Graffiti removal and
concrete cleaning.

A concrete contractor uses stains, washes, paint and textures to give a unique, personal touch to a bare concrete wall. A tagger uses graffiti to do the same thing.

The most important difference is permission, or the lack of it. Decorative concrete contractors work where they’re wanted. Taggers crave working where they’re not wanted. Sometimes, in fact, they’ll put their work right on top of a contractor’s.

Decorative concrete will not deter taggers, says Barry Woods, president of Graffiti Control Systems, a Los Angeles contractor. “These guys don’t think like that. They hit murals. They hit churches.”

A wall that is hard to reach or unique in any way, such as one with a decorative design, can even be considered a challenge, he says. “They may vandalize it just for the sheer notoriety.”

This presents a problem for legitimate artists. How does a concrete contractor protect work from being scarred or obliterated by graffiti?

The answer comes in two parts. Obviously, chemicals must be used to clean the tag off the wall. But even before that, many contractors seal their work with an anti-graffiti coating to make cleanup easier.