Annoyed By Graffiti? What To Do When It Strikes Your Business
While some graffiti has a lot of thought put into the design, most is just vandalism of buildings. Graffiti continues to be a problem for many businesses in Queensland, but there are a few things you can do to deal with this nationwide problem. Now that you are dealing with this issue yourself, you need to put these three tips to immediate use so that you can deal with the current problem, and also hopefully prevent it from happening again.
Remove It Quickly
When your business is tagged with graffiti, the number one tool you have for future graffiti prevention is to remove it from your building quickly. While graffiti may look like random letters or words to you, many times they are identification tags that are unique to each graffiti artist. The person who has placed the graffiti on your business is hoping that all their friends and associates will see their handiwork and give them the attention they crave.
Therefore, you will achieve two things when you attend to graffiti removal fast:
- The faster you remove the graffiti from the building, the less attention the artist will get. This will discourage them from tagging your building again in the future.
- The fresher the graffiti paint is, the easier it is to remove.
When it is time to remove graffiti, you need to head down to your paint supply store to get the tools you will need.
Choose The Right Graffiti Removal Tools
When you get to the paint store, you need to decide which method of graffiti removal you are going to use. There are two popular methods that you will choose between:
- Purchase the paint that you are going to use and a long-handled paint roller, and simply paint straight over the top of the graffiti. The main downfall to this method is that it can be difficult to colour match the existing paint if this has faded over time. You may end up needing to paint the whole side of the building, which could take up a lot of your time.
- Purchase chemicals at the paint store that can be used to remove the graffiti. These solvents work best when the paint is fresh. The longer the paint has to soak into the wall, the harder it will be to remove the stain. You may still need to paint over the top of the graffiti once it has been removed depending on how far in the paint colour has set.
Once the graffiti has been removed, you need to consider how you are going to keep the graffiti from coming back.
Plan For Future Graffiti Prevention
Once you have removed the graffiti, your business will look great again, but there is no guarantee that you will not be paid a visit by the vandals again in the future. There are several ways that you can minimise future graffiti damage to your building:
- Add good quality lighting to the areas being targeted. Graffiti artists like to hide in the shadows since they will be charged with a crime if they get caught. By illuminating the area well, they won't want to risk being seen by passing police.
- Use a graffiti-resistant overcoat once you have repainted the wall. You can purchase this from your paint supplier, and it contains additives that will not allow the paint to soak into the wall surface if it occurs again. This makes any future graffiti quick and easy to clean away.
- Keep a supply of your wall paint on hand to immediately paint over any future attacks. Artists will stop spending their time attacking your business if they cannot gain any recognition for their work because you keep covering it up.
Cleaning away graffiti can be a nuisance, but if left unattended it could cost you valuable business as it lowers the overall tone of your building. Speak to your paint supplier about the best choice of paint to hide any graffiti you are experiencing, and with a little persistence the vandals will move on to target another business owner.
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