Can I use whiteboard paint on a whiteboard?

I. Introduction: Our high-quality whiteboard coating can easily be used on an existing traditional framed whiteboard or even on a chalkboard as an ideal way to refurbish and improve the performance qualities and appearance of the writing surface. However, the coating should only be applied after the appropriate prep work has been done on the board. If you already have an ordinary whiteboard or chalkboard installed in your office, classroom, business, or other location and want to resurface it to save the time, energy, and money involved in buying a replacement board, our premium whiteboard paint can offer you a highly functional and durable dry erase surface that is resistant to smudging, streaking, and ghosting, and will be serviceable for ten-plus years without needing to be recoated. This kind of quality and functionality are not typical of standard whiteboards, so if you apply our product to your existing board, you will be upgrading your work, school, or home environment and gaining a far superior dry-erase surface. Applying ReMARKable over your present whiteboard or chalkboard is easy to do and will result in a dry erase board that looks and functions better than the original.

Using our whiteboard coating to recondition and enhance an already-mounted dry erase board is highly cost-effective as well, since businesses, organizations, and households can save themselves the cost of having to buy new standard whiteboards for a period of ten or more years, while our coating provides continuous, dependable service. If you have a dry erase board that no longer retains marker ink or that can no longer be completely erased so that ink remains on the surface in large smudged areas known as “ghosts,” our quality coating is the key to restoring the board to serviceable condition.

II. Preparing your board’s surface for applying the coating

When applying our top-quality whiteboard coating on walls, surface preparation is critical to ensuring effective adhesion, and the same is true when refurbishing an existing whiteboard or chalkboard. Meticulous prep work and application of an appropriate base coat create the foundation for a durable, functional, and attractive whiteboard-coated surface that will last for ten-plus years of continuous use.

A. Clean and sand your existing whiteboard or chalkboard surface

Just following a few simple steps will get your whiteboard ready for installation of our premium dry-erase coating. The first step involves using a standard dry eraser to remove as much of the solidified marker ink from the surface as possible. Then spray the surface with an eco-friendly whiteboard cleaner, denatured alcohol, or rubbing alcohol and use a lint-free cotton or microfiber cloth to thoroughly wipe down the board and get it as dirt-free as possible. Next, use 220-grit sandpaper to lightly scuff the surface and remove any blemishes and bumps that might be present. After you finish sanding, make sure you carefully clean off the board once again and let the surface dry completely to let the primer adhere properly.

Thorough cleaning of the surface is a vital step in the prepping process because, for all types of paints or coatings, dust is the primary culprit when effective adhesion to the surface fails to occur. So, after sanding your whiteboard, the next step in a successful dry erase coating installation is a second thorough cleaning with a microfiber cloth, towel, or mitt. The effectiveness of our high-quality whiteboard coating is significantly impacted by its ability to hold fast to the substrate, so even small amounts of surface dust or other debris can significantly reduce the coating’s ability to bond properly to your whiteboard. Then, after the surface of your board is perfectly clean, tape the frame with painter’s tape or masking tape to prevent over-painting.

For a blackboard, it’s recommended that you thoroughly wipe it down with a damp cloth to remove all remaining chalk residue and dirt particles that might be present. Then give the entire board a light sanding with 220-grit sandpaper to scuff the surface. Doing so will help your primer to properly adhere to the board. Then wipe down the surface a second time to make it ready for application of your primer and cover the frame with masking tape of painter’s tape.

B. Apply ReMARKable Tintable Base Paint or another primer and base coat

The next step consists of applying primer and base paint to your whiteboard or blackboard. It is highly recommended that you coat the board with ReMARKable Tintable Base Paint, our quality proprietary product that’s a primer and a base paint in one. In this way, you can save time, money, and energy by avoiding the need to apply two different products and wait for the first one to dry before the second can be applied. If you choose to purchase a primer other than our proprietary primer/base coat, you’ll need to use one that is specially designed for use on the kind of material your whiteboard or blackboard is made of, such as melamine, porcelain, or slate. Staff people at the paint store where you buy the primer can guide you in selecting a type of primer that is appropriate for use on your particular surface material.

After installing the primer, you will have to roll on two coats of a quality satin or eggshell water-based enamel that does not contain chemical additives such as rheology or flow modifiers, antimicrobial agents, wetting, and dispersing agents, and de-foaming agents, among others. For information on this topic, refer to the fourth question on our website’s FAQ page, where these chemicals are discussed in the answer section. Such additives, especially in large quantities, emit numerous toxic gases and produce adverse reactions with our whiteboard coating when the coating is applied on top of them. This, in turn, will lead to bubbling, poor adhesion of the topcoat, and a pitted appearance on the surface after the coating has dried, thus negatively affecting the durability, erasability, and writability of your whiteboard surface.

After applying the base coat, you will have to allow for a drying time of at least 24 hours before rolling on our premium whiteboard coating as the topcoat. If you have any questions about the specific additives to avoid when purchasing the base coat, you can contact our team of customer support representatives for the most up-to-date details, because paint companies sometimes change their chemical formulations or introduce new additives to their coatings, some of which may be unacceptable for use with our product.

III. Applying the whiteboard coating to your board

You are now ready to coat and refurbish your fully prepped whiteboard or blackboard. Make sure to accurately measure the dimensions of the board so that you know exactly how much of the coating you will need to apply, and only mix up the amount you intend to use for the project because after mixing, you will have approximately 40-45 minutes to apply it before it begins to congeal and become unusable. If you plan to put on two layers of the coating, mix the second batch only when the first layer has had a chance to dry for at least three hours after the first coat was applied.

Pour the coating mixture into a paint tray and use a microfiber roller to apply it to the board, making sure to coat the surface evenly in vertical passes, overlapping about two to three inches with each pass. Remember to thoroughly saturate your paint roller every time you dip it into the tray. Also, while rolling the coating onto the board, lead with the part of the roller that is closest to the roller frame, applying only one layer in a vertical pattern going from the bottom to the top of your board and vice versa all the way across the surface. Finally, avoid overworking the coating by re-rolling over parts that have already been coated because doing so will adversely affect the coating’s film-forming process, resulting in a failed application that will need to be redone.