11 November

Wet & Forget Rescued these Famous Tombstones from Lichen and Mold!

Wet & Forget fan Bob A. of Indianapolis recently used Wet & Forget Outdoor to save the tombstones of two of the Chevrolet brothers from mold and lichen. The famous engineers and racecar drivers gave their names to some legendary American automobiles, but their gravestones were in a sad state, and there was even a mystery about who was buried in one of the graves. Read on for the full story!

The Chevrolet Family Plot Needed some Help

Chevrolet brothers Louis, Gaston and Albert were all famous racecar drivers; Gaston won the Indianapolis 500 on 1920, just 7 months before dying tragically in a fiery crash during a race in California. Middle brother Arthur raced in the Indy 500 and designed racecars and aircraft engines, and oldest brother Louis joined General Motors in its earliest years and helped design the first Chevrolet, his namesake.

While the brothers all had amazing talent in engineering and racing, none of them were marvels in the business world. Louis clashed with GM’s founder and ended up selling his shares in the company just before things really took off. The Chevrolets were a family with a famous name and modest means, and Louis’s and Gaston’s graves are marked by small tombstones in a modest Indianapolis cemetery. A third grave next to the brothers’ went unmarked for decades, and everyone assumed that it belonged to middle brother Arthur, who had died in Louisiana in 1946. In 2011, officials from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway purchased a tombstone for Arthur and placed it on his grave, but they soon wound up with questions about who was actually buried in the grave. Click here to get the whole fascinating story, courtesy of the Indianapolis Star.

Wet & Forget Outdoor to the Rescue!

Not only were the tombstones surprisingly small for brothers with such a famous history, they were also covered in lichen and mold. Wet & Forget fan Bob A., a retired mechanic who enjoys restoring old tombstones, put Wet & Forget Outdoor to work on the Chevrolet brothers’ tombstones and recued them from mold and lichen.

Bob has written in to us before to let us know about the amazing results he’s gotten using Wet & Forget Outdoor on tombstones. Here’s what he had to say:

“Several years ago I bought some Wet & Forget and at a local cemetery picked out the worst looking marker I could find and applied several spray applications. It was in the early Fall and when I went back the following Summer was pleasantly surprised.

When I first applied W & F, I only sprayed the top and front and if you look at the lower left edge you will still see some of the original algae growth but the rains did the job. The darker area behind the soldiers last name is the marble texture. I also applied this product on some moldy bricks on an old mausoleum and it came out good.”

– Bob A.

Check out photos of some of Bob’s results above and below this section of text!

How to Clean a Headstone with Wet & Forget Outdoor

Wet & Forget Outdoor saved the Chevrolet brothers’ headstones from mold and lichen, and it is the perfect choice for your family’s headstones, too. Whether the problem is black algae, green algae, lichen, moss, or mold and mildew, Wet & Forget Outdoor will eliminate the ugly growth without harming the surface of the headstone or killing the grass around it, like harsh chemical cleaners can. Wet & Forget Outdoor’s gentle, non-caustic formula works with the wind and rain to remove stains over time and leave the headstone clean and growth-free. You won’t believe your eyes!

Cleaning a headstone with Wet & Forget Outdoor couldn’t be easier. Simply:

Mix 1 part Wet & Forget Outdoor with 5 parts water in a pump-up garden sprayer.
Saturate the headstone with the diluted Wet & Forget Outdoor. Allow at least 4 to 5 hours’ drying time before the threat of rain.
Walk away, and let wet & Forget do the work for you! No scrubbing necessary.
Re-treat once a year or at the first sign of re-growth.

For lichen, follow these special instructions.