Graffiti Removal — McIlwrick Street, Windsor

Graffiti stops being a surface problem fast. While the paint is still curing it sits on top and a solvent will lift it. Once cured, the pigment is down in the pores of whatever it landed on, and unsealed tessellated tile, brick and render all drink it in. At that point the honest outcome is lightening, not removal.

Chemistry had to suit each surface, not the paint. A remover strong enough for spray paint will also strip the coating off painted render, and it can attack the glaze on old tiles and the grout between them, so product and dwell time were set separately for wall, tiles and step. Pressure stayed low: on a porous surface it drives pigment in rather than taking it off.

• Substrate identified before any product was applied
• Remover and dwell time set separately per surface
• Paint lifted with solvent, not blasted off
• Low pressure, to avoid driving pigment into the surface
• Residue neutralised and rinsed
• Before and after photographs supplied

• Paint removed rather than lightened, while still fresh
• Painted render intact, no coating stripped alongside
• Tessellated tiles and grout undamaged
• Frontage back to its original appearance