Marker Board Walls
Turns out that brainstorming is an epigraphic activity -- something best done on walls. Reading and writing on walls is a different function than reading a book. A broad wall-view is an ideal approach for collaborative design -- multiple views in a single glance. Thus the tremendous interest in flip charts, graphic capture, doodling, giant post-its, whiteboards, and all the electronic equivalents of those. By far the cheapest and easiest epigraphic display is a large whiteboard. And when it comes to whiteboards, you can't be too big.
The Cheapest:
You can get a magnificently large -- 4 by 8 feet --and fabulously cheap whiteboard for all of $13 at Home Depot. What you want is the Solid White Tileboard (sometimes called Melamine tile wall panel) used as a tile substitute in bathrooms. Some know it as showerboard because a couple of sheets of this and you have a nice waterproof shower stall. You'll need a $1 tube of panel adhesive to glue this 1/8 inch surface to the wall or a piece of plywood. Melamine is the same stuff official whiteboards are made from. These huge sheets are slick and work perfectly well with dry-erase markers. You can cover an entire wall for $50. You can also cut it into smaller pieces with a regular circular saw.
The Best:
Upscale from the tileboard guerilla wall, the premium epigraphic surface is ceramic coated metal. When I built my office/studio I covered an entire wall with this material. It takes a dry-erase marker with ease, but it also accept magnets, so it can double as a pin board. I layout books in progress, hang blueprints, charts, maps, or use it as an art galley -- whatever. When using markers on it there is zero ghosting after erasing (sometimes a slight problem with Melamine). This ceramic coated steel also comes in eye-saving low-gloss light gray color, so the blazing white of a whole wall is significantly muted, yet it has plenty of contrast for any marker color.
This stuff is called P3 Ceramicsteel, and it is not cheap (at least when covering a whole wall). You can get them as an unadorned sheet (a special order), without frames or mounting, but they usuallly come mounted on particle board with an alumium backing. These now cost about $200 per 4 x 8 foot sheet. I used the same material for small magnetic boards near my desk.
-- KK
Solid White Tileboard
4 x 8 x (1/8 inch)
SKU #A 253-540
$13
Available from Home Depot stores
P3 Ceramicsteel Makerboard
800-631-4514. Call them for local distributors.
Manufactured by Polyvision
(A Bay Area distributor is Fred Turner Co: 650-588-8883. They do not ship.)
Favorite (15)
Therese
Hi Kevin Kelly--- I literally just typed in "wall size whiteboards" in to google that led me to your posting on "Cool Tools: Marker Board Walls." Thank you. I am definitely going to explore the rest of your site, in the meantime... Thanks for the awesome info. I just moved in to a new space, and think although I am tempted to use the "cheap" solution since it's more within my budget... Wow, I think I am going to invest the extra bucks and go "Best!" Already trying to find a dealer here in Toronto. Merci bien encore. Thanks again. Cheers, Therese
Tom Trinley
Kevin, my company is considering covering a wall with Melamine to write on as well as project on (from a ceiling-mounted digital projector). Do you know how well the board takes a projected image? Thanks, Tom
Kevin Kelly
@ Tom: Projection works pretty well. Because it is shinny there may be a small hot spot, but it works.
Kelsey King
Hi Kevin, We are looking at using the melamine to cover a wall in our project management office. It would be really nice to be able to put all of our ideas up on the wall for brainstorming. I tried the sku that you listed for the melamine sheets at home depot and their site could not match it. Do you happen to have a link to their sheets of this material or does anyone know where this may be availible in Seattle, WA. We would like to do an entire wall and so the low cost alternative is really appealing to do what we want to do. Thanks for the artical and your assistance.
David Dick
Kelsey, Had the same problem as you with the SKU. I haven't purchased any yet, but found what I believe is the same material from Do It Best hardware stores (doitbest.com), SKU 106364. $15.99 per 4x8 sheet.
Dana Dawes
For a cheaper version of the magnetic whiteboard, we. used salvaged flush metal doors painted with white alkyd enamel. Most of them are 3-0 by 6-8 and the 1 3/4 inch thickness could be a problem in some settings, but they've worked fine for us. We got this idea from another firm that made the double doors in their office do double duty by using them this way.
E.W.
