Unclean Whiteboards
It was a good day when I covered all of the walls in my office with big, cheap whiteboards.
It was a bad day, two weeks later, when I realized that big, cheap whiteboards means that I was going to have to deal with unclean whiteboards.
Here’s an example.
My boards and the eraser that came with my markers had failed me, bigly.
Since I use these whiteboards heavily, I decided to launch an experiment! Time to find the best way to clean whiteboards.
Research
I started online, of course. Lots of good articles out there:
- Good list of ten 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 great first-hand accounts from ThriftyFun. Though I’m not sure I want to use abrasives like toothpaste or Scotch Brite on my beautiful new babies.
I started putting together a list, then decided I was just raid my basement and test whatever I had on hand. I’ve accumulated quite the collection of treatments, lubricants, and waxes from various projects.
I came up with nine contenders for the test. Here’s group 1:
And group 2:
How I tested
I decided to do two rounds of clean whiteboards testing.
In round 1, I would:
- Split my wall into 10 groups (9 treatments and 1 control with no treatment)
- Treat each slice with a different treatment
- Erase the board at various points in time (after 1 hour, after 3 hours, etc.) to see which held up best.
In round 2, I would take my finalists and do a long-term ghosting test.
Round 1: Nine Treatments for Clean Whiteboards
Here’s the grid I set up. The left side had the waxes, the control, and one of the goopy lubes.
The right side had lubricant sprays and car waxes:
They were all applied according to the label instructions. The lubricant sprays were just sprayed on, and then smeared around with a paper towel until the surface was dry.
Sealing and Cleaning a Whiteboard with Waxes
The first to drop out were the non-car waxes. Cheng Countertop Wax and Paste Finishing Wax are amazing for our DIY concrete countertops. Whiteboard treatments, though? Not so much.
You can see here that they left a smeary mess when I tried to erase the whiteboard after just one hour.
I’m 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, seven to go.
Sealing and Cleaning a Whiteboard with Grease
Next to fall – our two grease entries. We use Super Lube as a bike chain grease, and this food-safe petrol jelly is left over from a meat slicer experiment gone horribly wrong.
These were a smeary mess to apply, and the markers could barely write on them. They were also a mess after erasing after just one hour:
Two more down, which leaves five.
Sealing and Cleaning a Whiteboard with Car Waxes
A friend I rate very highly suggested Turtle Wax as the solution, so I was excited about this test. I was testing Nu Finish Paste and Turtle Wax Carnauba Cleaner Paste Wax.
These were much easier to apply than the other waxes or the greases, which was nice.
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’s what my control looked like when I erased after 1, 2, and 6 hours:
And here’s what the car waxes looked like after one, two, and six hours:
About the same level of whiteboard ghosting.
With two more out, that leaves us with three treatments — all spray-on lubricants.
Spray-On Lubricants for Clean Whiteboards
I was down to three finalists. Picture 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-40, the old-timer
- Teflon spray, the hipster
- Teflon Silicone Spray, the techie from Silicon Valley
I had high hopes for the Silicone spray, as did the super helpful guy at the local hardware store.
First, a word on smell.
This group of treatments smells.
WD-40 has the familiar shop-class-meets-your-father’s-garage smell. It’s distinctive, though not unpleasant.
The Teflon spray had a smell like electrified coconuts.
I don’t have a clever description for the Teflon Silicone Spray — it also had a scent.
Let’s see how they did.
It’s a little hard to see in this photo, but the newfangled Teflon Silicone Spray was the poorest performer of the three. After three days of testing, it definitely had the most ghosting of these three finalists:
Let’s take our finalists and move on to Test 2!
Sealing and Cleaning Whiteboards: WD-40 vs. Teflon
This second test was a torture test. I took another wall, treated it, and then attacked it with every whiteboard marker in my arsenal:
I let it sit for two days, then erased it:
You can already see the ghosting on the control in the middle, but the WD-40 and Teflon are still going strong.
I then repeated this cycle two more times — I left the marker on for two days, erased it, and tried again.
The final test
Here’s what my plain control looked like (heavy whiteboard ghosting):
And the Teflon (light whiteboard ghosting):
And the WD-40 (clean whiteboards!):
The best way to clean a whiteboard
WD-40 is the best treatment for clean whiteboards. It held up under multiple erasings and still looked great after over a week.
It’s also super easy to apply — spray on, wipe off with a paper towel.
It has a distinctive odor which I didn’t mind, but you might want to test it a bit before going nuts.
But wait, there’s more.
I also learned a bit about cleaning whiteboards throughout this whole process.
First, don’t bother with those whiteboard erasers. They won’t help you one bit unless you have a brand new board or are writing on glass.
Instead, get yourself some microfiber towels. They’re excellent for cleaning whiteboards.
Next, don’t bother with those tiny, expensive spray bottles of “whiteboard cleaner.” We also tried these alcohol wipes, but found them fragile and difficult to use. We had to use a lot of them to clean even a single board.
Instead, buy yourself some rubbing alcohol (I’ll put a link here, but it’s way cheaper at your local drugstore). Put it in a really nice looking spray bottle that you won’t mind seeing every day.
