DIY: How to Set a Headstone--Part One

My amazingly kind Grandpa Agle passed away in November 2013 having lived a long wonderful life. Having buried his remains in a previous post we return to set his headstone on easter weekend. I didn't find a lot of directions online on how to set a headstone so I thought I would share how we did it here. 

His headstone was about four feet tall so we measured to see how deep we wanted to buried it. We decided fourteen inches would be best.

My Grandpa loved broadway musicals and his favorite was "Singing in the Rain" so the quote, "You were all the sweet things rolled up in one" comes from the song You Were Meant for Me sung by Gene Kelly. Dennis was such a kind, sweet man who we miss greatly.

We gather for a photo before we begin to dig the very hard rocky ground. We dug eighteen inches down.

Then we lined the bottom of hole with bricks to help keep headstone level and make sure it doesn't ever sink.

We measure to make sure the hole is deep enough.

We used a quick setting cement called Quikrete and mixed it in a wheelbarrow with a little water.

Pa showed us the proper technique of mixing the cement with a hoe: push forward, pull back. Archy did a good job mixing it.

Quinton takes a turn mixing the cement.

We let the cement set up a bit as we got ready to lower the headstone. This was the tricky part as the headstone weighed about 280 lbs and was awkwardly heavy. We backed the truck up to the hole and put straps around it for Eddy and I to hold while lowering it. Pa held a metal pole to brace and help lower the headstone carefully to the bricks. We were worried if it hit to hard on the landing it might crack. Thankfully all went well and we lowered it without incident. 

Pa rocks it back and forth it to get it centered and we had to adjust the bricks a bit (putting more dirt under one) to get it leveled.

Once it was level, one person held the headstone while the cement was carefully shoveled in around it and then the handle of the hoe punched holes in the cement to make sure there wasn't any air pockets. Then we set some fist sized rocks in the cement all around the headstone to make it really firm. After that we shoveled the dirt back on top of the cement. 

The headstone is set.

After the cement has dried, we will go back to pour the footer around the base of the headstone and add a pair of vases for flowers.

Everyone helped with various parts of the process and it all went very smoothly. Pa was the mastermind behind the all the steps to setting the headstone. Usually the funeral home sets the headstone but we wanted to do it for our dear grandpa.  I am glad my kids could help with it as it was a really lovely experience!