spray paint on granite

Been bouldering over on the Riverside boulders quite a bit this spring. Noticed that sometime between last Tuesday and this weekend decided to spruce up the Buzz boulder with a little color.
I guess my point of this topic is putting out the question if anyone has any experience with graffiti removal on granite. Is it possible? Can it be done in a way that does not damage the rock and is non-toxic to the immediate area?

That really sucks. Taginator works good.

www.taginator.com

SeanG81 wrote:That really sucks. Taginator works good. taginator.com

Ya, except Taginator works GREAT!!! We have used it at Adopt-A-Crags around here in CT.

People like this seriously need to be caught and prosecuted. About 1000 hours community service would be a start.

A ton of elbow grease works too. My buddy used soap, water, and I think 4 drill batteries with one of the scrubbers on the end of his drill. The graffiti he cleaned up was much smaller than this though.

Hey Thad, thanks for heads up. The SLCA has a supply of Elephant Snot and I'd be happy to meet up with you sometime this week to take down. The product works really well without a lot of elbow grease, and we have approval from the watershed and the FS to use it.

This has been an ongoing battle in LCC, and it reached an unacceptable threshold last season, imo.

Nate Watkins wrote:A ton of elbow grease works too. My buddy used soap, water, and I think 4 drill batteries with one of the scrubbers on the end of his drill. The graffiti he cleaned up was much smaller than this though.

Check out the graffiti products next time...they work with almost no effort and are biodegradable. We got approval to use it w/ the Department of Environmental Protection here in CT and it works so well it's astounding.. elephant snot sounds the like the same type stuff. Brushing and elbow greese really aren't a good option once you've used the removers. Spray on wait 20 min and wash off.

Sweet... that's exactly how it's done back east, the local climbing org bought the backpack sprayer and all! Good work guys! way to get on it quick!

The SLCA provided all the equipment (Elephant Snot, pressure washer, brushes). The creek 20' away really helped. Volunteers provided the beer and psyche!
Hopefully small groups of motivated people can borrow the equipment and go on quick scrubbing missions before the paint gets old and hard to remove on all future tags...

Next time we'll bring stiff deck brooms and more brushes, a bit of scrubbing seemed to really help loosen the stuff stuck between crystals. I was blown away at how well that Elephant Snot works. It's like witchcraft!

Boissal wrote:The SLCA provided all the equipment (Elephant Snot, pressure washer, brushes). The creek 20' away really helped. Volunteers provided the beer and psyche! Hopefully small groups of motivated people can borrow the equipment and go on quick scrubbing missions before the paint gets old and hard to remove on all future tags... Next time we'll bring stiff deck brooms and more brushes, a bit of scrubbing seemed to really help loosen the stuff stuck between crystals. I was blown away at how well that Elephant Snot works. It's like witchcraft!

Awesome work and a big high five to you guys! I'd really be interested to hear from someone who's used both Taginator and the Elephant Snot. Here's a pic from one of our clean ups... u can see the spray paint melting right off like a tripped out stealy!


This is Traprock Basalt FYI

Holy shit that's a lot of rock to clean! We had a pretty large but compact area at least...

I have to admit I had my doubts when we started. We spread the stuff around with a paint brush then scrubbed a bit and it left a blue paste behind which seemed as stuck to the rock as ever. I was shaking my head until JK started with the sprayer. Watching the paste melt away leaving clean granite was pretty satisfying.
We didn't try the ghost remover, it got too dark. I'm curious to see the boulder with daylight, it had a faint blue hue by headlamp which I hope will fade fast.

If anyone wants to get on the buzz, I may have given the holds a better cleaning than they've ever had...

Thanks to Boissal, Shaft, and Gray for the effort last night. This is a good system, great for taking on a handful of tags at a time, and I encourage folks to contact the SLCA if you want to help. Next weekend, we will be working with the USFS to do some more of this as part of a National Trails Day, so sign up and specify graffiti removal if you are so inclined:

Get outside this National Trails Day and help make a difference!!

National Trails Day
Saturday, June 7, 2014
8:30 AM to Noon
Location: Little Cottonwood Trail
Help improve our Wasatch trails through trail building, trail maintenance, litter clean-up and invasive weed removal.
100 vigorous volunteers needed for trail work (must be 16 yrs or older) or invasive weed removal (must be 13 yrs or older). All necessary tools and instruction will be provided.
Participants will receive a light breakfast & lunch.

Saturday, June 7, 2014
Pre-registration is required.
Please call 801-466-6411, email or plic@xmission.com.
Registration closes Thursday, June 5th at 5 PM.
Additional location details, instructions & parking information will be emailed to registered participants.
Breakfast 7:45 to 8:30am
8:30 Welcome and work begins.
12:00 Lunch
Project site: Little Cottonwood Trail, lower Little Cottonwood Canyon. Projects will include trail work, invasive weed removal, litter clean-up, possible graffiti removal.

This project is supported by the Cottonwood Canyons Foundation, the US Forest Service, REI, Wasatch Mountain Club, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Committee, Salt Lake Climbers Alliance, and the Wasatch Legacy Project.

Required for work: Long pants, boots or other sturdy, close-toed shoes, and work gloves. Work gloves will be provided for those who need them. Please bring your own hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, water bottle, weather appropriate clothing, and other personal items as needed.

We hope you’ll join us!

volunteer@cottonwoodcanyons.org

That is terrible. Few things I hate more than graffiti, especially on a remarkable boulder problem like The Buzz. Thank you for cleaning it.

Great work up there! Does that stuff remove years of schwett and rubber? Would this be a kosher/effective way to tlc some heavily used boulder problems?

Schwetty high balls?

Thanks guys, nice work!

Looks like we will have plenty to work on tomorrow and then some. The registration is full at 100 people, and we will have a couple of small groups working on the Graffiti and general clean-up.

Contact the SLCA if you want to be involved in the continuing effort.

Gate boulder area was ground zero for a paint ball battle this week...

Thad VanDenBerghe wrote:Gate boulder area was ground zero for a paint ball battle this week...

Fortunately most paint-balls, if not all, are biodegradable and non toxic.

Nevertheless an eyesore. A little water a small amount of scrubbing should be more than sufficient to clean it if you don't want to wait for the next rain storm.

Link about Biodegradation of paint-balls

Does anyone have Beta on what kind of pressure washer to buy? Budget of 700 hoping to stretch that out to elephant snot and brushes as well..

Alec Quick wrote:

Does anyone have Beta on what kind of pressure washer to buy? Budget of 700 hoping to stretch that out to elephant snot and brushes as well..

A manual pump backpack sprayer works just fine and much cheaper (and lighter) than using a pressure washer, especially if you're using elephant snot. If you do go the pressure washer route, be VERY CAREFULL and stand way back right away until you figure out the needed distance. If you're using a remover you won't need a lot of water pressure to clean with. Remember to try and budget in some collection method for the base of the area even if it is just garbage bags and towels, the elephant snot is non-toxic biodegradable but in most cases the spray paint is not.