Microfiber + rubbing alcohol = happy clean whiteboards
Now it’s your turn
What do you think? Have questions? Or maybe you have your own results you’d like to share? Pop them in the comments below.
And don’t forget to share this article with your whiteboard-loving friends!
How are you going to clean all the goop off the other white boards?
Alcohol is a great way to ruin the surface. You’ll need it from then on.
I don’t know — it’s been a couple of years, and so far they’re holding up fine. These weren’t fancy whiteboards to begin with, so I’m not super worried about the surface.
Thank you ! I appreciate your thorough investigation.
Spray the WD40 on a paper towel, then use that to clean the board. It’s simple, fast, and not messy. I suppose a clean cloth would work as well.
Good point!
Just hoping for an update! Are you still happy with your solution? Has the rubbing alcohol damaged the surface?
Very happy! No damage yet that I can see!
I would like to know how a RainX treatment would perform.
Great idea! Feel free to try it out and let us know!
I recently tried RainX…didn’t work well at all. Lots of ‘ghosting’. I’ve been using toothpaste to clean [the only thing that worked] but will be switching up to WD40.
Love this post and your scientific approach. I have 2 boards of “cheap” melamine (not the fancy glass or enamel, but still expensive enough to replace). I used a product called MB 10W, which worked very well when I got it in 2013, but now results in ghosting. I’ll try your WD-40 approach. Please keep us posted on how your boards continue to perform.
you bet! It’s been a couple of years, and still going strong. I’ve gotten lazy about the WD-40 application (I love the smell in a garage, but not in an office). But the microfiber towels and rubbing alcohol are working great.
WD-40 now makes a non-aerosol. It works great, less smell, less overspray.
hey, cool! Didn’t know that. Here’s a link for anyone who wants to check it out: https://amzn.to/2IsiiYx
Your periodic erasing was done dry? With micro fiber towel?
During the test, my erasing was done with a combination of paper towels and standard whiteboard erasers. After I found the best surface prep, then I played around with different cleaning techniques and found that micro fiber + rubbing alcohol had the best results.
So do you literally spray the rubbing alcohol each time you erase with the microfiber towels? When you are in a meeting and need to erase so you ever wipe with dry microfiber towel? How often do you was the towel?
I cleaned a small whiteboard yesterday with alcohol & vinegar (no bueno), then toothpaste (better), and finally charcoal powder (best). There’s still a little ghosting left.
I am worried now that I may have messed up the surface with the abrasives. I was thinking about using Cannuba wax or some other type of coating before writing on the whiteboard again. I don’t want to spend a lot because I don’t wax my car. I take it to the car wash and let them do it. So, does WD-40 put a coding that then allows the markers to write on it properly without ghosting? Do you think if I apply WD-40, that would be all I need to do now?
How long does the smell last!
Thank you for your thoughtful experiments!!
Hi – you’re very brave using abrasives! I tested Carnuba wax, and it turned into a big mess.
It’s worth a test with the WD-40. The smell lasts a few days in my office, but I’m sure that will vary with ventilation. Good luck!
I love this post so much. Thank you! How often do you need to prep your boards with WD-40 vs just erasing with alcohol and microfiber? Does the alcohol remove the WD-40?
I have to admit that I’ve gotten lazy lately, and have just been using the microfiber cloth with the rubbing alcohol. It was just too much of a hassle to keep reapplying the WD-40!
Hi josh. Not sure if you still check this, but hoping you do. I have some whiteboard that are suffering from ghosting. So I literally just spray some Wd40 and clean it off, use them as normal – Then wd40 next time I need them clean again?
You might try the microfiber cloth + rubbing alcohol to get them clean, and then try out the WD-40 after that!
Did you ever tried with white petrol? For the cleaning process, really strong odor but I’m wondering cleaningwise which is better alcohol or white gasoline.
No, never even thought of that! Great idea, let us know if you decide to try it. Not sure I could tolerate smelling gasoline/petrol all day in our office, though.
Scientific method for the win! Thanks Maker Josh!
Received a bunch of ‘shot’ white boards from my office’s purge during a move to a new building. I am excited to try your winner (and avoid the mess of trying the others – thanks!), but I have my own test to throw in for the running:
I am going to try a ‘denatured alcohol’ I have from my lab instead of isopropyl to provide the solvent that should ‘re-liquify’ the resin-residue from the markers dried in place.
I then plan, in place of WD40, to try some coconut oil and/or mineral oil to provide a lubricating, hydro-phobic surface left behind on the board itself, to prevent the resin colorants from markers adhering too well on a too-cleaned board after alcohol cleaner is used. I’m basing my tests off the main ingredients in a can of formulated board cleaner:
Water (CAS# 7732-18-5),
Denatured alcohol (CAS# 64-17-5), ethyl based alcohol (that is stated to leave a residue, unlike isopropyl)
Cocamidopropyl betaine (CAS# 61789-40-0) – a coconut oil treated to act as an Amphoteric surfactants
Potassium sorbate (CAS# 579-00-1), a preservative salt synthetically produced from sorbic acid and potassium hydroxide
Citric acid (CAS# 77-92-9).a tricarboxylic acid that acts a acidity regulator
Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes, and how well my markers take any of the above oils being present on the board.
Great! Looking forward to hearing about it!