Good info. In addtion, DRY ERASE manufactures coating products for the purposes of creating "white boards". Paints are availble in white or mutli-color blackboard. They also have a magnetic paint option. For arond $20 one can create a 7' x 7' white board by simply painting the surface. Products are available at Home Depot. - I'm planning to give it a try.......
Maceo
This might help...
http://www.jmlproductsanddesign.com/DryErasePaint.htm
They have a dry erase paint product and a dry erase wall cover.
I have not tried either one, but thought it would be a good resource for the searcher.
Patricia
I love the idea but can't find it at Home Depot either -- did the board from "doitbest.com" turn out to be the right stuff?
Russ
@ Kelsey King: Hi Kelsey. I'm in Seattle, too. And, coincidentally, was also looking at solutions for PM purposes. Today I went to Home Depot on Aurora Avenue(about NE 205th & Aurora) and found "tileboard"(that's what they call it there). It's over by the lumber against the very back wall of the store. An 8' x 4' sheet is about $13.50 plus tax. They'll make up to two cuts for free right on the spot -- quick and well done. Each additional cut is $1. I had some trouble finding it at first. The two HD employees kept pointing me to the "backer board"(drywall type stuff) for showers, though I specifically said "tileboard". I had to flat out explain what I was going to use it for then they said "Oh, that tileboard is over...". They were very helpful once we got on the same page.
I haven't hung or prepped the boards yet but after a few quick tests with a dry-erase marker I think I'm gonna be very happy with this option, especially given the cost.
Russ
VJ
Could you just pin the tile sheet to the wall, and not go through the hassle of gluing it on ply wood? Would this material break if made a nail hole into, or would it not remain firm and slack making it difficult to write ?
- VJ
GiGi
I'm tyring to whiteboard my entire wass but I also want to have it have the magnetic quaity for hanging magnets on. I wa told there wa a paint that would make it respond to magnets anyone hear of this and does it work?
Amy
So you said that they come in 4x8, do they come in bigger sizes to cover a whole wall?
paul
hello
i was just wondering what is the best way to hang the tileboard on dry wall?
paul
hello
i was just wondering what is the best way to hang the tileboard on dry wall?
alex
I bought a piece of plywood and painted it with dry erase paint, although it takes markers and it draws ok, I would reccomend not using plywood for it is not a smooth enough surface. I will buy some tileboard tomorrow and see how that goes. hope all goes well, thanks for the info.
Martin
I am told that you should put something on the tile-board to minimize the chances of it ghosting. Does anyone know what that might be?
Stacy
I am an educator, and a lot of people at my school buy the tile board from Home Depot for a dry erase board. I find that it is not "slick" enough, or the surface is not really the right surface. The dry erase markers ghost badly, and it is hard to erase.
Nicole
I'm an middle school educator and I love how this turned out! I bought the board today and had them cut in half. I used adhesive glue and a calking gun and put on the board without a problem. The dry erase board may leave a little, tiny ghost quality but just use 409 to wipe off the board!!! Works like a charm! Thank you! In total, this cost $22 for the board, two bottles of glue, and a calking gun! Awesome!
Andy
I went to Home Depot yesterday, bought a 4x8 sheet for about $12, screws and washers for $3, 24 feet of plastic edging for $6 and a stud finder for $9. I now have a very large, good looking and excellent dry erase board in my office for a grand total of $30. Thank you so much for the idea.
Ron
If you want to find the board on the Home Depot website you will need to select "at stores" because they do not sell it online.
Eucatex Thrifty White Tileboard
Model # 346428
Store SKU # 346428
$11.87/EA-Each
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh0/R-100541850/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Ron
If you want to find the board on the Home Depot website you will need to select "at stores" because they do not sell it online.
Eucatex Thrifty White Tileboard
Model # 346428
Store SKU # 346428
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xh0/R-100541850/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
Directions:
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/c7/c7c36f09-136a-44a0-b608-d8b999083096.pdf
Charlie
TILEBOARD - There are several types of trim and joint pieces available for the "tileboard." Look for the silver or white colored plastic ones if you're budget conscious, not the metal ones that may be near the board.
A good wipe down with a silicon sealer for car paint before your first use can minimize "ghosting"
4x8 or 4x10 18gauge galvanized under the tileboard can be $50+ a sheet... Some one please post if the "metal paint" works.