How to Make a Whiteboard Erasable Again

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I institute the all-time manner to clean whiteboards later 9 tests

Unclean Whiteboards

Information technology was a skillful twenty-four hour period when I covered all of the walls in my function with large, inexpensive whiteboards.

It was a bad day, ii weeks afterwards, when I realized that big, inexpensive whiteboards ways that I was going to have to deal with unclean whiteboards.

Hither'southward an example.

My boards and the eraser that came with my markers (paid link) had failed me, bigly.

Since I use these whiteboards heavily, I decided to launch an experiment! Time to find the best way to make clean whiteboards.

Research

I started online, of form. Lots of good articles out at that place:

• Good list of x things to try from OnTime Supplies (though what's up with coffee grounds?!?)
• Wikihow had two neat-looking tutorials, but none of them looked practical for use on a ton of big-ass whiteboards.
• Lots of not bad first-paw accounts from ThriftyFun. Though I'm non sure I want to use abrasives similar toothpaste or Scotch Brite (paid link) on my beautiful new babies.

I started putting together a list, then decided I was just raid my basement and test any I had on hand. I've accumulated quite the collection of treatments, lubricants, and waxes from various projects.

I came up with 9 contenders for the test. Here'south group i:

And group ii:

How I tested

I decided to do two rounds of clean whiteboards testing.

In circular 1, I would:

1. Split my wall into x groups (9 treatments and 1 control with no treatment)
2. Care for each piece with a dissimilar treatment
3. Erase the board at various points in time (after 1 hour, after 3 hours, etc.) to see which held up best.

In round ii, I would accept my finalists and do a long-term ghosting exam.

Circular 1: Nine Treatments for Clean Whiteboards

Here's the grid I set up. The left side had the waxes, the control, and ane of the goopy lubes.

The right side had lubricant sprays and auto waxes:

They were all applied according to the characterization instructions. The lubricant sprays were merely sprayed on, and then smeared around with a paper towel until the surface was dry.

Sealing and Cleaning a Whiteboard with Waxes

The starting time to drop out were the non-car waxes. Cheng Countertop Wax (paid link) and Paste Finishing Wax (paid link) are amazing for our DIY physical countertops. Whiteboard treatments, though? Non so much.

You tin can meet here that they left a smeary mess when I tried to erase the whiteboard after just one hour.

I'thou kind of glad, as these were on the more difficult side to apply. Lots of rubbing on and smearing off, then waiting, then buffing.

Two down, vii to go.

Sealing and Cleaning a Whiteboard with Grease

Next to fall – our two grease entries. Nosotros use Super Lube (paid link) equally a bike concatenation grease, and this food-condom petrol jelly (paid link) is left over from a meat slicer experiment gone horribly wrong.

These were a smeary mess to employ, and the markers could barely write on them. They were also a mess after erasing after just one hr:

Ii more than down, which leaves 5.

Sealing and Cleaning a Whiteboard with Car Waxes

A friend I rate very highly suggested Turtle Wax every bit the solution, so I was excited near this test. I was testing Nu Finish Paste (paid link) and Turtle Wax Carnauba Cleaner Paste Wax. (paid link)

These were much easier to apply than the other waxes or the greases, which was squeamish.

However, I found that the whiteboard markers didn't write particularly well on them. In general, they did no better or worse than the control in leaving marks.

Here'southward what my control looked like when I erased subsequently one, ii, and 6 hours:

And here's what the car waxes looked like afterwards 1, two, and half dozen hours:

Virtually the same level of whiteboard ghosting.

With ii more out, that leaves usa with iii treatments — all spray-on lubricants.

Spray-On Lubricants for Clean Whiteboards

I was downward to 3 finalists. Motion-picture show the old, grizzled gunslinger taking on two recent graduates from UofT Austin. One lives in the Brooklyn, the other is a Silicon Valley techrepreneur:

• WD-xl, (paid link) the sometime-timer
• Teflon spray, (paid link) the hipster
• Teflon Silicone Spray, (paid link) the techie from Silicon Valley

I had loftier hopes for the Silicone spray, as did the super helpful guy at the local hardware store.

Starting time, a word on smell.

This group of treatments smells.

WD-40 (paid link) has the familiar shop-course-meets-your-begetter's-garage smell. Information technology's distinctive, though not unpleasant.

The Teflon spray (paid link) had a odour like electrified coconuts.

I don't have a clever description for the Teflon Silicone Spray (paid link) — it besides had a smell.

Allow's see how they did.

It's a little hard to see in this photo, but the newfangled Teflon Silicone Spray (paid link) was the poorest performer of the three. After three days of testing, it definitely had the most ghosting of these iii finalists:

Let's take our finalists and move on to Test ii!

Sealing and Cleaning Whiteboards: WD-40 vs. Teflon

This 2d test was a torture test. I took some other wall, treated it, and then attacked it with every whiteboard marker in my armory:

I let information technology sit down for ii days, then erased it:

You can already encounter the ghosting on the control in the middle, just the WD-40 and Teflon are yet going stiff.

I and so repeated this cycle two more than times — I left the marker on for 2 days, erased it, and tried again.

The terminal test

Here'southward what my plainly control looked like (heavy whiteboard ghosting):

And the Teflon (light whiteboard ghosting):

And the WD-forty (clean whiteboards!):

The best manner to clean a whiteboard

WD-40 (paid link) is the all-time treatment for clean whiteboards. It held upwards nether multiple erasings and still looked not bad after over a calendar week.

It's also super easy to apply — spray on, wipe off with a newspaper towel.

It has a distinctive odor which I didn't mind, but you might want to examination it a bit before going basics.

Simply expect, there'southward more.

I also learned a bit most cleaning whiteboards throughout this whole procedure.

First, don't carp with those whiteboard erasers (paid link). They won't assistance y'all ane scrap unless yous have a brand new board or are writing on glass.

Instead, get yourself some microfiber towels (paid link). They're splendid for cleaning whiteboards.

Next, don't carp with those tiny, expensive spray bottles of "whiteboard cleaner." (paid link) We also tried these alcohol wipes, (paid link) just found them fragile and difficult to utilize. We had to apply a lot of them to clean even a single board.

Instead, buy yourself some rubbing booze (I'll put a link hither, (paid link) only it'due south mode cheaper at your local drugstore). Put information technology in a really nice looking spray canteen (paid link) that yous won't listen seeing every day.

Microfiber + rubbing alcohol = happy clean whiteboards

Now information technology'south your turn

What practise yous remember? Accept questions? Or peradventure you accept your ain results you lot'd similar to share? Pop them in the comments below.

And don't forget to share this article with your whiteboard-loving friends!

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