A Day in the Life of a Vaultman

my name is Austin and I'm a burial Vault installer and a headstone cleaner at the Vault company I work for we install both Wilbert and trigard Burial Vaults and occasionally a Clark burial Vault and I wanted to take you through an average workday for a burial Vault installer I've never created a video with quite this much information before so we'll start with the basics beginning with the grave itself most people think that graves are are still 6 ft deep and with the use of Burial Vaults that's just not the case any longer and at the start of this video we'll go into depth about why Graves used to be 6 ft deep why they aren't anymore and what I'm doing placing a cross in the bottom of the Grave when setting Burial Vaults the vault is displayed by cables and we need to get those cables out so the cross or Mounds help get the cables out from each end of the Vault now let's talk grave depth so while most people are under the assumption that graves are still 6 ft deep that's just not the case anymore especially when Burial Vaults are used in the cemetery this grave is 54 in deep which makes it around 4 1/2 ft deep The Vault itself The Vault itself is just over 34 in so what that means is that there's 20 in of soil above the Vault now the casket sits down lower 6 or 8 in into the Vault therefore the top of the C basket is around 2 and 1/2 ft below the surface of the ground now the reason that they used to dig Graves 6 ft deep was grave Robbers for one Vermin for two animals trying to get access to the person that's in the grave and of course there's going to be a scent when a person is buried in the ground now the reason that they don't have to be 6 ft deep anymore is because grave robbery is next to Impossible with one of these sealed Burial Vaults the smell as well is almost impossible with a sealed burial vault and Vermin aren't going to gain access to the casket inside of a burial ball now as far back as the 1700s people have been making Burial Vaults whether that be out of brick or stone to protect the casket from grave robbers and animals and things of that sort so now the grave doesn't have to be 6 ft deep because those were the reasonings for that grave death for us we want to have around 18 to 24 in of soil above the vault which means that the grass will have no issue with growing above the vault you want to have at least a foot of soil to make sure the grass can grow and it won't die when it gets hot outside um two foot is usually the standard here in Illinois and Indiana sometimes it's deeper some grave diggers like to dig deeper but State minimum is 24 in I believe in Indiana and I think it's 18 in Illinois I'd have to double check that but most grave diggers in our area just try to get around 24 in 20 to 24 in of soil above the ball now when it comes to Green barrial this might not be the case the case might still be that it's a 6ot deep grave for a green burial because of the reasons I've said before now grave robbery in this day and age is not as common and even with these vaults I've never heard of someone trying to dig up a barrial vault for a few dollars worth of copper that's not something I've ever heard of not something I've seen so 6t deep is no longer the norm it's not necessary for the burial Vault practice used in cemeteries today and one other thing that we don't deal with here too much in Central Illinois and Central Indiana is Extreme flooding like some areas do in Louisiana Florida and some of the southern states that experience horrible flooding which can actually make Burial Vaults or caskets rise to the surface when you have a sealed casket or a sealed burial Vault it does hold air therefore the casket or the Vault will float to the surface of the ground if the ground becomes saturated enough one thing that comes with certain Wilbert Burial Vaults like the stainless steel Triune copper Triune or bronze Triune is an obituary Time Capsule that's embedded in the lid that can help identify the person who has passed away while I don't often hear about stories such as those I know that hurricanes have caused that to happen before and I don't know the answer as to how we can prevent something like that the most we can do as Vault men is try to make sure that we can identify the casket or the the vault in question to begin this setup I treated the headstones with D2 biological solution this committal service setup is for family members who used to own the funeral home in this town that I'm working in in the burial Vault industry you get to know the families who own the funeral homes the families who work at the Vault companies and the families who run the cemeteries and while we take pride in every service that we do we make sure we Dot all our eyes and cross all our tees for families who've been involved in the industry that we work in it's now time to place this Wilbert monacello over the grave and begin The Swinging process this piece of equipment is called a Johnny Handler and it's provided to us from True Rebel Equipment and we have another buggy on its way from True Rebel Equipment and I can't wait to see the difference between their newest model and this one but as for the Johnny Handler I don't have any complaint whatsoever this piece of equipment has three different hydraulic lift points that help us level out the burial Vault before placing it over the grave and while today is pretty level this piece of equipment really comes in handy on hillsides as you can imagine moving around a 2600 lb burial Vault over a hillside can be dangerous and difficult the hydraulic lift points on this