Hello! Welcome to Graffiti Removal Melbourne.
Yes, I realize that is not a very original name for a website, but there is a reason for choosing this particular combination of words.
You see, when a resident in the City of Melbourne or its suburbs needs a graffiti removal service, be it for the removal of one texta ink mark on a small metal surface such as a letter box or whether it be deep seated graffiti carried out by a group of vandals on a, brick, concrete, cement, stucco or wooden wall of a building, there is a pretty good chance that you will log on to your computer and type in: Graffiti Removal Melbourne in order to find the best graffiti removers to handle your needs.
And, I wanted you to find my website because unlike other sites that may pop up, I do not own my own graffiti removal service.
I’m actually an impartial consumer who is sick and tired of seeing the results of such vandalism as it is carried out by these “artists” on both private and public buildings and/or other related property in our city & suburbs. Knowing that ordinary people like you and me seem to be powerless in stopping this from going on is what motivated me to create this site.
Recently one Sunday morning I was woken up at 2am by the sound of breaking glass. Someone hurled a stone through the front window. Knowing that there’d be no police to immediately arrive on the scene I waited till a reasonable hour before I went to report the vandalism.
Later that day the police came to have a look. One of them took a few photos and then he asked if any other damagehad been done to the property. He said, “Any graffiti vandalism?” And with that we walked around the side of my house which faces onto another street and guess what? Yep. You’re right. My cream paint, color-bond, aluminum garage roller door had graffiti the entire width and up to five feet high. Painted graffiti? Yes, two-color aerosol graffiti which, just as the ad says about such spray paint, it left a smooth evenly coated surface!
Not having had experience with removing aerosol spray paint, I nevertheless knew I was in for a difficult restoration job so I said to the policeman that I’d leave it and not bother, given that the damage had been done and that they couldn’t do any more to it. He advised me against that, saying that graffiti “artists” are notoriously proud of their works of “art” and if I left it as it was, whoever did it would take for granted that I condoned such vandalism which would only further encourage him or her elsewhere.
He took some photos of the damage, hoping that they may eventually catch up with the person responsible. Apparently there are certain traits and commonalities the Police look for when matching photos of graffiti works with other vandalized property and as such, have been helpful in catching some of the culprits.
However, it seems to me that our hard-working Police have a never-ending battle on their hands in spite of the fact that new graffiti laws in Victoria came into in April 2008 revealing when and where it is illegal to do graffiti. The committment of the Victorian Government in working with local councils and communities to address graffiti removal and build on successful graffiti clean-up initiatives is to be saluted too.
So, not only was I now faced with graffiti problems but I had to think about some graffiti solutions, plural. Restoration became my plan. When scratching one of the paint colors with my finger nail, it looked like it might be quite easily removable, but the other was unshiftable.
A family friend is quite experienced with the use of graffiti removing products so I phoned him for some professional advice. On his property the metal fence, brick wall and aluminum garage roller-door get done over quite regularly, so over the years he’s developed a quite a product knowledge plus a series of removal techniques.
He spoke about environmentally friendly non-hazardous non-toxic, biodegradable, non-flammable, non-corrosive, pH-neutral, water-soluble products – it was a whole new language to me! Where possible he told me he uses removers such as those and he mentioned a couple of brands that he found to be more effective than others.
My friend advised me against doing a paint out, or paint over as a form of restoration, saying it gives a poor result on such surfaces causing it to look out of place with its “patchwork” effect. He also advised me to be extra cautious if using chemical removal products. Poor application of the chemical had been found to damage the surface, especially painted surfaces.
In doing further research into graffiti removal products it’s heartening to learn that there is a whole a new generation of environmentally sustainable organic products that are beginning to be adopted by graffiti removal providers which is comparable in cost to a chemical or paint out removal, more often than not having the benefit of lower or no health & safety risk.
The purpose of this website is to help us all be informed about graffiti removal products, plus methods and techniques on how to use them, but also I will be recommending one or two professional graffiti removal services that are equipped to do those jobs beyond our expertise.
I thought it might be interesting also if I could present a couple of posts on the profile of a graffiti vandal to find out what motivates them. I’m thinking that perhaps there are some distinct differences in the nature & character of graffiti artists versus graffiti vandals.
So, if you have had your share and gutful of bad experiences with graffiti damage to your home and property, or you know others who have, this site Graffiti Removal Melbourne is for you and for them.
