Cities looking to beautify their neighborhoods through cleanup and restoration efforts can quickly and easily reduce unsightly graffiti with Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Anti-Graffiti Coating. The coating prevents graffiti from adhering to underlying surfaces and allows unwelcome artwork to be easily washed away. It can help cities remove – and prevent – graffiti to preserve and enhance neighborhood aesthetics, foster pride in communities, and promote healthy and safe environments for residents and businesses.

According to Keep America Beautiful (KAB), municipalities with graffiti problems can experience decreased feelings of safety among citizens and visitors, lower retail sales, reduced ridership on transit systems, and lower property values. Therefore, cities spend millions of dollars annually on graffiti cleanup to enhance the beauty and general welfare of their communities. These efforts can especially pay off when graffiti removal can be done quickly and efficiently, as KAB reports that repeat defacing is reduced – almost to the point of complete elimination – when graffiti is removed from a municipal surface within the first 48 hours.

Sherwin-Williams Anti-Graffiti Coating is a cost-effective, ready-to-use solution intended for use over bare concrete or previously painted surfaces. It offers excellent graffiti resistance and ease of cleaning, without leaving any shadowing or staining. Anti-Graffiti Coating is a permanent solution that creates a nonstick surface to repel graffiti from paint, spray paint cans, and permanent markers without chemical cleaning, abrasives, repainting, or reapplication.

“A partnership with Sherwin-Williams to use our Anti-Graffiti Coating presents a viable solution to beautify, preserve and protect communities,” said Danica Zeise, Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Product Manager. “The coating offers the potential to help reduce graffiti cleanup and removal costs for municipalities nationwide.”

City officials are showing interest in the value of Sherwin-Williams Anti-Graffiti Coating. Representatives from the Ohio Department of Transportation, the city of Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority recently witnessed a coatings specialist pressure-wash spray-painted graffiti away within minutes. Sherwin-Williams’ live power washing demonstration, held August 13 at the company’s John G. Breen Technology Center in Cleveland, Ohio, brought to life how the coating could help municipalities protect and enhance aesthetics citywide.

During the demonstration, guests first viewed a video of workers applying the Anti-Graffiti Coating to a brick wall followed by a local graffiti artist spray painting a mural of the city onto the coated wall. Then, attendees watched a live demo of the large skyline painting being promptly washed off the wall using only a standard pressure washer. The coating had been applied a week before the event, and the mural was painted three days prior to the demonstration and left to bake in the hot summer sun. The pressure washer removed the entire mural in minutes, revealing how easily graffiti can be removed from surfaces treated with the Anti-Graffiti Coating.

Sherwin-Williams offers a variety of anti-graffiti solutions for both interior and exterior use. The products are long lasting and easy to apply via brushing, rolling or spraying. They also provide excellent adhesion and ultraviolet (UV) resistance, as well as surface protection from graffiti damage that would otherwise have to be blasted off or painted over. The special coatings protect commercial and municipal buildings and infrastructure, schools, bridge abutments, transit stations, overpasses, fences, rail cars, commissioned artwork, and new construction from unsolicited graffiti through quick, economical removal.