MOBILE POWER WASH
OF
NEW ENGLAND

"Exterior Surface
Cleaning Specialists"

RESIDENTIAL
COMMERCIAL
INDUSTIRAL

Licensed & Insured

GOT GRAFFITI ?
WE REMOVE IT !
GUARANTEED
RESPONSE TIME
24 HOURS A DAY
7 DAYS A WEEK

Here at Community Builders we encounter a lot of graffiti being in the heart of Boston. Mobile Power Wash of New England has removed, treated, and applied sacrificial coatings for many of our locations. We also use them for gum removal, building cleaning and so on. Mobile Power Wash of New England has exceeded our expectations. Would highly recommend them to other property managers.

George Brooks
Building Superintendent

"Professional, dependable, responsive, knowledgeable."

Don Hassell_ Head of Maintenance
King Philip High School

Graffiti removal:

Methods, Products and Techniques

• Solvent based removers
• Alkaline-based removers
• Wipes
• Poultices
• Citrus based cleaners
• Acidic-based cleaners
• Pastes
• Ghost removers
• Soda blasting
• Wet Sand blasting
• Sand blasting
• Scrubbing, light abrasion
• Mechanical Removers
• Repainting
• Color matching paint
• Over painting
• Scraping, razor blades
• Hot pressurized water
• Lasers
• Dry ice blasting
• Graffiti barrier coatings-sacrificial & permanent
• Anti-vandalism/graffiti window films

Graffiti marker types…

• Felt tip marker/pens
• Aerosol paints
• Paints applied by brush
• Ballpoint pens
• Lipstick/Wax crayon
• Chalk
• Pencil
• Knife/other scratching implement
• Self-adhesive stickers
• Paint balls from paint ball guns
• Pasted "fly" or bill posters

P.O. Box 1511
Plainville, MA 02762
(508) 695-3151
(800) 847-3516

© Mobile Power Wash of New England - All rights reserved

Graffiti Abatement

VANDALS, GANGS AND STREET ARTISTS HAVE TURNED GRAFFITI INTO A NATIONAL EPIDEMIC...

Graffiti vandalism has caused property maintenance costs to skyrocket throughout the country. Agencies within Los Angeles County are spending between $150-$200 billion annually on graffiti abatement. Nationally, it has been stated, the cost will reach over $8 billion a year. Once graffiti appears on a building, it must be removed quickly or it creates a chain reaction of further vandalism. Graffiti begets more graffiti!

Mobile Power Wash of New England has maintenance programs designed to help combat graffiti vandalism. The programs allow property owners and management companies to keep costs for graffiti abatement within manageable levels and insure prompt removal of the graffiti. Removal of the graffiti from the vandalized building can be achieved using a variety of removal methods. Each job is individually accessed to utilize the most cost effective and appropriate removal method while still maintaining surface integrity.

Above, pictures of a graffiti attack on a painted door at a local high school, before and after cleaning. Mobile Power Wash of New England removed the graffiti without removing any original paint from the door.

What can affect the removal of Graffiti?

The science of graffiti abatement has grown since the inception of our business in 1986. Sure there were some companies providing removal and there were a few basic products but there was not a lot in terms of graffiti removal education available or even a "best practice model" to follow. In our service area, most removal comprised "sandblasting" the graffiti off the surface. Normally this provided quick and effective removal but was quite damaging to the integrity of the host surface. Loving history and preservation made it tough to see historic buildings and monuments ruined by the indiscriminate and over use of this method of removal. Many times the results of the "cure" looked worse than graffiti itself. We vowed to develop cost effective methods and techniques that would be kinder and gentler to the host surface but at the same time effectively remove the vandalism. In the beginning, each and every job we faced posed a new removal challenge. During this 20 year graffiti abatement internship, we removed 100's if not 1000's of graffiti vandalism attacks, gained much needed hands-on experience, did our research, tested hundreds of products and techniques on a variety of substrates and refined the art of removing graffiti. Even to this day we still continually try to refine our methods and seek out new, promising products, as they become available. Through all of this, one main theme comes to mind- No one single product or method works 100% of the time. Different types of paints and markers and different host surfaces may require completely different cleaning products and removal approaches. Different sides of a building exposed to different environmental circumstances may require different approaches and cleaners. Be very wary of someone who offers a single broad based removal product or system!

