Do It Yourself Whiteboard

http://nimbleunion.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/do-it-yourself-white-board/

by Paul_Morgan • 12 years ago

28 36 12 years ago

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kosei• 12 years ago

Would be great to see how well this works (especially over time). I've used IdeaPaint before, but it always seems to get worse and ghost over time. Also it's quite expensive.

msandford• 12 years ago

It's awful. I've worked at places that tried it in the past and it didn't erase worth a damn.

I hated them so much that I keep an eye on CL and I wait for the magnetic dry erase boards to come up. They cost so much that the enamel ends up being very high quality. I got a 4x8 one used for about $150 when I needed one vs the $500 or so it would have cost new. It sucks having to wait but having a dry erase board actually ERASE is just so nice.

joezydeco• 12 years ago

Seconding the awful.

Besides being hard to erase and leaving ghosts behind, this stuff does NOT cut easily. The finish is very thin and will chip like crazy when you try to cut it.

joshdance2• 12 years ago

hardpanel or IdeaPaint?

JoeAltmaier• 12 years ago

They also sell whiteboard material, whatever that is. It cuts good, erases as well as the real thing. I recommend it.

a1a• 12 years ago

Did some quick research out of interest. Melamine and porcelain steel seems to be the most common.

References:

http://mywhiteboards.blogspot.se/2012/06/melamine-vs-porcela...

http://www.whiteboardsetc.com/laminated_panel.htm

http://dryeraseboard.com/aluminum-trim-porcelain-steel-marke...

http://www.usmarkerboard.com/s/Unframed-Whiteboard-Material/...

protomyth• 12 years ago

When we really needed dry erase boards at one place I worked we laminated white cardboard. That was fairly cheap and it actually erased. We had inherited a 60-ish inch (maybe 65) roll laminator. You can buy some big cardboard sheets to fit in those things.

dm2• 12 years ago

YES, these panels are awesome and I've put them on 2 full walls of my office.

The price for the 8' x 4' whiteboards: $13. Great value. You can have them cut the panels at the store into 2 x 4 foot sections if you don't have a way to transport the full panel.

I also just use an alcohol/water mix rather than real whiteboard cleaner.

I use normal drywall screws with a countersunk washer which helps the looks. https://www.google.com/search?q=countersunk+washers&tbm=isch

thisjustinm• 12 years ago

Another common name for these boards is "shower board."

One thing I noticed with the one I previously built was that different color / brand markers made a big difference in how easy it was to erase.

IIRC red and black Expo brand were the hardest to erase while green Expo would wipe clean even after a couple months (we left a couple of test marks on the board once we realized color made a difference to see how each fared).

mfisher87• 12 years ago

A friend of mine introduced me to this... one of the best moneysavers I've come across. I've had a smaller section, 2'x4', mounted on my wall for about three months. It was $7-$9! I use it heavily and it erases just like a normal board. Maybe a little more ghosting than a good metal whiteboard, and sometimes I have to put a little more effort in to erasing older marks, but nothing worth spending an extra even $10 to rectify. I've never had to use cleaner, but will just use some diluted alcohol if it ever gets bad enough.

I bought three other "real" whiteboards from big box stores or office supply stores (for about 5x the price each) in the 6 months prior, and every single one has had the surface peel and bubble from the backing, so some areas of those whiteboards are now pressure-sensitive. They are unused since mounting the new board and will eventually find their way out of my possession.

stevoyoung3• 12 years ago

I'm not sure if this is the same material but I've used what's called "Showerboard" to do this. It was $7 a board if I remember correctly. I put some particleboard behind and made a nice wooden frame for it.

In terms of "erasability" it's more than acceptable for the cost of it. Basically if you erase something within a few day it erases fine with minimal ghosting. If it's longer than a few days then you need to erase a little harder or use windex, which works just like the dry eraser liquid.

Having used the very expensive whiteboards at my previous job I don't see a big difference. The expensive ones still left ghosting and needed to be cleaned every week or so.

Lastly, I would experiment with markers. I've found that some (brand and color) erase better than others.

For what it cost, I definitely recommend doing this.

EDIT: Here is a picture of my whiteboard. https://app.box.com/s/jby2cznhev66ec1izvck

ChuckMcM• 12 years ago

This, and Home Depot also sells something called "moulding" which is used for lining rooms and what not. A 4x8 sheet of showerboard, and 25' of edge moulding (about $12 for fancy stuff) and you have nice large white board.

hablahaha• 12 years ago

The article actually says not to use Windex, it strips the surface. I'm wondering if Expo whiteboard cleaner has the same effect. We use Windex so I'm guessing that for us at least, it probably has something to do with the ghosting getting progressively worse.

I really like what you've done with your setup, that black moulding looks really sharp.

jamesbritt• 12 years ago

I had a similar setup at a small company a few years ago. We first "primed" the surface by intense scrubbing with that Expo cleaning. This made it easier to wipe later on.

We also used Tabasco sauce for tough marker residue.

It's worth experimenting with different brands of markers and different colors to see what ends up easier to clean if left around for any length of time. If you really want something lasting, take a picture.

