According to this article in the Sarnia Observer Harold Sonnenberg has been pretty busy as the superintendent of Greenwood Cemetery in Waterford, Ontario, Canada.   What’s happened there happens all over North America in cemeteries and provides back-breaking work for those who “fix the problem” to satisfy families of those interred.

 

The “What” is that permanent granite and bronze markers sink into the ground over time requiring a maintanence of “lifting” them back up into presentable conditions.  Sonnenberg says that sometimes the flat markers sink so far into the ground that they sink into the ground and “. . . .if I didn’t tap my shovel, I wouldn’t have even known they were there.”

 

The article goes on to say he uses “. . pry bars and weights, lifts the stones – weighing several hundred pounds – until he can move dirt beneath it.”

 

And, he says, “This is a dilemma that faces all cemeteries. . . . .I’ve done several hundred in the last two summers.   There would be literally thousands in this cemetery.  I’ve hardly made a dent.”

 

At Funeral Director Daily we have found that where there is a problem, there is probably also a solution.  We came across a company called IOWAT Group that seems to have a solution for this problem and more with their revolutionary “MonuGrid Concrete Replacement” product.  And, we decided we needed to pass it on to our readers who either operate cemeteries or know people who do.

 

You can find information on the MonuGrid here.  MonuGrid manufactures and distributes a lightweight product made out of recycled plastic that can be placed underneath upright and flat markers to keep them from sinking.  Here’s what their website says of the product:

 

“It will never decompose and will outlast virtually all other surfaces or foundations by years and years. This is why so many cemetery professionals use MonuGrid.”

 

An interesting thing about the MonuGrid is that the company also uses it in placement under columbariums.  We’ve also learned that not only can MonuGrid be placed under individual markers, but now some cemeteries are placing it under entire rows of future marker installations.

 

Here you can see a short video on the IOWAT Group and what they can do.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

Cedar City Cemetery to undergo renovation and expansion.  Iron County Today (UT)

 

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