Johnny Handler really help us level out the burial Vault so that when we raise it up it doesn't swing towards either side side risking pinching us Between the Bars or just having the Vault Slam against the side and crack the concrete or even chip the paint for today's service it's pretty straightforward we simply raise the Vault off the buggy and let gravity do most of the work and it gently slides across the platform and I use just a little bit of manual labor to line it up exactly where I want it one thing that I keep in mind is the trademark for a Wilbert monello each bear vault in the cemetery is aligned in an east to west fashion with the feet to the East and the head to the West originating from religious tradition but it also helps keep the cemetery organized it's believed that Christ will return from the East with the sound of a trump but as far back as 5,000 years ago the dead have been buried fac in the East to worship the sun god in general being buried fac in the Rising Sun is tradition across the central United States and in most cemeteries in general typically when doing a the committal service setup I will place the Vault over the grave and then I will fully swing The Vault and have it ready for service on days like today where it's misting and raining I'll go ahead and set the tent first to make sure that no rain gets into the Vault or onto my equipment that I spend a lot of time keeping shined up and presentable for when the families arrive since our vault company swings every Vault and keeps the lid on the rails behind the base we are done with the buggy for now so we can place it in the cemetery hidden away from sight some Vault companies parked the trailer right next to the setup and I've never really fully understood that especially if you don't need to use it again when it comes to setting the committ service tent I always place my carpets down first and make sure they're staked into the ground so nobody can fall years back I was working a service in a cemetery that had this really fine fluffy grass and it was making it so that my artificial carpets were standing up on top of the grass and made it really easy to trip luckily some family members had made their way under the T when an elderly woman walked up to the graveside she caught the carpet with her first step and it rolled up underneath her feet she began falling almost in slow motion and thankfully one of the family members was there to help stabilize her and keep her from falling if it weren't for that family member she would have fallen head first into a really really large headstone so from that day I figured out a way to make little angled staks to keep the carpet flushed to the ground and try to avoid any trip hazards as possible setting the carpets before setting my tent also helps me align my tent in a straight fashion I know that with my carpets staked out that they're going to be straight and then I can set my tent poles off of where the carpets are placed to make sure the tent isn't cockeyed or angled in a way that's going to make it sit off center or angled caus me to have to remove all the poles and stake everything back down when teaching new hires I try to get them to make their own routine get things down so that they know the exact process the exact steps every single day and with time they can become faster and more proficient at the job enabling to do two or three services a day once my big green carpets are down I can lay out my Runners which are half as wide and they go over the boards that surround the Vault I use these carpets to hide the end of the equipment and make sure that the family's headstone is still visible we also use tea carpets that are used to cover up the reels and the 4x4s but on a day like today I want to keep my carpets folded back so that when it's time to place the tea carpets I can leave them folded up and they won't cover near as much ground which will leave The Headstone exposed for the family this equipment is called the feet it's also referred to as the Wilbert way this is a way that we can suspend The Vault over the grave so that both the base and the lid is visible to the family We Begin by taking our cables and reeling the cables eight times on each end of the feet suspending the vault in this manner also makes us able to seal and lower the vault above ground making sure that the seal is aligned properly and so that the family can view the process of the casket lowering when the base of the vault is placed down into the bottom of the Grave it's almost impossible for anyone to see the casket entering the Vault and it's also almost impossible to make sure that the lid is aligned properly so that the seal fits tightly around the groove of the lid over the lip of the base reeling these cables an even amount on both ends is really important if it's off by just one rotation or even one click on the feet The Vault will lift up unevenly making the lid uneven when it's pushed back and harder for the carriers to get placed on and it just doesn't look safe overall if the vault is angled or leaning in either direction for the vault man out there this is when the process of Swinging The Vault actually occurs to separate the lid from the base the feet must be moved back away from the Vault around a Knuckles width the feet must be centered around the Vault base as you see I'm doing here and all the slack must be released out of the cables to make sure that they both get tight on each end evenly this is the oneman bar the Onan bar attaches to both sets of feet and reels both ends of the cables at the exact same time if the reels aren't