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San Diego graffiti removal:
http://www.sandiego.gov/graffiti/sighting.shtml

To have graffiti removed along CalTrans highways:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist11/departments/mainten/graffiti.htm

Although it gives things a glossy look, RainX works.
The paint should bead up and not dry... although it will dry on the ground where it slides off (and that's a whole new post!).

Maybe it's just me, but the graf in the second photo is great. Plus, I think the idea of a giant "VANDALISM" sign is hysterical in the first place. Wouldn't mind seeing that kind of wall art everyday.

I do admit that I wouldn't want it on my property without approval; luckily enough I don't own any property.

I kinda with you dannyNYC.

I don't think most of us refer to it as graffiti any more. Graffiti actually has artistic merit. Nowadays, it is mostly just tagging.

I'm considering use of something like this for our retaining wall and garage door. I'm not sure where your $135 figure came from (none of the products in the link match that figure, unless you're adding the Hazmat charge? Elaboration on your quote would be great.).

All the coating products I've seen are extremely expensive. It seems there are 2 basic types:

1) Sacrificial: The coating comes off when you remove the graffiti. Each time the site is tagged, and the tagging is removed, you have to re-coat.

2) Permanent: The coating stays on permanently.

There is a big price difference between the two. I'd be curious to hear from anyone who has used any kind of coating in a residential setting:

What product(s) did you use? Observations, recommendations? Words of caution? Was the expense worth it?

FYI: When possible, grow vines or other clinging plants on a wall or surface prone to tagging. Effective and attractive.

The first photo is by an artist called Ben Eine. His work sells for big bucks so I imagine most people would be quite grateful to have it for free.

To me it's party of the urban experience.

Taggers suck.

Personally, I hate it. I get the artistic argument, but it's not art on the side of my house. The saddest thing…this guy in my neighborhood put up a nice fence to protect his backyard which somehow strangely was behind a NYC bus stop, so like the side of his house where the backyard exist, was behind a bus stop. (If that makes sense). Anyway someone vandalized the fence the next day, he gets whatever remover he used and cleaned it up. Well, the very next day the "tag" was back up, so I guess “they” peruse the neighborhood and vandalize people's property at night.

It goes with the territory of living in an urban environment but to me it's sad. I say report it if you can or witness someone doing it, just as you can loitering. Call me a prude, but I want quality of life, even in an urban environment.

I did not know tagging significantly decreased the quality of life, even in an urban environment.

I've always looked at tagging as kind of like the thing a male dog does when lifting his leg; seems fine to the dog, but the owner of the damp pant leg probably isn't too keen.

It's a shame, too - since the people who tag really are generally just making THEIR neighborhood trashed. They and their neighbors are the ones who have to live with it and look at it.

Tagging and graffiti is not an art form as the chattering classes would have us believe. In Spain I saw some beautiful cacti covered in carvings and paint.

Sorry this isn't related to the prevention of tagging but rather on the photo used for the posting.

The wall in that photo is connected to a graphic artist's shop and art collective in London (near Brick Lane) that regularly repaints that space. I quite like it as it keeps what would be an otherwise bleak looking industrial area bright and fun. But if you like that then you should check out their offices made from old tube train cars that have been painted and put on the roof of the building.
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/11/28/village-underground-subway-cars-studio-space/

In a lot of communities (definitely not all), taggers have a different ethic about their work. Pure and simple, it's to try to stop or at least slow gentrification.
A more inventive method, in one city (can't remember where, but I think it was west coast) someone started to put cardboard cut outs of prostitutes on street corners.

When it comes down to it, I can't argue with these modes of fighting gentrification. In fact, they should be praised.

But again, that's only when taggers have the ideal in mind. Seems like most really just have a god complex.

my little brother used to be a prolific tagger, that is until his friends landed in jail (and not overnight), and he barely avoided it.
they werent trying to prevent gentrification, they were trying to put their tag wherever they could, especially over other tags of people they didnt like. i'm sure some taggers are doing this with more of a purpose/ideal, however i do think it is a quality of life issue- when someone tags the front of your house, over your business sign, etc. that isnt cool, it makes you feel not in control of your property, and you dont have to be a gentrifier to feel that way. is some graffitti beautiful? without question. is tagging? no, and sometimes its gang related and its a person's right to not want it on their stuff.

Yes, there is a difference between tagging and graffiti, mainly that tagging doesn't utilize talent. It's quick, dirty, and ugly. And taggers have no ethics about where to tag. I don't know about where you live, but in Seattle, we rarely see beautiful, colorful murals like the ones above, and what we do see is ugly, streaky, drippy "tags" on people's fences, retaining walls, and even siding.

Also this bull**** about tagging to prevent gentrification has got to go. This is like littering to prevent high personal property tax.

Preventing gentrification - I doubt this is what most of the tagging is about. And the ends do not justify the means in my opinion. I also heard that some tagging is gang-related. It is all over some areas of DC. I can't imagine the overall costs of cleaning this stuff up.

This reminds me of when I went to Rome a few years ago, and was saddened by the grafitti/tags all over historic structures.

Before going straight for the anti-graffiti coating, you should consider the drawbacks. The environmental and health effects are enough to cause concern if the high price isn't enough to make you reconsider.