(I have a laptop-sized whiteboard I use like that: sketch out stuff, if it looks good, snap a picture to save it.)

stevoyoung3• 12 years ago

I've used Windex for over a year now. For me, there is no difference between the center of the board (lots of windex) and the very edge of the board (no windex).

gamegoblin• 12 years ago

It's $12 at my local Home Depot for a 4' x 8' piece -- I once covered an entire room's walls in it for < $100. Whiteboard room. It was great.

angersock• 12 years ago

Trick we used is to go and also buy like 3/8 chipboard and then liquid-nails the melamine to it--that gives it enough stiffness to prop up on things.

Paul_Morgan2• 12 years ago

I was going to call it bathroom paneling but they sell it under a different name now so your "Showerboard" is accurate.

smoyer• 12 years ago

During construction of my office walls in the '90s I had this same paneling installed over raw drywall. I was almost the same cost because the contractor didn't need to finish the drywall (very labor intensive) but rather used liquid nails to glue the paneling onto the drywall. Don't try using this paneling directly as the wall.

vhost-• 12 years ago

I've been using this stuff for years. Can't beat the price! Just be careful of scratching it too much. After a while my boards get pretty un-eraseable and the grooves will tear up markers at an unfavorable rate.

mey2• 12 years ago

We tried this at our work, where we use whiteboards extensively. I am not a fan. You spend a lot of time trying to make them clean over a 2 year period. It's annoying to be constantly replacing them.

We have moved on to http://www.ideapaint.com/products/ideapaint and are really happy with the result. Cheaper then traditional white boards and better then the Showerboards. The room we tested it in currently has had it up for a year and still works well and easily erasing things that have been up for a month.

hack_edu• 12 years ago

IdeaPaint does not compare. It more reminiscent of a white truck bed liner than a writing slate, even when installed by their contractors. It gets the job done for silly after-hours doodles but its simply not as precise as a real glossy whiteboard when it comes to legibility and ease to clean.

All of our old traditional whiteboards mysteriously appeared after a few weeks.

mey2• 12 years ago

If you are going cheap, my lower bound is ideapaint, but I agree there is a reason good whiteboards are still sold :)

Paul_Morgan2• 12 years ago

I was looking at the http://masschallenge.org/ office space where they use ideapaint. They paint is very glossy with a bad glare from over head lighting. I couldn't see what was written on the ideapaint from the glare. It would probably be great with some softer overhead lighting.

Donzo• 12 years ago

The problem with using shower board is ghosting. Even Expo markers will leave behind tracks.

The smoother and harder the surface, the easier it is clean. The actual whiteboard material is very smooth and hard, almost like porcelain. Glass is an ideal surface, so long as you don't have children around. Windows work pretty well too.

jessaustin• 12 years ago

I'm sure this material works OK, but why not just go with glass? Glass will not ghost, and even paint can be removed easily with a razor blade.

prawn• 12 years ago

I tried a stick on whiteboard decal approach and it just didn't stay on the wall in Australian summer temperatures. Cost me $100+ and is now in the bin.

At the office, another business uses a thin magnetic sheet with magnetic whiteboard tiles they can move around, write on, etc. Means that anything likely to be written up for a long time is usually isolated to a small replaceable piece.

mczepiel_• 12 years ago

We've wall mounted many Ikea Torsby table tops (53 1/8x33 1/2") and really enjoyed the streamlined look and hassle free cleaning. Best whiteboards I've ever used. There's actually a white backing behind the glass so everything is easy to read.

For $80 it's much more affordable than actual whiteboards while clearly outperforming cheaper alternatives.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90154644/

cdr• 12 years ago

I found 3'x2' "Board Guys" magnetic whiteboards while browsing through Target, on sale for $11 each. Two 3x2 is good for me personally, although 3x2 boards would probably not be for an actual office. Good material, backed, framed, magnetic and a tray. There's something to be said for not DIY sometimes.

Kerrick• 12 years ago

My company got some of those peel-and-stick whiteboards after we moved offices (I think whiteyboard, but I'm not certain). Prior to the move we had IdeaPaint; it soon had erasure problems, and ended up looking like a disgusting mess. I'm really pleased with the peel-and-stick kind after about 6 months.

AjithAntony• 12 years ago

I can't find the post, but there was an article about this stuff on here a while back. Like large sheets of dry erase contact paper.

http://www.amazon.com/GoWrite-Dry-Erase-Rolls-White/dp/B0037...

sk8ingdom• 12 years ago

Can confirm, did this in college and it worked great.

lrichardson• 12 years ago

When I was designing our office I had dreams of having giant wall-covering white boards everywhere. Of course, to save costs, we tried using the shower board material from Home Depot like this post is suggesting.

The ghosting ends up being a pretty big problem. We found some window cleaner (not windex) that does a pretty good job cleaning it, but the boards are getting more and more worn over time. Eventually I hope to replace them all...

I've ended up going a different route in my home office, and it's been quite successful.

Ikea sells these long and skinny white-colored glass. 63" x 19" for $32.00 USD.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80160645/

I have two of these mounted on the wall forming a pretty good-sized white board. It's a little bit weird with the seam in the middle, but it matters less than you'd think. The glass ends up looking WAY better and classier than the shower board would, and you don't have to worry about ghosting ever.

Do It Yourself Whiteboard

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