even or the cables have too much slack The Vault will raise unevenly and that will need to be fixed before proceeding with the setup for every funeral home I try to take mental notes which is why sometimes you see the Dirt Pile covered and sometimes you don't for this funeral home they prefer it to be covered with big carpets and for other funeral homes they preer to leave it open especially if the family is going to be participating in the grave filling process now that the Dirt Pile is covered we can add our lid rails and our lid carriers these carriers clamp onto the lid and the carrier Wheels is what catch on the rails to separate the lid from the base after I drop the crank right up against my shin I want to make sure that the carriers are fairly tight now some Vault men disagree with me they just want the carriers to be snug onto the lid but in my opinion when the carriers lean down towards the middle of the Vault and they're not fully grasping onto the lid it doesn't appear as safe as when they're tightened down snug and the lid does not move at all when the carriers separate from the base before we proceed with separating the lid from the base I'm going to go ahead and set my tent it's sprinkling just a little bit of rain right now and I don't want to get water spots all over my lower device and get water inside the Vault itself the tents that we use are a 15 ft by 20t tent with an 8T extension off the back unfortunately in the Rain the flat top 8ft extension will collect rain and it'll be unsafe for the family to be under so we set the main tent and cover the Vault when the weather is nice outside we will leave the Vault exposed to the sunlight so that the family has more room underneath the tent for shade and so that all the equipment and the Vault the glitter on the Vault the name plate the emblem everything can shine out in the sunlight this 15x 20t tent is a six pole tent so it has four corners and two middle extension pieces one of our main jobs is to make sure that everything is safe and sound for when the family is present at the gravide but it's also really important to make sure everything appears safe as well if it's rainy or Breezy outside and the family arrives at the cemetery and notices that the tent holes are bent or leaning it won't look safe just like if the rails weren't level or the carriers weren't level and it looked like the lid was falling down towards the center our main objective is to make everything physically safe but also make it appear safe as well when most Vault men are new their number one priority is figuring out the burial Vault it can be a little bit intimidating moving around a 26 2800 lb burial Vault but what guys really have trouble with is setting the tent I know everyone's been to sporting events and you have little 10ft popup tents or you've been camping and you can set a camping tent up with no problem for some reason these things really test the new guys so I don't know if you can notice or not and if you do it might seem odd every single one of my Stakes is angled just a little bit and you know you could put every steak in perfectly straight up and down but once you put the top on and put all the extension pieces on a lot of times if they're straight up and down the tent's going to lean one way or the other and you have to put some ropes on it so what I do is angle every single tent stake that way when I put the pole on it's crooked leaning in towards the tent and then when I put the next pole I take the steak and angle it towards the pole that I just put in what that does is makes everything be pressed up against each other and it keeps tension on the poles to make sure that when I put the top on it's not swinging in either direction so I put every steak in wrong so that I fix it with the next steak all the way around and what that does is it keeps the poles from lifting up on the lifting up off of the stakes so everything is calm right now there's no Breeze at all but let's just say in an hour and a half when the funeral is here and the family is Under the Tent that a gust of wind picks up what I don't want is the wind to go underneath the tent top and lift this pole off the steak there's absolutely no tension so I can just lift it up really easy if you angle the pole if you angle the steak towards the center of the tent or against the pole next to it now it doesn't want to lift up as easy I have to really put some pressure into it and it doesn't sit down on the steak by itself so what that does is if a gust of wind comes up it's just going to move the tent a little bit it's not going to lift the poles up off the frame and have this pole swinging around in the air while the family's around so that's why every single one of my tent Stakes is a little bit off we'll get into headstone cleaning here in just a couple minutes but what I'm doing right now is treating the stones with D2 biological Solution by letting the solution sit on the stone while I do my setup it gets into that staining and that algae and helps loosen it up so that when I bring out the water and a scrub brush here in just a little while it's a lot easier to remove the stains from the tops of the stones but while that D2 biological solution gets to work we're going to add our 15x 20t tent top this tent top uses a combination of straps and hooks to make sure it stays stable on the tent frame this tent is also relatively new so on days where it's raining like it is today it's waterproofed and the water runs right off of it almost like a wind shield with rainex on it these tops are a very thick canvas and it uses six extension