Why do I need a burial vault, isn't a grave box good enough?
To answer this question you must first look at what a grave box was designed to accomplish. To do that you must compare what cemetery maintenance equipment is today to what it was in the 1960's. In the sixty's graves were opened by hand, soil was piled up next to the grave and graves were not compacted, they left large mounds hoping it would eventually settle. Grounds were maintained using push mowers, and fertilizing was done by hand.
Today, cemeteries have become highly industrialized. Large backhoes are used to dig graves; dirt is taken away in trucks or trailers capable of carrying several graves worth of dirt in one trip. Mechanical tampers, large mowing tractors and other time saving machinery is also being used.
Also, the amount of earth between the ground's surface and the top of the outer burial container is dramatically less. Decades ago there could be as much as 48" of dirt between the two, today there is an average of 16 to 18 inches thus lessening the cushion between the receptacle and what is passing over it.
