Guide to Graffiti Removal

Category: Graffiti cleaning

Graffiti attacks can be both costly and frustrating. You want your building to give the best impression of your business, which means tags and profanities are unwelcome on your walls.

Here are a few factors to consider if you’re thinking of removing graffiti from your building or any other area of your property.

What substance has been used?

The substance used to create the graffiti will have a direct impact on how easy it is to clean off and what you should use to remove it. Water-based paint or chalk is most straightforward and can usually be removed using pressurised steam.

Pigments that contain oils, inks or dyes specifically designed to stain surfaces are harder to eradicate and may need more specialist treatments to remove. These can include aerosol spray, marker pens, emulsion and gloss paint or waxy products.

What type of surface has been graffitied?

Whether the surface that’s been graffitied is porous or non-porous will also affect how easy it is to clean.

Porous surfaces, like wood and certain types of stone, can be more difficult to remove graffiti from than non-porous ones such as metal. This is because a porous surface is often uneven which allows the substance used to create the graffiti to seep in and stain it. In these cases a shadow of the graffiti can remain after cleaning.

It's equally important to understand how the graffitied surface reacts to chemicals so you don’t inadvertently cause any damage if steam isn't enough.

Location, location, location

The type of graffiti you get tends to depend on how busy the area is around it.

You’ll often find busy areas have smaller, simpler tags just because there’s less time to mark surfaces without getting caught.

More secluded locations give perpetrators the time to cover a larger area with more complex patterns, involving different colours and markers. Removing larger patches of graffiti made using different types of marker without damaging the surface can take time, skill and ingenuity.

Daredevil attacks

Hard-to-reach places like railway bridges and the tops of buildings can be prone to repeat graffiti attacks.

Once tagged, they're often followed by copycat attacks from others who want to show off equal skill in reaching difficult areas to graffiti.

These locations are of course more difficult, and inevitably more costly, to clean as safely accessing the area takes longer.

Here to help

As you can see, when it comes to removing graffiti there can be a lot to consider.

We're here to make the process easier. In addition to steam cleaning we have an arsenal of cleaning products that help us achieve outstanding results, so whatever the graffiti, we can remove it without a trace.

To find out more about removing graffiti or graffiti prevention have a look at our Graffiti assist service.

If you need help removing unwanted graffiti simply call Max or Andy Morris on 0333 234 1445 or email us.

 

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