poles to attach its frame to keep it elevated over the grave now personally I prefer not to put ropes on my tent as much as possible you know it does make it safer by keeping the the tent even more stable but it also adds an extra trip Hazard no matter what color ropes you use or what you put on top of the steaks to alert people that are there I don't know how many times on a windy day I've seen people walk right into the side of the rope and and it cannot feel good so I try to avoid using them whenever it's safely possible The Tint is a pretty basic design it's got four corners with straps on each corner and over the middle poles it has two straps as well then it has hooks in between to make sure it stays down and that rain is not getting in between the walls and the tent top the extension top is a six pole frame that I prop up using one extension pole and then I add all six poles to the six frame poles using pinch and knock on wood that after 8 years and thousands of committal services I've never lost my tent there have been days where it's come drastically close we've had co-workers that have set their tent and then headed off to get lunch understandably so and a thunderstorm Brews up in the middle of the summertime and that tent ends up in the next County me personally I've been lucky and thunderstorms have come through bad enough to where there was a tornado warning out a mile away from me me were a tornado touch down on that day I didn't take any chances I drove my truck right underneath the tent and used a ratchet strap to attach the frame of my truck and by frame of my truck I mean the bar on the back of the bed to the main part of the center of the tent and even though it was 50 60 MPH gusts with hail I still kept the tent down and made sure that the family was safe and dry after that storm past but now our 15x 20ft tent is set ready to go shielding the vault a little bit of spritzing rain we have and it's time to separate the lid from the base each carrier has two wheels that are grooved and they sit directly on top of the lid rails once all four wheels are on we can lower the base to its display height and when I say display height I mean the height to where the vault is as high as possible without the pistols on the lowering device that I'm about to install from hitting the sides of the Vault preventing the casket from fitting frigid is the number one producer of lowering device in America I would have to say I mean I'm kind of just assuming right there because everyone that I know and every Vault company I know uses frigid equipment and it's extremely high quality these lower-end devices have notches on each one of the heads and the head is the Four Corners that you see that are domed these notches on the bottom side make it so that the lowering device is secured to the rails when it's tightened down this is another part of the job that new hires have a lot of an issue with it's really hard to carry these things when you're first starting out out they're very awkward and they torque a lot when you try to carry them by yourself so it's it's an interesting experience getting the new guys trained on maneuvering this device through the cemetery and onto the burial Vault unfortunately lately it's been a real struggle trying to find some help trying to hire some guys to come in and do this line of work I mean the pay is not horrible but there just aren't workers available our company has expanded slightly over the past few years and we still have less guys than when I got hired 8 years ago so this is The Frigid Imperial lowering device and in my opinion it's the best lowering device available because it completely mitigates any risk to the fall bears with some devices the rollers are detachable and there's three sets that sit on top of the lowering device the reason I don't like those sometimes they can become dislodged when the casket goes across if it's not high enough it'll smack into the side of the rollers and move them across risking the casket falling into the ball with this device the PA Bears can simply set the casket on that first large roller that you see it's high enough to where the casket will Glide right onto these first set of rollers the casket slides up the guide bars and right over the second set of rollers that being said the Paw Bears don't have to straddle both sides of the Vault or even walk across the front that's what I'm there for is to help them guide the casket across [Music] these are the tea carpets these carpets unfold into a t-shape and the flaps to the sides go out to cover the rest of the 4x4s in most cases I will leave my Runners slightly longer so they can cover the 4 by and the carpet can remain folded up obviously if there are headstones or foot stones on either end of the Vault the carpet can't be unfolded or it would cover up the headstone so I tend to leave mine folded up in most cases and so once the casket gets all the way across the second set of roll rers and clears the second blue strap it'll no longer be sitting on that first roller and it will be stopped by the casket breake at the end here so at this point the Paw Bears will all be on the other end and I'll have the end of the casket making sure that it's centered between the rollers once the casket centered where I want it we simply lower the casket down onto these safety bars where it will stay while the service takes place the reason for that is just to make sure it doesn't roll backwards towards this roller or roll up against the casket stop pretty simple design it just makes it so that the Paw Bears can safely stay on one end of the