Mobile Power Wash of New England has maintenance programs designed to help combat graffiti vandalism. The programs allow property owners and management companies to keep costs for graffiti abatement within manageable levels and insure prompt removal of the graffiti. Removal of the graffiti from the vandalized building can be achieved using a variety of removal methods. Each job is individually accessed to utilize the most cost effective and appropriate removal method while still maintaining surface integrity.

WE CAN REMOVE

• HOT PRESSURE WASHING
• GRAFFITI REMOVERS
• ARMEX REMOVAL SYSTEM
• WET SANDBLASTING SYSTEM

WE CAN PROTECT

• SACRIFICIAL COATINGS
• GRAFFITI COATINGS
• PERMANENT GRAFFITI COATINGS

WE CAN MAINTAIN

Offering maintenance contracts to accommodate your graffiti abatement needs... INCLUDING:

• PROPERTY INSPECTIONS & REPORTING
• GUARANTEED REMOVAL RESPONSE TIME
• 24 HOUR A DAY SERVICE
• FIXED COSTS
• PRIORITY TREATMENT

Things you can do to prevent graffiti vandalism?

• Keep your property well maintained
• Keep your property well lit-Vandals fear light!
• Try to eliminate reasons for loitering-benches, pay phones, etc.
• Plan your landscaping to deter access to areas, which are vulnerable-plant thorny bushes or fence in areas to impede access
• Install security cameras and motion sensor lighting, which brings attention to movement
• Limit access to roofs by moving dumpsters, etc
• Report suspicious activity and encourage neighbors to do the same
• Take pictures or video of ALL graffiti attacks and report to police
• If someone is caught follow through with arrest and the prosecution.
• Don't discount graffiti vandalism as a harmless prank. It is a crime, so treat it as such and educate your children and others that it is a crime.
• Organize neighborhood watch groups
• Your responsible for your property and its upkeep, so don't expect the city or town to be responsible. Be proactive!
• Support legislation limiting sale and quantity of spray paints and markers to individuals under a certain age.

Types of Graffiti vandalism:

• Tagger-Tags, monikers, murals, more ornate
• Gangs-intimidate, mark turf or send messages/territorial rather than regional/Can lead to violence/usually involves more symbols
• Snipe-advertisement type graffiti such as signs or posters without permission
• Satanic or hate-racial, religious or cultural slur
• Generic or conventional graffiti- includes random markings, declarations of love, events, etc and is usually not any specific style

Graffiti facts:

• According to the National Council to Prevent Delinquency (NCPD), about 80% of graffiti is hip hop or "tagger" graffiti. Another 5% are "pieces". Nationally, gang related graffiti vandalism makes up only 10% of the total
• Vandals come from every ethnic & income level
• Historically a problem in larger cities, however in recent years moved into smaller towns and rural areas
• 50% of the vandals are young suburban males preteen to early twenties
• Crime normally increases where graffiti is allowed to proliferate
• Graffiti encourages littering, loitering and more graffiti
• Neighborhoods property values tend to deteriorate/decline and become less appealing to buyers and tenants
• Fast removal within 24-48 hrs is imperative to deter further attacks
• Motivating factors of graffiti attacks: Fame, rebellion, self expression and power
• Many well intentioned owners and maintenance workers unsuspectingly do more harm than good by applying the wrong removal product to a surface which proves ineffective in removing graffiti. Many times they do permanent damage to the host surface or may set the graffiti paint making it much harder or impossible for a professional to end up removing. I wish I had $.50 for every time I've heard, "Oh, we tried to remove it ourselves but couldn't, so we called your company." It's tough enough to remove the graffiti vandalism itself. When numerous smeared spots from failed removal attempts are added over painted areas it can become a nightmare.

Learn the GRAFFITI lingo…

• "TAG"- A stylized signature usually simple and one color
• "THROW-UP" - A more elaborate tag normally using more than one color but still takes much less time than a "piece"
• "PIECES" - Short for masterpieces are large detailed drawings, sometimes with
  3-D and other special effects
• "BOMBING"- To hit many different surfaces with graffiti vandalism
• "CREW"- A group of graffiti vandals
• "SLASH"- To put a line through or graffiti over someone else's graffiti
• "BUFFING"- To remove graffiti by chemical or other methods
• "BURNER"- A very large elaborate detailed piece of graffiti

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