How Long Does the Whiteboard Paint on a Wall Typically Last?
When you decide to buy whiteboard paint to increase the functional capabilities of your office or classroom walls, you’re making an excellent investment. With whiteboard paint, you can transform any smooth surface into a writable area of any size you like, thus enhancing team members’, students’, or family members’ creativity and ability to communicate and collaborate in countless ways through writing and drawing by hand.
Once you decide on the type of functionality you’re looking for in a whiteboard paint product, the next step is to buy some paint. However, it would be best if you considered key factors before choosing a specific brand. One of the major considerations is how long the coating will last and remain attractive and functional with regular use and maintenance. Please continue reading to learn more about some of the important issues related to whiteboard paint’s durability that you should address before making a purchase, along with the answers you’ll need to know about our top-quality products.
Introduction to Whiteboard Paint
Despite its common name, whiteboard paint is a type of coating that comes in either a one- or two-part formula and may be applied to any smooth, clean paintable material, such as drywall, plaster, metal, wood, or tile. Some whiteboard paint products, such as our top-quality coating, are ready to use within two days of being applied, though others may require up to a week of drying time to get the optimal results. Whiteboard paint typically comes in both clear and white versions. If you want to create a white dry-erase writing board, you can use white whiteboard paint over a white or light-colored substrate.
If you’d prefer a colored writing board, you may use a clear version of whiteboard paint over a substrate that had previously been painted in a light color, such as yellow, pink, chartreuse, or pastel blue. Most brands of whiteboard paint work best as writable coatings when applied over satin or semi-gloss latex paint. Whatever type of whiteboard paint you choose to apply in your space, a high level of durability is a crucial quality to look for if you plan to write and draw on the coated surface for a long period of time.
Factors Affecting Whiteboard Paint’s Longevity
Many factors have an impact on a whiteboard paint brand’s durability or longevity, including the following:
- The quality control standards of the company that makes the paint
- The extent of surface preparation you do before applying the paint
- How you use the coated surface and how often you use it (e.g., every day in a classroom or business office vs. occasional use in the home).
Other factors related to whiteboard paint that affect its durability are your application technique, the local environmental conditions, how regularly you maintain the painted surface, and the quality and type of ingredients used in the formulation.
When it comes to type and quality of ingredients, our premium whiteboard paint products are unsurpassed. Due to their exceptional chemical formulation and the rigid quality control standards we apply during and after production, the coatings can last ten or more years of continuous normal use if cleaned and maintained regularly. To back up this claim, top-quality whiteboard paint comes with a ten-year warranty against yellowing, cracking, and peeling.
Expected Lifespan of Whiteboard Paint
By contrast, many whiteboard paints on the market today typically last only a short time before needing to be replaced. These products include several epoxy-based whiteboard paints, which contain chemical compounds that cause them to begin to yellow in as little as a few days. Direct or indirect exposure to ultraviolet UV radiation from the sun or artificial lighting can accelerate these paints’ yellowing process, which involves a photochemical reaction that degrades the polymers in the epoxy resin.
Epoxies contain so-called aromatic compounds and are not light stable. Light stability can be improved with the addition of certain ingredients, such as silicones. Still, it will never achieve the same level of resistance to yellowing that high-quality ReMARKable coatings possess. Silicone-based epoxies may have better UV light resistance than others, but they are extremely expensive. When epoxies are exposed to UV radiation, after the yellowing process begins, the paints start to appear chalky and break down chemically; in due course, this leads to cracking, failure of the coated surface, and the need for replacement.
This is not the case with our premium quality water-based whiteboard paint, which is not affected by UV light exposure and resists yellowing over its entire lifespan. In addition, top-quality ReMARKable paint possesses great flexibility and won’t crack, peel or delaminate when exposed to severe vibrations or heavy daily use. So, when properly applied, the coating is designed to remain functional, attractive, and trouble-free even under harsh or corrosive conditions such as those in a factory, restaurant, or farm building.
Signs of Wear and Tear
Common indicators that whiteboard paint is starting to wear or needing to be replaced include the following:
- Issues with the erasability of the surface
- The beginning stages of cracking and peeling
- Issues with the legibility of writing done on the surface
- A tendency for written content to smudge or smear when erased
- The presence of “ghosting” or remnants of written text or drawings being left behind on the surface after it’s been erased.
These problems can all be avoided if you install top-quality whiteboard paint in your office, school, hospital, home, or other venue. When premium whiteboard paint is your coating of choice, text and drawings will always be easy to see and erased cleanly without smudging or ghosting, and the surface can be reused continuously for many trouble-free years under normal conditions.
Also, as mentioned above, premium whiteboard paint is accompanied by a ten-year warranty against yellowing, cracking, and peeling, so these issues will never arise with regular use and maintenance of your whiteboard painted surface.
Extending the Lifespan of Whiteboard Paint
Keeping to a regular cleaning and maintenance routine is essential to improving the usefulness and appearance of surfaces coated with top-quality whiteboard paint. When you adhere to this practice, your whiteboard painted wall or other surface will remain pristine, resilient, and functional for the entire lifetime of the coating.
Surfaces covered with whiteboard paint are easiest to write on and erase when you use only eco-friendly low-odor dry erase markers for writing and drawing, and a microfiber cloth or mitt for erasing. Also, when necessary, it’s recommended that you occasionally use a good-quality, eco-friendly whiteboard cleaner to maintain your surface in the most spotless and useful condition possible. You might use denatured alcohol for cleaning if a water-based whiteboard cleaner is not available. Squirt a small amount of the cleaner or alcohol on any stained areas you notice and wipe the surface down with the microfiber cloth or mitt. Then thoroughly dry the surface with another microfiber cloth, and you’ll be ready to write and draw to your heart’s content.
While premium whiteboard paint is exceptionally hard-wearing and easy to write on and erase, periodic cleaning with an eco-friendly whiteboard cleaner will help to keep your surfaces immaculate and easy to use during their entire lifetime of ten or more years.
It’s also important that you use compatible dry-erase markers with your whiteboard painted surface. As mentioned, these should be high-grade, low-odor markers, which are available at most office supply and department stores or online. Doing so will ensure that your writing and drawing are easy to see even from a distance and that you receive consistent color quality.
Concluding remarks
If you take note of the key points about whiteboard paint’s durability discussed in this article, you can be assured that applying the paint to your walls or other surfaces will meet or exceed your expectations and prove to be a sound investment of your time and money for many years to come.