Thread: Tombstones needs fixing help

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I made styraphome tombstones over the years. I place them on rebar so they will stay put. Except last year it was very windy. So on some of them they rebar ripped through the styraphome. I want to fix them by gluing a piece of styraphome over top the ripped part. Except I don't know what shape I should make them, since they are just at the bottom of the piece. Any ideas??

Perhaps you could base the tombstones. Make a rectangular block and mount the tombstone on this. Then run your rebar down through the block. This gives more foam area so the rebar is less likely to break through on windy days. What I do is use 1/2 PVC pipe glued to the back of my stones and then slide the pipe over the rebar. It would take a very strong wind to damage them this way.

you have any pics??

Originally Posted by joey352

Perhaps you could base the tombstones. Make a rectangular block and mount the tombstone on this. Then run your rebar down through the block. This gives more foam area so the rebar is less likely to break through on windy days. What I do is use 1/2 PVC pipe glued to the back of my stones and then slide the pipe over the rebar. It would take a very strong wind to damage them this way.

I was going to suggest this as well. We have some with bases and they hold up better in our wind here.
We have one that was messed up pretty good last year due to the wind - one problem is, it's really tall. So my hubby is going to put the rebar up it in a different spot and then he was going to do some sort of "t" at the bottom so there wouldn't be so much movement. He was trying to explain it to me - I'm not exactly sure I understood what he meant.

As far as repair, depending on if it's front or back, with ours, a chuck came out. I'm thinking of using that spray foam stuff that expands to fill the hole, sand it, paint it and put moss over it. Moss hides a lot of nicks, etc. that happen throughout the years.

Did it rip through the front? If it's out the back, I wouldn't be too worried about a perfect repair. Mine took damage on the edges last year, so I have pink or blue chunks showing that I need to touch up with paint.

As far as support, I think I found a solution that worked well for me last year. Here in IN, it gets pretty windy through Oct. for some reason, bad weather, rain too. Not to mention I still have to mow the yard until late Oct. bleh.

So.... Before I painted my tombstones, I made "H" or double "H" backbones out of furring strips (the bundles of wood that are about 1" wide and 5' long... back of lumber section) So there were supports running up the back, with a gap in the middle, and a kind of "pocket" running between them. Then, I took a furring strip, sharpened an end, crammed it in the ground like a stake. Then all I had to do was slide the tombstone on/off the stake for use. (the stake slides between the uprights of the "H" and under the crossbar. I planted them at angles, or facing the wind for stability, and to hide the backbones.

Oh, I painted the wood stakes and backbones so it wasn't just bare wood. Blended in fairly well actually, especially at night.

What I do with my tombstones, is I hot glue pvc pipe to the back and then just sit them down on the rebar.

I use fix-all to fill any unwanted holes in the stones. To keep them from breaking in the first place i use conduit carefully insenrted up the middle of the stone and then put that on top of the rebar stuck into the ground. The fix-all also adds weight to the stone to keep it from blowing quite so much in the future.

Can you do those sort of fixes to the store bought tombstones? I have some as 'filler' and they are a pain to get to stand up.

These are all amazing ideas, I don't know what I didn't think of any of these my self. Is hot glue the best glue to attach the pvc pipe to the back off the tombstone? All the damage was of course to the front of the tombstone. I think I'll put a base around all the tombstones to cover the damage, although the expanding foam sounds easier. Hmmm what to do.

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Reason why they snap is usually just the base is connected to the ground and nothing supports the full back of the tombstone. Wind blows and it acts as a sail...no resistance...snap..