How do you clean a sandstone gravestone?

[BONDY LAD]

Morning all, sorry for the content, but without going into to much detail we visited our local cemetery ( baby garden) yesterday , now we have in the past paid to have the stone sandblasted, but this isn’t cheap and a lot of legalities to go through. .Any ideas on how to do this yourself, there is an item on amazon for £7-99 which claims to do the job, have any of you guys done this “yourself” and how, any thought and ideas much appreciated, the size of the stone is slightly bigger both ways than an average shoe box, thanks, bondy.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Hi Bondy.

Is there water available nearby that you could fill a watering can?

If so I would use Pro-Kleen Patio & Driveway Cleaner. This is brilliant gear. You just put it on your patio with a spray or a watering can then hose it off. It's fantastic

For a headstone I would pour it into some old plastic food container and using a cheap old brush paint it on. Leave 20 mins then using the water in a can just wash it off.
High in bleach content so watch your eyes.

For our late Sons stone we use loads of Jif and a scourer. Works ok but not as good as the stuff I mentioned above.

[BONDY LAD]

Many thanks , Tom, no headstone, it’s just laid horizontally along with others either side, no running water nearby , very annoying but we can get round that, will try what you advise, but at this time of the year it appears”neglected “ and it’s not by any means, cheers, bondy.

[olgaandcoda]

Not the same but we have sandstone patio and clean it up with neat bleach, it may not be appropriate for a gravestone. But it’s the only thing that brings it up clean.

[Libby29]

You can buy brick cleaner, it works a treat, just be careful using it.
Wear gloves, and just wash it off with a bottle of water.

[TheDales]

I used Astonish mould and mildew remover.
This was only a quick 10 min trial, bit of elbow grease with a stiff brush, seemed to work OK.
Before and after pics below

[BONDY LAD]

Again,many thanks for all your advice,I will get this done and post back ASAP,but it does appear with the correct products and a little elbow grease,the bondy words “ jobs a belter” spring to mind, noticed on the gravestone your mum and dad died 2 days apart,that,I cannot imagine,god bless them, bondy.