Vault without having to straddle it which would almost be impossible with the lid rails right there in the way so while the family's here that's about my only responsibility I'm just here to assist them by putting the casket on once that's done I stand off to the side and wait to see if they'd like to see the casket lowered into the Vault and the Vault lowered into the grave my other responsibility while the family is present is to remove the flags from the procession some funeral homes put flags on every car to let other drivers know that this is a funeral possession stop slow down and show some respect to the family who's grieving the loss of a loved one it's now time to place the name plate emblem and trademark on the ball it's common for a monacello to have a standard emblem like a cross crucifix palm leaf flower military symbol or a symbol like the Masons for families who want something more specific we are able to place vinyl decals on a stainless steel square to place where the emblem goes a lot of times that might be a sports team fishing a hobby hunting a nature scene at our company we pride ourselves on basically being able to do whatever we can to fit the family's needs there was one instance where my boss called me in the office to ask me if I knew anything about Harry Potter and I'm a pretty big nerve when it comes to that and a young man passed away who was also a big fan of the Harry Potter franchise he had just taken the Vault order from the funeral home that was providing the services for this family and he asked what I could do and I know Harry Potter very well and he was a fan of Slytherin house so we painted a Wilbert Continental the Slytherin green with a silver highlight and the emblem was the Slytherin house envelope it was really tragic to put that design together but at the same time we do what we can to try to provide the families with exactly what they're looking for when it comes to the hobbies and the Passions and the interests that the person who passed away had we've done camouflage Burial Vaults that I've designed myself done John Deere Green we've done International Harvester we've even painted a Wilbert white venician to resemble a tabed Cola can we really just strive to do the best we can for the families and try to make the funeral experience as personal as possible because there's nothing more personal than the loss of a loved one this committal service was right next to the road so it takes a much shorter amount of time to complete a setup some services are out in the center of the cemetery in an area that's crowded with headstones and it may be wet from the rain so we're not able to get very close to the gravide setup on average a setup may take anywhere from 40 minutes to 3 hours and today was about an hour and 20 minutes or so for the setup so it's at this time that I'll donate headstone cleanings to Veterans or I'll clean family headstones as well so right now I'm going to go ahead and prepare the air to get these headstones clean for the family now obviously I set the Vault and finished a committal service before beginning headstone work just in case anything goes wrong during the setup and I may need a replacement part I may need the replacement part of the Vault if anything goes wrong it's going to happen during the setup process so I make sure I get the setup done before beginning work on the headstones with that in mind it can make for some issues trying to keep my carpets and keep my chair covers and things clean so today I'm just going to set a carpet backwards and try to keep any of the overspray or any of the grass and whatnot from getting on all my equipment so let's get started on cleaning these two Granite flat Stones all right now it's time to get to some headstone cleaning and uh I just realized I forgot my blower and trimmer at home when I was doing yard work so this is going to make it more interesting having a blower and a trimmer makes things so much easier cuz you can really clean up around the foundation and the blower helps you get all the grass off of it plus dry the stone to make you got everything so we'll do what we can here today and I'm sure they're going to turn out great uh they've been treated with D2 biological solution which is the best solution in the business for cleaning headstones the first rule of headstone cleaning is to do no harm and D2 biological solution I believe is the only certified cleaner by the SE the United States Cemetery Association so that's the only product I use other than just plain old Dawn dish soap and tons and tons of water so if you want to get into headstone cleaning make sure you do your resar search and Do no harm let's get to it Kelly Vault company is not just a vault company but we are also a monument company and my boss and I work really well together so when someone reaches out for a headstone repair I send them to Kelly monument and when someone needs a cleaning Kelly Monument sends them my way and another thing especially when you're doing donation work with the permission of the cemetery always document any damage that's done to the stone before you start cleaning it such as this broken vase you'll also notice later on that the foundation on this headstone is cracked as well on the side you'll also notice later on that the foundation for this headstone is cracked and damaged as well the one thing we don't want to do as headstone cleaners is make anything worse this headstone is most likely damage because the foundation was set too far into the ground and The Roots and the grass and everything put too much pressure on the concrete foundation