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Even
though a gravestone may be made up of materials like
those found in the exteriors or interiors of building
(i.e. marble, granite, or other stone), the same
techniques that would be used to clean and protect the
building cannot be used in the cemetery. Unlike
buildings, gravestones are also exposed on all sides to
the environment and must be able to allow air and water
pass through it. The introduction of a sealant to the
stone will prevent this process and will cause later
damaging effects to the stone. Keep in mind that in many
cases the stone is in direct contact with the soil and
anything in the ground can be wicked up into the stone.
Sealing, waterproofing or coating the stone with any
sealing process will inhibit it's natural ability to
evaporate this moisture from inside the stone. This will
result in new damage and expansion problems. The War
Graves Commission once did some experiments on water
proofing compounds and found that silicone treatments
actually caused more damage than if the stone was left
exposed. The silicone trapped water in the stone, and
the frost blew off the surface.
While Saving Graves does
not recommend the use any type of sealant, there has
recently been developed a number premium quality
breathing type sealers which is claimed to not trap
moisture within the stone and will not interfere with
the natural self cleansing calcification process of
stones such as limestone. However these sealants are
quite new, expensive and in the opinion of Saving Graves
additional testing is required before such a product
could be recommended.
The Use of WD-40 as a
Gravestone Sealant
There seems to be little
information on the effects of the use of WD-40 on a
gravestone outside of a comment on the final plans
website recommending that on bronze markers after
cleaning to spray the memorial with WD-40 to protect the
finish. However given the fact that a bronze marker is
an entire different ballgame from a stone marker it can
safely be assumed that introducing this product to a
stone surface would produce quite different results.
The "WD" in WD-40 stands for Water Displacer. It was
designed to remove water from mechanical equipment but
it was found to have some lubrication ability short term
so they went down that road in marketing it. The first
concern is that if a person wants to use WD-40 to seal
the stone, then one must assume that they will not only
clean the stone but also rinse the stone off before
applying the WD-40. If that stone is wet when they apply
the WD-40 then it will only serve to drive the rinse
water and any leftover chemical deeper into the stone
and trapping it there.
The second concern is that it has peen proven that WD-40
changes as it evaporates over time into a more "gummy"
substance. Given the fact that the WD-40 is applied to
the surface of the stone after cleaning as a sealant
one has to assume that there is no intent to wash it
off. This "gummy" substance on the surface of the stone
could create something along the lines of a waterproof
seal that could not only trap moisture within the stone,
but could hamper the natural breathing process of the
stone.
You also must take into account that what goes into
making WD-40 is unknown to the general public it's next
to impossible to say with 100% assurance what effects to
the stone it may or may not have. With that in mind,
Saving graves recommends to fall back to "when in doubt,
err on the side of caution". Exercise common sense
whenever using WD-40. |
