Cleaning Stickers and Marker Off a Whiteboard
When my twins were 2 years old, I let them put a boatload of little stickers on the whiteboard side of their easel. I did this because, at the time, it was worth it to let them vandalize the whiteboard if it kept them occupied for 10 minutes. In addition to the stickers, we must have used permanent marker on the whiteboard at some point. Three years later, it occurred to me that it would be nice to have a usable whiteboard. Since we were coming off the success of manually scraping a thick sheet of ice off our driveway, as I wrote about here, we undertook the task of cleaning the whiteboard.
Sticker Removal
The first thing we tackled was removing the stickers from the whiteboard. They couldn't simply be peeled off using your fingernails. They had been on there for so long that they were practically glued on. So I got out my handy dandy razor blade that I use for cleaning the glass on my oven and my electric stovetop. I used the razor to carefully scrape the stickers off. Some of them came off more easily than others ... some left adhesive behind.
To remove the adhesive, I used Goo Gone, which I had bought from Home Depot years ago when we first moved into our house. Back then, I wanted to get rid of the stickers that the prior owners' daughter had stuck to various surfaces in the home. I sprayed on the Goo Gone and then wiped it away with a paper towel. It definitely required some scrubbing and the Goo Gone works better if you let it sit for a few minutes. After I was done, I applied dish soap all over the whiteboard and then wiped it off using several wet paper towels.
Permanent Marker Removal
In addition to the permanent marker, some of the dry erase marker had been on the whiteboard for so long that it could no longer be wiped off. To remove the permanent marker from the whiteboard, as well as the dry erase marker, I poured a bit of 70% rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and simply wiped the marks. I read online that 90% or 99% rubbing alcohol works best, but what I had worked plenty well.
Some of the more stubborn marks required a bit of elbow grease, but it was a piece of cake compared to the stickers. My kids couldn't help with the sticker removal since it involved a razor blade and Goo Gone, which I didn't want them touching. I did give each of them a cotton ball to help with the marker removal and they had a blast. My daughter kept remarking with wonder how magical the rubbing alcohol was in erasing the marker stains.
In Conclusion
The whiteboard is 4 years old and certainly not back to new condition, but it's so much better than it was. We're very happy with it, and my kids are at the age when they care about it being clean. They have been reminding each other to wipe off the dry erase marker after using the whiteboard so that it doesn't get messed up. It feels great to revive something that seemed destroyed, but can now be useful again.
 |
| Some Stickers Removed |
Sticker Removal
The first thing we tackled was removing the stickers from the whiteboard. They couldn't simply be peeled off using your fingernails. They had been on there for so long that they were practically glued on. So I got out my handy dandy razor blade that I use for cleaning the glass on my oven and my electric stovetop. I used the razor to carefully scrape the stickers off. Some of them came off more easily than others ... some left adhesive behind.
To remove the adhesive, I used Goo Gone, which I had bought from Home Depot years ago when we first moved into our house. Back then, I wanted to get rid of the stickers that the prior owners' daughter had stuck to various surfaces in the home. I sprayed on the Goo Gone and then wiped it away with a paper towel. It definitely required some scrubbing and the Goo Gone works better if you let it sit for a few minutes. After I was done, I applied dish soap all over the whiteboard and then wiped it off using several wet paper towels.
Permanent Marker Removal
In addition to the permanent marker, some of the dry erase marker had been on the whiteboard for so long that it could no longer be wiped off. To remove the permanent marker from the whiteboard, as well as the dry erase marker, I poured a bit of 70% rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and simply wiped the marks. I read online that 90% or 99% rubbing alcohol works best, but what I had worked plenty well.
Some of the more stubborn marks required a bit of elbow grease, but it was a piece of cake compared to the stickers. My kids couldn't help with the sticker removal since it involved a razor blade and Goo Gone, which I didn't want them touching. I did give each of them a cotton ball to help with the marker removal and they had a blast. My daughter kept remarking with wonder how magical the rubbing alcohol was in erasing the marker stains.
 |
| Presto Clean-o |
In Conclusion
The whiteboard is 4 years old and certainly not back to new condition, but it's so much better than it was. We're very happy with it, and my kids are at the age when they care about it being clean. They have been reminding each other to wipe off the dry erase marker after using the whiteboard so that it doesn't get messed up. It feels great to revive something that seemed destroyed, but can now be useful again.
Comments
Post a Comment