while it might seem a little unorthodox a Dollar Tree Knife Works really well for edging around these stones but that's exactly why bringing a trimmer is so important because you can edge around these Stones very easily without having to use a Dollar Tree kitchen knife but cleaning a headstone with grass overgrowing all the sides is almost impossible and I always like to make sure that the headstones have a clean border around the edges unfortunately this is what happens when the grass gets grown over it takes its toll on the foundation so we're just going to keep track of the pieces of the foundation and put them back to the best of our ability and get this headstone cleaned I'm not sure about the exact name of this grass but it's the type of grass that kind of branches out and almost acts like a weed or a Vine and once it gets into the concrete foundation it will break it apart especially if the foundation is set too low like this headstone is one thing I've done over the past few years is I've began setting veteran markers which means that we float them floating a flat marker basically just means that there is no Foundation but underneath the headstone is layers of sand and pea gravel to try to keep the stone level how these stones will often settle but it is best to place them around a/ in above ground level this way the mowers don't chip the stones and the grass doesn't grow up and over the stone causing the cracks that you see here from the roots of the grass getting into the foundation but now we're ready for the actual cleaning aspect of this and one of the most important things when headstone cleaning is just having plenty and plenty of water so with flat Granite markers like this the most buildup is going to be on the name plates and on the foundation itself because there's nowhere for the water and the grass and everything to run off to so that Forest material is going to collect more of the algae and bacteria buildup so that's where we're going to focus the granite should come clean fairly easily because it's polished so it's almost like dirty glass you can clean glass really easily that being said it's a lot harder than grass as well when doing a headstone cleaning having the right equipment is super important and while D2 biological solution is super important so is having the right brushes they have to be soft brushes and there are different brushes for different purposes the brush that I'm using now is a general allpurpose soft deck brush I use this initially to loosen everything up and really get all the solution sudsed up I now move on to a shorter bristle nylon brush that's better for working the solution into the stone and like I said the name plates are what collect the most amount of buildup this is because the granite is polished around the name plates and the name plates are rough which gives an area for the algae and bacteria to build up and grow on this is a much smaller short bristle brush that allows me to get inside the letter itself one of the reasons people like using D2 biological solution is because it's not just a product that you can spray on and scrub and rinse off you can actually spray D2 biological solution come back in a month and this stone is going to be perfectly clear it pulls out all that algae buildup lens pulls up everything that's how you see those really old veteran markers and really old 1800s 1900s people can go out and just spray those down and avoid scrubbing on them to damage a stone because they so old and brittle you can spray the D2 and it'll help pull those stains out and you don't even have to scrub on it I'm pretty impatient so on days like today with a hard Granite marker like this I can get a scrub brush in there work that D2 into the staining and it should pull 80 90% of it out it might not look perfect today but I'll come back in a week or two and the staining that gets deep into the concrete will be gone as well that's really hard to get out because concrete is so much more porous than granite is in my opinion if you soak an older headstone with a dilution of dish soap and water usually around a 10:1 ratio 10 parts water one part dish soap you can do a light scrubbing on the older Stones just to get the big chunks of algae and the bits of dirt off of the stone and you don't have to worry too much about damaging the stone it's always safest to just use D2 biological solution to clean the stone over time but if you can get some of the larger chunks of buildup off from the beginning the D2 will be more effective you just have to be certain you're using soft scrub brushes to do that cleaning there is one Cemetery that comes to mind every time I talk about headstone cleaning and it's a cemetery where they hired a power washing company to come in and clean the headstones it was an absolute catastrophe on the newer headstones that were painted on the interior of the lettering and had murals painted on the fronts it completely power washed out the paint and what really broke my heart is on the older headstones the the ones that have been there for hundreds of years they completely power washed off the names and the dates of every single headstone a power washer is something that does not belong in a cemetery it is not the right piece of equipment for this type of work although headstones are made out of stone they're not as indestructible as most people think they are it hurts me to my core thinking about all the memories and all the information that was lost when those names and those dates were were erased from those headstones forever and with the names and dates on those headstones