Graffiti Removal Techniques – Choosing the Correct Solvent
The presence of vandalism or graffiti on the side of your home or business can have a serious impact on your quality of life. Seeing your tagged wall or fence every day can make you mad. For a business, too, it can lead to a loss of customers, as some people would prefer to avoid businesses with graffiti on the side.
If you want to get the graffiti off the side of your building, the best thing to do is to contact a professional. Specialty cleaning services provided by Cousino Restoration & Environmental can safely and effectively remove graffiti. We have the tools, expertise, and experience to know the proper techniques for graffiti removal, including what solvents will be most effective on the type of paint used to graffiti your property without damaging the base paint.
However, if you want to clean graffiti off yourself, you will have to choose the proper solvent on your own. A solvent is a chemical that can dissolve another substance. The right solvent will make graffiti removal easy, but the wrong one can damage your property, possibly without impacting the graffiti. Here are some of the considerations to keep in mind when making the decision.
What Is Likely to Work?
When choosing a solvent for graffiti removal, your main question has to be: what will remove the substance?
Be prepared to try multiple solvents. It’s unlikely that you will get it right the first time. A good place to start is mineral spirits. Mineral spirits are often effective at removing fresh paint, but are less likely to damage long-dried paint. If mineral spirits don’t work, you can move to turpentine, but be careful: turpentine is more likely to damage old paint.
If you can identify the substance used in the graffiti, it can help you find an effective solvent. If the graffiti is spray paint, for example, lacquer thinner can be effective, but it can also damage your existing paint. Methylene chloride is often sold as graffiti remover, and it can be effective, but it can also damage plastics and human skin on contact. Naphtha is an effective solvent for removing crayons, but it can damage your old paint, too. Denatured alcohol is a good solvent for removing some types of permanent markers.
AcraStrip 600 is a different alternative, which can work on some of the same paints as lacquer thinner but is more environmentally friendly. Test it to see if it works on your graffiti.
What Won’t Damage Your Paint?
Next, you want to make sure that the solvent you choose won’t just strip your old paint off as it takes the graffiti away. This is a much harder question to answer. It’s good and relatively safe to start with mineral spirits. Otherwise, it is hard to guess what will be safe for your paint. Try testing a solvent in a small, out-of-the-way corner of the wall to see before you start trying to remove graffiti from the main area.
What Can You Use Safely?
Next, it’s important to know what solvents you can use safely. Before selecting a solvent, try to understand its risks.
Most of the common solvents give off strong fumes, so it’s important to have some kind of gas mask to protect you when you’re using them. Some of these solvents are harsh chemicals that can be very hard on the skin. Wear gloves when working with these solvents, but make sure you choose the right kind of gloves: many of these solvents can dissolve plastics.
In addition, these solvents are often highly flammable. Many of these solvents have a flash point below 100° F, which means that they present a spontaneous fire risk at common outdoor summer temperatures. Work with these solvents in well-ventilated areas and try to avoid working around any kind of spark or flame that could trigger a fire.
What Can You Dispose of Safely?
Safety concerns about solvents don’t stop when you’ve used them. These solvents are often highly toxic to the environment as well as to you. You need to check how to dispose of used solvents and soaked rags. Putting the liquid down the drain may be illegal and could potentially lead to a serious fine. Even disposing of rags in the trash might be against ordnances, depending on your location and the solvents in question.
Contact Cousino Restoration for Safe, Effective Graffiti Removal
If reading this blog has made you feel uncertain about what solvent will be the best choice for your graffiti problem, you’re just beginning to understand. It’s important to realize that this is not a simple problem. Though people may sell “graffiti remover” as if it just works on all types of paints and other substances, the truth is a lot more complicated.
Instead of taking a crash course in organic solvents, let the professionals handle the problem. At Cousino Restoration & Environmental, we’ve been doing this type of work for 45 years, and we understand what solvents (and mixes of solvents) work well on what paints, including which ones won’t harm your old paint. In addition, we are ready to get right to work. Our experts offer 24/7 emergency response: we can be there very quickly, at any time, night or day. Plus, we are complete restoration experts. We can repair any damage to your property if you have some vandalism as well as graffiti.
To get us started on your graffiti problem, please contact Cousino Restoration & Environmental, serving Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio.