GRANITE SIGNS AND BRONZE PLAQUES

With books like the "High Cost of Dying" and television news reports exposing the huge price mark- ups of the funeral industry, many consumers have learned that a little comparison shopping for caskets and headstones may save them hundreds to thousands of dollars when planning a funeral.

While doing some simple price checking on the Internet, I was given a quote for a granite and bronze grave marker from Monumentsinstone.com that was a third of the price that my local funeral home had quoted me.

By law, all cemeteries must accept a headstone purchased from an outside source. They may, however, have some regulations on the size, style and color of the stone. Luckily, MonumentsInStone got me a written confirmation that the memorial they created would meet my local cemetery’s requirements.

Remember to factor in permit and applications costs. All outside markers will probably require a fee for instillation and foundation.

Consumers must contact their cemetery about their rules and regulations before purchasing a headstone. This will save you any costly mistakes.

Please ask your cemetery the following questions and then get their regulations in writing:

1. Size: Is there a minimum and/or maximum restriction on the dimensions of the stone?
2. Type: What types of memorial headstone are allowed – Upright monuments, flat plaques, beveled markers, infant memorials, double internment or companions stones?
3. Vases: Are vases permitted ones inside the cemetery?
4. Stone Color: Are there any granite and/or bronze color restrictions?
5. Delivery & Installation: What are the procedures for delivery and installation of the memorial headstone? Is a fee levied for installation?

Remember your rights. If the cemetery pressures you into buying a headstone from their expensive stock, you can take action with your local, government consumer agency.

Headstones and Monuments
Cemetery Regulations and Your Rights as A Consumer

GLOSSARY OF FUNERAL AND CEMETERY TERMS

Courtesy of the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Cemetery and Funeral Bureau

Alternative Container: An unfinished wood box or other non-metal receptacle without ornamentation, often made of fiberboard, pressed wood or composition materials, and generally lower in cost than caskets.

Casket/Coffin: A box or chest for burying remains.

Cemetery Property: A grave, crypt or niche.

Cemetery Services: Opening and closing graves, crypts or niches; setting grave liners and vaults; setting markers; and long-term maintenance of cemetery grounds and facilities.

Columbarium: A structure with niches (small spaces) for placing cremated remains in urns or other approved containers. It may be outdoors or part of a mausoleum.

Cremation: Exposing remains and the container encasing them to extreme heat and flame and processing the resulting bone fragments to a uniform size and consistency.

Crypt: A space in a mausoleum or other building to hold cremated or whole remains.

Disposition: The placement of cremated or whole remains in their final resting place.

Endowment Care Fund: Money collected from cemetery property purchasers and placed in trust for the maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery.

Entombment: Burial in a mausoleum. Funeral Ceremony A service commemorating the deceased, with the body present.

Funeral Services: Services provided by a funeral director and staff, which may include consulting with the family on funeral planning; transportation, shelter, refrigeration and embalming of remains; preparing and filing notices; obtaining authorizations and permits; and coordinating with the cemetery, crematory or other third parties.

Funeral Planning Society: See Memorial Society.

Grave: A space in the ground in a cemetery for the burial of remains.

Grave Liner or A concrete: cover that fits over a casket in a grave. Some liners cover tops and sides of the casket. Others, referred to as vaults, completely enclose the casket. Grave liners minimize ground settling.

Graveside Service: A service to commemorate the deceased held at the cemetery before burial.

Headstone: A grave marker or monument marking the gravesite.

Interment: Burial in the ground, inurnment or entombment.

Inurnment: The placing of cremated remains in an urn.

Mausoleum: A building in which remains are buried or entombed.

Memorial Service: A ceremony commemorating the deceased, without the body present.

Memorial Society: An organization that provides information about funerals and disposition, but is not part of the state-regulated funeral industry.

Niche: A space in a columbarium, mausoleum or niche wall to hold an urn.

Urn: A container to hold cremated remains. It can be placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, or buried in the ground.

Vault: A grave liner that completely encloses a casket.

MonumentsInStone
Headstone, Grave Marker, and Monument Dealer
1669 Westview Drive., SW, Atlanta Ga 30310

www.monumentsinstone.com

Bronze grave markers are flat memorials set on a granite base. The design, name and dates are all cast onto the plaque as a relief sculpture.

Bronze markers are an elegant alternative to traditional granites. They lay flat, flush against the grass. These are quite common in most cemeteries to give them a park-like ambience. Due to most cemetery regulations, most of the flat markers we sell are rectangular.

Bronze is one of strongest alloys on Earth, ensuring a beautiful monument that will endure the test of time. Our bronze grave markers can be personalized with different border styles as well as epitaphs and emblems. Together, we can design the perfect tribute for your loved-one.

The first step in making bronze headstones is to turn the bronze (which is actually a mixture of copper, tin, lead and zinc) into a liquid that can be poured into molds. Blocks of bronze are placed into a large pot and headed to about 2000 degrees, the temperature at which the bronze starts to melt. Once melted, the bronze goes into the molds for the headstones and is allowed to cool.

Next, workers grind the headstone, removing any imperfections that may appear while the bronze headstones are in the mold. Once the bronze headstones have been chased, workers apply several coats of a dark brown paint called oxidation. Then they rub a solvent around the lettering areas of the headstone. This removes some of the paint and creates a contrast between the letters and the dark brown background. Once the details are complete, a lacquer coating is applied, the bronze is mounted to 4-inch think pieces of granite, and the bronze headstones are ready for shipping.

The granite we use for our headstones, monuments and grave markers comes from some of the finest quarries in the world. Mostly from renown, Elberton, Georgia, the supplier for the stone used for many of the famous monuments in Washington, DC.

Granite is a tough, durable rock composed primarily of three different minerals. These minerals are easy to see due to their different colors. The white mineral grains found in granite are feldspar. It is the most abundant mineral found in granite. The light gray, glass-like grains are quartz, and the black, flake-like grains are biotite or black mica.
 
The Stone Industry recognizes granite as one of the hardest of all natural stones. Elberton Granite has been a stone of choice for public and private memorials as well as countless commercial uses for almost 100 years.

WHEN CHOOSING A GRANITE HEADSTONE OR GRAVE MARKER

Granite is one of the hardest stones known to man, ensuring a beautiful monument that will endure for decades to come.

Granite headstones are the most common in cemeteries. These memorials stand upright. The top piece is much larger and is called a tablet. The bottom piece is known as a "base.

Granite grave markers lay flat, flush against the grass. These are quite common in most cemeteries to give them a park-like ambience. Due to most cemetery regulations, most of the flat markers we sell are rectangular.

Each piece of stone is inspected for any possible flaws. We then engrave your granite stone by means of sandblasting, a very precise method of memorializing a loved one. 

Let's work together on designing a perfect tribute.  Our database includes hundreds of religious, scenic and artistic designs.  We can also create a totally original memorial of your choosing.

Granite headstones and markers may be purchased pre-need.  Then, the sandblasting of the final date may be added later at the cemetery.

Although our site shows primarily gray stones, we can offer granite in different shades of grays, browns, blacks, pinks and reds.  Please contact us directly about these color options.

We also can supply vases matching many of our markers and headstones. Fresh or silk flower arrangements accentuate the beauty of these memorials.

MonumentsInStone
Headstone, Grave Marker, and Monument Dealer
1669 Westview Drive., SW, Atlanta Ga 30310

www.monumentsinstone.com