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Types of Urn Vault Seals

When a person dies there are usually only two options available for what to do with their body. They can be buried in the ground or they can be cremated. If a person is cremated their ashes (or cremains) will be placed inside an urn. This urn can be buried at a cemetery, but most cemeteries require you to place an urn inside an urn vault. These vaults can protect your urn and its contents from the elements. However, different vaults have different types of sealing methods.

  1. Epoxy

    • The first method for sealing an urn vault is to simply glue it shut. Many urn vaults (such as those made of polystyrene and other plastic materials) have their caps cemented in place with strong, binding epoxy or another type of adhesive in order to keep it shut. This epoxy forms a bond with the lid of the urn vault, and that bond keeps dirt, water and other unwanted elements from invading your urn vault around the closure seal. Over time these seals may be broken down, but the same can be said of the urn vault itself.

    Tongue-in-Groove

    • For those who don't want to use glue or another chemical adhesive, you can purchase an urn vault that has a tongue-in-groove sealer. These urn vaults have a groove around their top, and the lid slides into the groove to form a tight seal with the rest of the vault. These urn vaults may look like simple boxes, but that doesn't have to be the case. These urn vaults may also be highly decorated, with the location of the groove hidden by the design of the urn vault.

    Concrete

    • Many simple urn vaults are made out of strong, long-lasting concrete that's specially formulated to endure the tests of time and the elements. These concrete urn vaults can be sealed with epoxy and a lid, but they can also have another wall poured onto them so that the lid of the urn vault is just another side of the concrete box. This requires that a mold be placed to keep the concrete out of the urn vault (unless it's supposed to be filled with concrete to protect the urn) and that concrete be poured and allowed to properly set.

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