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Do It Yourself Whiteboard

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Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#11

Post by mfisher87 »

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#12

Post by stevoyoung »

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

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#13

Post by smoyer »

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#14

Post by ChuckMcM »

stevoyoung wrote: post #12

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 eras…

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#15

Post by vhost- »

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#16

Post by mey »

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#17

Post by Donzo »

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#19

Post by prawn »

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.

Re: Do It Yourself Whiteboard

#20

Post by hablahaha »

stevoyoung wrote: post #12

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 eras…

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.

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