What are the advantages and disadvantages of whiteboard paint versus whiteboard wallpaper?

Whiteboard paint and whiteboard wallpaper have different intended uses. If you are interested in finding out what the advantages and disadvantages of whiteboard paint versus whiteboard paper are, then read on.

First things first - if you are not aware of what each product is:

• Whiteboard Paint: A paint that is applied like normal latex paint but results in a dry erase surface. This can be applied to almost any material and can cover corners and odd angles and geometries.


• Whiteboard Wallpaper: An adhesive backed material that is dry erase capable on the front side. You place the wallpaper onto a wall or other surface and carefully ensure it lays flat. Some types can be removed and replaced.

What advantages does whiteboard paint offer? There are two main upsides; you can cover any type of surface geometry and it conforms (follows) the surface. What does this mean for you? If you want to easily go around a corner or bend or have a non-flat wall (most home walls are NOT perfectly flat) you can use whiteboard paint and it will cover the surface without bubbles or imperfections.

Whiteboard wallpaper can be difficult to apply to non-flat surfaces and is not recommended for use in areas that have corners.

On the upside, if you are not wanting a permanent solution or want a smaller area covered, whiteboard wallpaper can be sized appropriately and in many cases is cheaper. If you keep in mind the surface quality issues. you may find that one is better than the other for your specific case - it's not that one or the other is always the best.

Want to learn more about whiteboard paint? Read the Thought Formula Blog.

Is Whiteboard Paint Cost Effective?

Let's skip the preamble and get to the nitty-gritty cost calculations:

Price Breakdown

Cost of 32 square feet whiteboard paint kit from Thought Formula: $79.99
Lowest price 8 foot by 4 foot whiteboard on Amazon.com: $258.00 (prices range from $258 up to over $700 for a porcelain material board)

Now, we aren't going to pretend that those are the only costs. If you do take the whiteboard paint route you will need a few supplies (although most people will have at least some of this in their home or office). Let's take a look at these additional costs:

• Painting kit (tray, rollers, brush): $6.97
• Painter's tape for masking off area to be painted: $3.53
• Drop cloth for protecting floor / carpet: $2.98

All of these prices were taken from Home Depot at the time of writing. These supplies total up to $13.48.
Anything else we might be missing? Well, most people can skip the drop cloth and use either old newspapers or an old sheet, but we wanted to include it for completeness. However, we do need to add one more thing - shipping. If you order whiteboard paint from Thought Formula we do have to ship it to you and we aren't going to pretend that it doesn't cost us anything! Shipping is a flat fee of $10.

What is the shipping cost for a large whiteboard from Amazon.com? It depends - some of the boards are offered via Amazon Prime and include shipping. Others have additional shipping charges (varies by product). For our price breakdown we'll assume that there is no shipping cost with a traditional whiteboard.

Price Per Square Foot

Now that we have our component prices, let's see how each one works out:
Traditional whiteboard: 32 square feet at a cost of $258 = $8.06 per square foot
Thought Formula whiteboard paint: 32 square feet at a total cost of $103.47 = $3.23 per square foot

Results

It's a pretty clear cost equation - using our whiteboard paint is a great way to save a lot of money when you want to have a large area dry erase surface. The savings and aesthetics really tip in our favor as the sizes get bigger and bigger. Most whiteboards larger than 32 square feet become prohibitively expensive and whiteboard paint really emerges as the clear winner.

Top 5 Whiteboard Paint Projects

So, you've got yourself some paint - or are at least thinking about it, and want to know what some of the great things you can do are? Well, we've got you covered. In no particular order, here are 5 great projects that you can do with whiteboard paint:

1. Make Your Desk Dry Erase

Ever wanted to jot down a quick note while at your desk? Couldn't find a notepad, a pen, or didn't want to leave the webpage or application you had open? If you had painted your desk you could grab a whiteboard marker and go to town! This is very easy to do and the process is the same as painting your wall. Many desk materials will work, although you should test a small area first if you are unsure.


2. Paint Your Cabinets

Have you seen the pictures of kitchen cabinets with chalkboard paint? Pretty nifty, but chalk can get messy. How about putting whiteboard paint on your cabinet(s) or on the inside of your pantry? Hang a whiteboard marker nearby and you have an easy to clean up place to list items to shop for, jot down a recipe, or inventory the shelves.

3. Garage whiteboard

The garage. The domain of tools, boxes, and a car or two. Well, if you spend any amount of time in the garage you will understand how useful whiteboard paint could be. You can grab a dry erase marker and jot down notes, draw out plans, or anything else without having to wash off your hands. Plan out your next woodworking project, car repair, or other job with ease.

4. Paint Your Walls!

Ok, this is what 95% of you want to do with whiteboard paint and for good reason. Painting a wall (or walls) with Thought Formula whiteboard paint can really change your home or office. It gives you a huge brainstorming or organizing surface for a fraction of the cost of a regular whiteboard.

5. Use It For Organizing

You can paint nearly any surface - even things like shoe boxes work. Use some whiteboard paint to cover the tops of a few storage boxes and you get a nice erasable surface that lets you catalog what you are storing and change it as necessary. No need for a label-maker or stickers that never come off all the way.
Of course there are more than 5 projects you can undertake with whiteboard paint - what will you do?

For more info on whiteboard paint visit Thought Formula.

How Much Time Does It Really Take To Paint Your Wall?

This is a pretty common question - most people first think that it won't take any longer than regular painting (which is true) but then starting to think more about it and for some reason they start to convince themselves that there must be some secret step that adds time and complications to the whole process! However, there really isn't anything time consuming or hard about putting whiteboard paint on your walls.

What part of painting your walls takes the longest? Just like a regular paint you will spend the most time waiting for the paint to dry and cure. For whiteboard paint you let the paint cure for several days before using it - this isn't really something that "regular" paint has listed as a step since you wouldn't be trying to do something like write on it.

Setup for painting your walls is fairly simple. If your walls are clean you can skip to outlining the area with painters tape to give it a sharp border, if desired. If your walls are dirty you want to give them at least a wipe down with a damp rag to get dust, dirt, and other junk off of the paint. This will help the whiteboard paint adhere and last longer. After wiping down your wall you want to give it a day or so to fully dry.

When you are ready to paint, mix the components together well and then let it sit to ensure all of the bubbles are out of the paint mixture. This is a great time to take care of the other details prior to painting.

After your walls are wiped down and ready to go, tape off the area you want to paint - be sure to use extra wide tape or put a couple of strips down; most people will have a hard time not crossing a 1 inch tape outline at least once while painting!

Putting down a drop cloth (or old newspapers) doesn't take more than a minute, and then you are ready to start painting.

Now that you are ready, go ahead and paint. After the first coat give the paint time to dry (about 1 hour) and then follow up with a second coat. After this you can peel your tape off, take away the drop cloth, and do any other general cleanup.

Time from start to finish? Depending on your skill as a painter it should take between 2 and 4 hours. An afternoon or an evening is easily enough time for the task. It's a small amount of time for the end result - a huge whiteboard on your wall.

This article was first posted on Thought Formula.