Safe Luxury

Do burial vaults really prevent decomposition?

I heard that burial vauls supposedly protects your loved ones from the elements (such as soil and rain) and prevents decomposition, but is this really true?

Public Comments

1. No, the bugs and grubs will still get you. That's why I choose to be creamated. I can't stand the thought of the bugs getting me.....ugh...
2. no not true at all decomposition comes from the bacteria in the body
3. not really. they prevent icky things like worms from getting in. but the body has bacteria IN it, and the bacteria is still alive when you die. not to be totally gross, but those bacteria will help decompose the body, just slower.
4. Only a 100% germ/bacteria free environment can do so. Even then, the cells making up the physical body will break down as well.
5. Depending on how sealed they are to air, I would say no, because the human body has its own internal bacteria that over time can multiply and devour the remains, most live in the intestines, though they have been removed, doesn't mean they haven't stayed behind in the cavity. Only person in history to keep from decomposing in a sense of 100% is Joseph Stalin of the former Soviet Union. Then there is a little girl who was sealed in a glass casket when she died back 200 years ago in Spain who hasn't decomposed much. It all comes down to how many chemicals are used, enviroment, location (such as in the sense is it prone to earthquakes), and how sealed off/vacuumed it is. My thoughts at least from what I know. Hope it helps.
6. Years ago our family had to have some graves moved due to a road coming thru when they moved one that had been in a vault they dropped the casket and it opened one of my aunts she looked just as she had the day they laid her in the ground. it was odd to see ... I was not there my dad told the story over and over how it was as if she was sleeping all those years some 20 years later. Was it the vault I don't know.
7. Why would it matter if your loved one was consumed by the elements? And NO, they fill up with water til they are full and your loved one is completely underwater, sometimes floating (the 1st time it happens) and then just settled at the bottom of the casket after that. They reason that vaults are required in states such as Illinois is so that the SOIL DOESN'T FALL into the casket when it gives way, leaving a depression mark. About 3 months after they bury your loved one, your be sure that they are PERMANENTLY FLOATING AROUND in water, clothes and all. Eventually the bones will come apart and then it will become a big jumbled mess of goobly-gock. Wedding ring? Will eventually fall off of whatever phalange it was put on. Wig, floating around in there. False teeth? floating around. That is why police generally DON'T do exumations in states that require vaults UNLESS there is SOME hope finding evidence of a crime committed. So, the answer to your question is NO, they do NOT PREVENT DECOMPOSITION ------------------------------ unless you pay the undertaker or whoever is in charge of the burial to SEAL THE VAULT. It usually costs about $300, but it will not let any water in for about 200 years. Might be worth it if you've got a murder victim on your hands or for some f'd up reason you care about the composition of your mother or whatever. -john in iowa (all of this is true, by the way)