Thread: Staking tombstones

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HELP! I am still having problems getting my tombstones to STAY standing up.

Last year I tried the real estate sign method and the tombstones were so heavy with the wind blowing it would blow them over and bend the metal.

Year before I used wooden dowels and found that halfway through the foam they would pop out and leave a hole.

I am currently using a wooden stick inserted into the yard and tying them with very fine fishing thread, this isn't helping because they are still falling over.

Need suggestions to get these store bought and handmade foam stones to stand, through 5-20 mph wind here in Mississippi..

I am spending each day after work going out and resetting up, getting tiresome.

I have the same issues every year and I think this year I may have a solution. I'm planning to take a piece (or two) of lath, I'm gonna staple velcro to it sharpen one end and stake it in the ground about 6". Then I plan to stick the velcro to the back of my tombstones and hope it stays. If not I plan to Krazy glue the velcro to the tombstone and let it dry. If that doesn't work I don't know what to do. I also plan to use the green metal poles that you put up a chicken wire fence with, (available at Lowes for around $5. ea.) and hang a wire, then drape camo netting over the wire as a back drop to my cemetery. Hopefully it will 1 cut down on wind, 2 catch anything that starts to blow away (that and the fence around the front). Good luck, and I'll let you know how it goes on my end.

I drilled 3/8" holes in the bottom of my tombstones, and then pound 3/8" rebar into the ground, and slide the tombstones over the rebar. Never had any problems!

gorrilla glue PVC to the back of your tombstone then use the rebar method!
45mph winds here last year and I had no issues.

on most of mine I have the little fence sections you can buy in the garden section everywhere they are between 6 inches or 18 inches wide and made of metal with two prongs that stick in the ground then I just use fishing line and tie the tombstone to it. They aren't that pretty from the back but they stay in the ground.
That said, I have more tombstones this year and plan on using the small pieces of rebar and use two per stone, one on each side of the back staked in the ground and tied with fishing line.

What I do is, I hot glue the pvc to the back of the tombstones and then I gorilla tape over it... then I put it over the wooden dowels... haven't had any problems past 2 yrs

I use to have the same problem OT, but I made a post about it 2 years ago and HF really helped me out! good luck

for my store bought tombstones I glued a piece of plywood on the back, hammer in a wooden garden stake into the ground then screw the two together.
for homemade tombstones I use a wooden base so I can attach a corner bracket then use 8" barn nails to hold them down.

My latest batch of tombstones are made of wood in a 3-dimensional fasion. They stand up on their own and no wind is going to knock them over. I can't wait to share them, as soon as the wife uploads pictures. ><

Anyhow, sorry! :P I just had to brag about my free standing tombstones.

Gorilla Glue
Shims
3/4 Pipe Strap
Wood Screws
3/4 PVC pipes

1. Glue together two shims with gorilla glue and let dry with weights on them.
2. Arrange shims on tombstones, cut down ones that need be smaller (remember it has to be wide enough for at least one pipe strap.
3. One by one lift shim and with one of the screws, scrape and poke the tombstone where the shim will be adhered to. Your removing some of the paint so the glue adheres to the foam and not the paint.
4. Glue shim and weight, repeat with all your tombstones.
5. Cut your PVC to height for each tombstones (I named my tombstones and write the names on the PVC pipe)
6. Cut the bottom of PVC into a stake
7. Using one of the PVC pipes, lay it on the tombstone, place the straps over top the pipe and secure with screws. You can now slide the pipe out and repeat. If the pipe doesn't slide out just loosen the screws.

Sorry about the picture quality, but I hope they give you the idea of what they look like. This whole project cost about $20 depending on how many tombstone you have and if they need only two straps and one PVC pipe or four straps and two PVC pipes. Hope this helps! Oh one last thing you can do this to homemade and store bought, but be careful I was rushing and drove a screw right into the circuit board of our animated tombstone we can still open it up but it doesn't function anymore.

I drilled holes in the bottom of my tombstones and use rebar, I find it's the easiest and quickest solution. Plus it really works.