There are many methods of handling tagging or unwanted graffiti. Cities that remove tagging by pressure washing have a short window of time from when the tag is put up to the point where it is fully dry and more difficult to remove. Pressure washing methods may require methylene chloride, acetone spray, hydrogen peroxide, or "citrus" based cleaners (1-Butoxy-2-propanol, 2-Butoxy-1-propanol, n-Methylpyrrolidone, d-Limonene). After pressure or chemical washing the surface, the paint and spray runoff must be collected, handled and disposed of correctly. It is hazardous waste. If you were to remove tagging yourself, you would be responsible for disposing of the hazardous waste.

Coatings that prevent tagging from sticking to the surface are usually based on silicon additives or fluorinated polymers that act like "non-stick" baking pans. Research is beginning to show that fluorinated polymers have negative environmental and biological effects. (Halogenated polymers have appeared in human breast milk and are thought to affect thyroid and hormone levels.) Coatings that contain silicone as their non-stick additive are usually difficult to apply. They may have to be reapplied and that becomes expensive. Protective coatings are useful in special instances, like when there is a wall mural that needs protection. In that case, consult an art conservator or mural expert to apply an appropriate coating.

Consider other options like motion-triggered floodlights in that area. If lighting the area yourself is too expensive or difficult, contact your community and ask for a streetlight to be installed in a dark area. Removal of the tag within 24 hours prevents reoccurance most of the time. You can clean off the tag or paint over it. Murals that involve the community can help prevent tagging. Plantings that block access to the wall can keep away taggers.

The artistic statement of tagging or graffiti ignores my artistic statement of a blank wall.

@ Chester:
"Just sayin'. Quality of life? Boy, sounds like yours is some serious first-world suffering."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

move to the suburbs.

To me graffiti is totally fair in an urban environment. I dont get to complain about having to look at poorly designed ads all over the place. bus stops, billboards, sandwich boards, the back of benches, banners, branded trash all over the place.

why should mcdonalds get to plaster their name all over town?

chestershoeshine, get a grip. Just because someone has scraped together enough to have property, doesn't mean that they are some kind of Evil Land Baron. You come across as a jerk. And I seriously doubt that you could even find the people doing the tagging/vandalism, and if you could, they would not take you seriously or care about you asking them not to "tag" your property.

kmswann, taggers have some kind of IDEAL in mind? There is some kind of ETHIC going on? They're trying to slow down gentrification? NOT! They want to put up their mark like a dog peeing on a fence post.

Let's get real here.

Grafitti, tagging, and other unwanted painting on walls is neither art, nor social commentary on gentrification, nor anything else remotely constructive. It is criminal damage to someone's property by ignorant people. When the vandalism target is your fence, building, door, wall, or planter, that you paid hard-earned money to purchase or erect only for the neighborhood idiots to deface it, you will see few, if any, artistic merits of grafitti. Furthermore, you will not care about the toxicity or other environmental issues of solvent, scrub brush, sprayer, or other tool or chemical used to remove the scrawl from the damaged surface so long as it's quick, effective, and doesn't damage you or the vandalized surface.

Installation of motion sensor lighting or plantings has limited effectiveness, some vandals are so brazen the lights help them make bigger "tags" while causing others to make quicker, smaller tags. Persistent vandals will damage plantings and use the dirt as butt urns.

Having had the experience of repeatedly cleaning paint and ink marker grafitti from house walls, garage and fences, sometimes daily, a coating that will result in the immediate "melting" of grafitti would have been wonderful. I would hesitantly but happily have paid the $135/gallon to be permanently relieved of the daily exterior inspection of my home.

Anyone plagued with this problem will appreciate constructive and effective suggestions.

LOL kuroneko et al, my mom said the same thing about the dog pee.

Expanding on arroyo's plant suggestion, thorny plants like roses, crown-of-thorns, agaves, sanseveria, trifoliate orange, pomegranate and/or bouganvilla will deter taggers too, although as it was pointed out, plants, too, can be vandalized.

Trellis or laticework set about six inches off the wall (even without the plants) will make a texture that's less attractive to paint on.

taggers are most commonly about 13 years of age. i don't think there is any progressive social message they are trying to impart and a lot of it is gang or pre-gang activity so said 13 year olds can fit in with their "friends" or people they hope will become their friends.

thank you for this post. my very small condo association will appreciate this info!

So I admit this is changing the subject a bit, but some of you might be interested in fighting not graffiti but corporate graffiti. You know you've seen it - ads for Axe, miami ink, greyhound bus, and playstation... and more. They deface your environment much more than true street graffiti ever will. Chicago has a graffiti clean up campaign that allows residents to paint over offensive vandalism themselves, and a few years back a group of Chicago artists painted over the graffiti-style ads using the city campaign to their advantage. Now that's a statement.

Chester--you don't live in LA, do you? If so, take a trip around Boyle Heights, Gassell Park and Highland Park--that's not pranksters, that's gangs.

Joan in SB, if that's Santa Barbara, maybe your taggers are in middle school, but not in my neighborhood.

Didn't anyone here notice the great murals in LA that were destroyed by taggers?

Antimatt--You need to take a drive to the LA suburbs, like Pacoima, San Fernando, etc.