were erased all the history of those individuals because this community that hired the person to do it the internet or cell phones so hopefully in their community's records they have all those people's names and their information but if not that history is gone forever and situations like that is why do no harm is the number one rule of headstone cing we've now moved on to the second family headstone that I'm cleaning today for this headstone I'm going to give a little bit of a clean to half of the headstone so that you can see the difference in the before and after while the cleaning takes place there's something really satisfying about a before and after video or photo that shows just how rough something was to begin with and how clean it becomes after most of the headstone cleanings that I do are donation work most of the headstone cleanings that I do are donation and most of what I do are baby Graves but primarily US veterans I feel like spending my spare time while I'm doing committal service setups to clean veteran headstones is the least I can do instead of just sitting in my truck and waiting on the procession I started cleaning headstones for families that had a committal service for the day and since then I've cleaned over 500 veteran headstones I don't know if you can fully see on the video but with these flat Granite markers sometimes they get these really deep dark set in stains right around the name I'm not sure what exactly causes it in that particular spot but since I'm using D2 biological solution today I'm going to leave this all sudsed up with the D2 and let it sit for a while and hopefully it can work on pulling those stains out if not there's a little concoction I make using a I can't remember the parts I have to Google it every time but it's it's part dish soap part peroxide part baking powder baking soda something like that you mix it into a paste and set it right on those stones and it helps pull them out and then you clean it off really good that's probably the only time I use something other than D2 or just regular dish soap but I don't even know if I've got everything like that with me today so I might not get to it but getting a head start on Stones like these I can just write them down on my ledger and I can come back and get that done next time I'm in this Cemetery in this town but for the most part both of them are coming pretty clean I just wish I had my blower so I could get them dried off and looking a little even better for when the family arrives today these are all headstones for the family of the individual I'm laying to rest today they looked real rough when I got here so I just wanted to take the time to clean them up while I'm waiting on the procession to arrive so I just keep an eye on the time and get done what I can get done while I'm out here so I'm going to let this soak for a while go fill up my water check on the stone I just cleaned and make sure I didn't miss anything and we'll get these finished up get changed for service changing our clothes for when the family is present is not something that every Vault company does but it's our opinion that we shouldn't look like dirty muddy manual labor workers when the family is present we should reflect the funeral home and the respect and care that they give to the families it's the smallest act that we could do to make sure the family knows that we're not just there to do a manual labor job but we're also there to care for their family so now that these headstones are getting finished up for today we can go ahead and move our carpet out of the way reset our chairs and get everything back ready to go for when the family arrives and while these headstones did not come completely clean today I did treat them before I left with D2 biological solution one more time to make sure that this product continues to work after we're gone every time it rains the product will reactivate and continue pulling the stains out of the headstones and one comment I get most often is what do I use to clean bronze markers and that is something that I have a LoveHate relationship with for the most part bronze markers will never be brought back to what they look like brand new they can always be cleaned but if they have enough deterioration and enough weathering they need to be removed and sent out and redone of course any mud or excess dirt can be cleaned off of bronze markers but when it comes to the tarnishing that bronze markers have most of the time they need to be redone by a headstone specialist or by a monument company just like the bronze vases on these flat Stones there wasn't much I could do other than give them a soap and water bath and use D2 biological solution to help kill off any growth that occurs but there's not much that a headstone cleaner can do to revamp them back to their original bronze color that's a job for a monument company but we have these headstones as clean as we can get them today and this Wilbert monacell setup is ready for when the family arrives for service and this is why a leaf blower is so important when cleaning headstones I would have much rather had these blown off and they'd be way more dry when the family arrived to show just how clean we were able to get them today but it's now time for the hardest part of the job which is the lowering of the casket and the cealing of the burial Vault now each family is different and I've heard a million times and I wish it wasn't the case that amilies were denied the ability to watch the ceiling and lowering process if a cemetery crew or a funeral director says you're not allowed to that is simply not