAGEiwAMbPoDNth4N36Mb
inF_FrqCV1CvFAOfmZaY-fvDDpvvfOJCALFfntVHObFRoCLf0QAvD_BwE
Also buy several small round nosed trowels for pointing mortar in small spaces.