Thread: Grave Stones Keep Falling

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I have about 12 grave stones of various size. We tried to set them up but the strong winds keep knocking them down. I have tried wire, stakes, dirt, fishing string!

What do YOU use to keep your grave stones up? Some are over 30 inches tall, so they natufally want to fall over.

I was thinking of getting a bunch of 2X4s, painting them black, and cutting them to 18" lengths. Then sandwich them on either side of each grave stone base, and using large rubber bands to sandwich the painted boards to the stone. Thinking rubber bands for easy removal. Hoping the weight of 2 18" pieces of wood will keep them up.

Do you think this will work?:eek:

I made stakes with 1x1 and put two on the back, flush with each end, then tied fishing line around. Having two stakes prevents them from breaking in half. its worked so far.

Let me save you the work. Get some PVC (like 1/2"), cut 12" sections (you can cut 10" and get your 12 probably). Go to the local craft store and buy a cheap high heat glue gun (about $3) and extra glue sticks. Apply a thick layer of glue on the PVC and attach to the back of the tombstone. I added extra Gorilla glue to the sides of the PVC as well as it expands and holds like heck. This will be dry within 2-4 hours. Use grey and black spray paint to cover up the PVC. At your local Lowes/Home Depot etc. get 24" sections of rebar (about .50 to a dollar each). Drive the rebar in the ground and slide the tombstone over it. The let the wind blow!

We used long dowel rods and Harbor Freight had 24" drill bits. We drilled a core as deep as the bits let us, and hammered about 18" worth of the towel rod in the ground. The other 18" of the rod was all the way inside the stones. Worked well, for a while.

We are now planning to glue 3/4" plywood to the bottoms of each stone, and screwing eye screws into the edges. Tent stakes will keep em down, and the added weight of the plywood will help to stabilize.

We had the same problem, this year we fixed it. Bought some metal siding like used on outbuildings..the type that has the bumped out channels in it. Cut it to size, used some adhesive especially made for foam or insulation type material. Let it dry 24 hours and then slid the tombstones onto rebar, slides right in the metal channel. Not one down since then~!

Great suggestions so far! The only problem I have using rebar is, here in Central Texas, under 4-6 inches of dirt, is pure limestone! I think if i combine all the ideas, it will work! He he.

Keep the great ideas coming! I'm sure im not the only one with this issue.

I used Gorilla Glue to glue outdoor velcro zip ties to the tombstones. then zip-tied them to bamboo stakes. Unfortunately instead of the glue failing, the paint came off. So I had to scrape down into the styrofoam a little to glue them back on. I also used Gorilla Tape on the ones that only lost one zip tie. It rained hard last night and when I went out I noticed the paint had come off the tops of several tombstones. Maybe next year I'll prime them and repaint them with a layer of textured stone paint and airbrush the details on. For now I'll just touch up with sharpies.

People keep saying use Liquid Nails but remember that the regular version specifically says it's not weatherproof. Also I find it annoying to use anything in caulk tubes if you're not going to use the entire tube at once, otherwise it always dries out, clogs, is hard to use the next time, etc. I wish they sold this stuff in a regular glue bottle. I also didn't want to use the PVC idea because it doubles the storage space needed.

what if you made crosses cut to the size of the tombstone and attached it to the backs, then hammer the cross in the ground. just a suggestion I haven't actually tried it.

Here's what I do:

For homemade tombstones: I make them with 2 pieces of 1" foam and I carve a channel on the inside of each piece and glue a piece of pvc inside. Then I glue the whole thing together and carve/paint it. Once it's done I hammer rebar into the yard and slide the tombstone on top.

For store bought tombstones: I hammer a wooden stake into the ground, position the tombstone in front of it and drill 2 screws through the front of the tombstone into the wooden stake. The screws blend in surprisingly well and you can't see them at all at night!