the case the most they can do is make you stand back away from the setup while the vault is being sealed and lowered for safety reasons this is one of the reasons why I stay present at the gravite during the entire committ service process if the family is curious about how this process is done I want to be there to educ at them and show them and perform the lowering in front of the family if they wish for most families across the Midwest they have a lunch in or a repass to go to after the committal service so most of the family members will move on from this process and they won't witness the internment other families will stay and watch the casket be lowered and place flowers on the casket before heading till the lunch in other families will stay for the vault to be sealed and lowered and they throw handfuls of ceremonial dirt on top of the ball there are also families who participate in every aspect where they will watch the casket be lowered and sealed into the Vault lowered into the ground and the family themselves will help backfill the Grave by hand and some other families designate one person to stay behind and witness the lowering the ceiling and the back filling before he heads on to meet with the family and share those memories at the lunch it's our job as a vault man to accommodate all of these requests from family members as long as it doesn't put them at risk of being hurt I have had family ask if they can lower the casket down by hand or if they can lower the Vault by hand into the grave and unfortunately due to liability reasons I cannot let them operate the equipment but they can be present for the entire process and I will do my best to answer any questions as this process occurs one of the main reasons that I prefer the the Wilbert W setup is what I mentioned earlier in the video that the casket can be lowered into the Vault above ground the lowering device can then be removed and the lid can be placed on the Vault to where it's visible to both the family and myself to ensure a proper seal to remove the lower device there are raised ridges on each end of the base of the burial ball which allows the casket enough space to move the straps out from each end without those raised ridges the casket straps would be stuck at the bottom of the Vault with the weight of the casket we can then tighten down the lower device and remove it from above the ball this is probably the most nerve-wracking part of lowering a casket and sealing a vault in front of the family because this equipment is very heavy and there are usually anywhere from 50 to 500 people watching this process it doesn't matter how long you've been a vault man the number one thing you're trying to avoid is any type of disaster in front of the family or risking dropping the lower device and damage the casket or falling and having the lowering device hurt a family member which is why I do understand why some Funeral Directors ask the family to stand back for this process in my opinion as long as I have enough room to work I don't mind if I'm crowded by people I just want to be able to provide the best service possible to seal the burial Vault the lid is pushed over the Bas and the Bas is raised into the lid lifting the carriers off of the Rails the seal activates as soon as the lip of the base enters the groove of the lid the butal adhesive seal that is installed in the lid during the manufacturing process will be displaced and formed around the lip of the base giving the Vault its seal if you look at the beginning of the video this Vault has around an inch of clearance in between the base and the lid because of the corner supports preventing the Vault from sealing prematurely from personal experience I know that this seal is strong and intact from this point on in certain instances over my 8 years of being a vault man something was either left with the deceased like a ring or a necklace or something was forgotten to be placed into the casket before the Vault was sealed because of these factors the casket needed to be accessed immediately after the Vault was lowered when we attempt to pull the lid off of a wiet barial vault the seal is not what fails instances such as this have happened to me over the years multiple times and rather than the seal giving way allowing access to the interior of the Vault the liner itself will fail the beal adhesive seal is so strong that it outweighs the power of the Interior liner being adhered to the concrete itself so in cases such as those the lid is replaced with a new Beal adhesive seal and a new liner inside the wheel my main purpose for these videos is not only to educate other Vault men but to also show the background work of the funeral industry being interred in a burial Vault may not be your wish or your wish for a loved one but if it is the case that this is the route that your family chooses to go I just want to educate the public to let you know that your family are taking care of and that in this industry there are good people providing the best Services possible for you and your family at the hardest times imaginable this journey for me began when I lost my sister when I was 15 years old I experienced Death at a young age and I feel like it's my way to give back to do everything I can to help those families who have lost someone through their hardest times of their lives every family deserves to be taken care of at this time

Channel: Illiana Headstone Care

Views: 256,114

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Id: LqJUpL8u_rA

Length: 44min 34sec (2674 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 07 2024