Installing appropriate lighting fixtures and relying on graffiti resistant site furnishings, planters and other materials is adamant to preventing graffiti and reducing the risk it negatively impacts to your business.
TerraCast Products are made with a specially formulated resin that is resistant to most types of paint. As a result, it’s incredibly easy to wipe away graffiti the moment you see it without spending much money calling in a painter or other professional.
Negative Impacts of Graffiti
There are countless negative impacts to graffiti. For one, people have negative connotations associated with graffiti and tend to assume that when they see it they are in an unsafe or undesirable part of town. Other negative impacts of graffiti include:
-Graffiti costs property owners millions of dollars every year in removal fees. In Los Angeles alone graffiti cleaning costs total over $140 million a year.
-Taxpayer dollars are spent removing graffiti as opposed to making positive changes to the community.
-Businesses tagged with graffiti are less appealing to customers and as a result incur a loss of income.
-Graffiti can devalue a property and make it less desirable to potential buyers.
-Graffiti gives the community a negative image.
-Graffiti tends to spark additional graffiti in the same location or surrounding areas. Graffiti artists may think: “If one person got away with tagging that spot, I will too.”
Invest In Graffiti-Resistant Site Furnishings, Planters, Etc.
The only way to prevent graffiti is to invest in products that are highly resistant to it and can be cleaned off in minutes if they are tagged. TerraCast Products has created an extensive line of site furnishings, planters, lighting fixtures and more, all of which are resistant against the harmful impacts of graffiti.
Sure, graffiti may still show up but it can easily be removed in minutes with something as easy to obtain as a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Cleaning Pad. The ability to remove graffiti quickly saves you a lot of money and it also prevents graffiti from hanging out long enough to negatively impact your business.
It is SO important to remove graffiti as quickly as possible. As mentioned above, the presence of graffiti increases the likelihood of additional graffiti. If graffiti is removed within 24-hours there is only a 10% chance it will reoccur. If graffiti remains longer than this there is a much greater risk it will reappear. If you have to rely on a professional service to remove graffiti it is always going to take longer to remove the problem than if you can quickly remove it yourself.
The unique formula used in our resin-based products makes it impossible for most paints to bond with the material. This prevents graffiti from soaking beneath the top layer, as opposed to porous materials that readily absorb ink. As a result, it becomes much harder to remove graffiti stains, and in many cases even impossible.
Add Lighting Fixtures In All The Right Places
Terracast lighting solutions can also help deter graffiti from negatively impacting your business. Our lighting fixtures are made of the same graffiti-resistant resin, but that’s not the only reason they help prevent vandalism. Properly outfitting your property with lighting solutions helps to deter criminals because it makes it much riskier to illegally tag property under the heat of bright lights. By strategically placing lighting near common targets such as signs, restrooms, and so forth you make it much less likely these areas are tagged.
If trees or other obstacles block out light and shade the individual from view, lighting alone will not act as much of a deterrent. This is where motion activated lighting is a great option in order to make lighting more effective. These lights turn on whenever they detect motion in the area, startling anyone that thinks they can get away with tagging your business. LED lighting offers an affordable option for fixtures you plan to keep on all night.
Additional Ways To Reduce Graffiti
-Innovative landscape design helps naturally prevent all types of crime. This relates to the overall layout of your yard, courtyard, etc. Certain design elements are known to attract vandals more than others.
-Take a photo of any graffiti the moment you notice it. Immediately report graffiti to your local city authorities, along with pictures taken of the vandalism.
-Adding artist murals to buildings has proven effective at reducing graffiti because artists have a general respect for the work of other artists. A blank canvas is far more inviting.
-Add signs warning that security cameras are recording to deter graffiti artists from making their mark on your property. If threats alone don’t work, actually add cameras so you can see who it is in action and potentially put a name to a face and press charges.
-If your business building is tagged with graffiti, you could move potted plants in front of the damage to temporally cover it up and reduce the risk of a repeat offender.
-If you notice graffiti higher than 6-feet, look for benches and other site furnishings that someone could move to access these higher points. Try bolting down furniture or anything else that can be moved and then used to climb up and tag higher targets.
-Grow dense shrubbery and vines up the sides of a building to block the potential for tagging. For instance blackberry bushes grow incredibly fast and are covered in thorns that’ll deter people from trying to make their mark. They can also be useful to cover up previous graffiti.
-Add signs that warn of poison ivy near buildings to further deter people form wanting to go near it.
-Anti-graffiti coatings can be added to fences and other surfaces that are not resistant to paint. These coatings make it easier to clean off graffiti.