10 Quick And Easy Whiteboard Cleaning Hacks!

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Cleaning your whiteboard is much easier than most people think and although using something like Expo Dry Erase Whiteboard Cleaning Spray can work wonders, there are a number of whiteboard cleaning hacks that you are able to take advantage of with regular household items. These can often work out to be just as effective as using an industrial cleaning solution while also ending up being much cheaper helping you save a little money.

In this article, we are going to be going over ten of the best whiteboard cleaning hacks that we are aware of that offer you the best possible results. All of these hacks are effective with both fresh and dried on whiteboard marker pens while some of them also perform well for removing non-whiteboard marker pens from your whiteboard too. If your whiteboard is older and has been used for years than there is a high chance that it will have smear and smudge marks on it too but these methods all work well for that too.

Please keep in mind that there is no need to use all of these cleaning methods on your whiteboard. Simply choosing one, usually the one that you already have the main ingredient for in your home will usually be enough to get the job done. That said though, some of them are definitely more effective than others but we will explain as we work our way through the article and cover the ones that are better for a well used whiteboard.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Toothpaste

Using toothpaste to clean your whiteboard is actually one of the best hacks that you are able to take advantage of as the majority of households have toothpaste already and it is cheap enough and readily available to pop out and grab some to clean an office whiteboard. The majority of the time it takes considerably less toothpaste to clean a whole whiteboard than most people think we we always recommend that our readers start with small amounts and then work their way up as required.

Ordinarily you only need a small amount of toothpaste on a cloth, around half of what you would usually put on your toothbrush to start. Then simply rub the cloth with the toothpaste on it against the areas of your whiteboard that need to be cleaned. Depending on the size of the whiteboard, this initial helping of toothpaste may be enough to clean the whole thing but larger or dirtier whiteboards may need two or even three helpings.

After you have gone over the whiteboard with the toothpaste, be sure to use another area of the cloth with warm water on it to go over the whole whiteboard to remove any toothpaste residue. Leave the whiteboard to dry for a few minutes and it should be good to go while being perfectly clean.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Vinegar

Although culinary vinegar and apple cider vinegar can work, distilled white vinegar outperforms them drastically when it comes to cleaning your whiteboard. The process is very easy although some people do dilute their vinegar prior to applying it to the whiteboard, it tends to just slow the whole process down so dipping a cloth in the vinegar as it is is probably better.

Once you have some vinegar on the cloth simply start to rub it on the areas of the whiteboard that need to be cleaned. Provided you are using distilled white vinegar the cleaning process tends to be quick and easy even if the marker pens on the whiteboard are permanent or have dried in but the other vinegar types can take a while to get working.

If you do end up cleaning your whiteboard with any type of vinegar it is very important that you wipe it down with a clean cloth that is totally free from vinegar after the cleaning process. This is to remove any left over acid from the vinegar that may cause issues with your whiteboard pens working on the cleaned board. Once you have done this though, the whiteboard should be good to go and perform as if it was brand new and right out the box.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Alcohol

You can clean your whiteboard with alcohol and it does tend to perform very well. Although you could use drinking alcohol, it is usually not very budget-friendly so some isopropyl rubbing alcohol tends to be the more budget-friendly option while also being slightly more effective. There are a bunch of different types of isopropyl alcohol with different strengths on the market but anything over 70% strength should be good enough for cleaning your whiteboard.

The actual cleaning process is very similar to the methods covered above where you need to apply a small amount of the isopropyl alcohol to a cloth and then run it over your whiteboard. Isopropyl alcohol is a very effective cleaning agent and usually makes very short work of even the dirtiest whiteboards allowing you to clean a large whiteboard in minutes.

Although the alcohol will end up evaporating completely within about thirty minutes of finishing the cleaning process, if you do need to use the whiteboard before then wiping it down after the cleaning process with a dry cloth is recommended. This will ensure that any left over isopropyl alcohol on the whiteboard won’t cause issues with your whiteboard marker pens prior to the isopropyl alcohol having the chance to naturally evaporate.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Hand Sanitizer

Cleaning your whiteboard with hand sanitizer can work but it does have to be an alcohol based hand sanitizer as the other types on the market may not work. Depending on the container of your sanitizer you can either spray it directly onto your whiteboard and wipe it down with a cloth or if it has a drip dropper you will have to apply it directly to a cloth and then wipe your whiteboard down.

The majority of alcohol based hand sanitizers perform similar to a weaker isopropyl alcohol solution as covered above. Due to this, you may have to spend more time cleaning your whiteboard if you are using hand sanitizer, especially if the marker pens have dried onto it and it is a larger board but you can get the job done.

Just like with isopropyl alcohol, if you do need to using the whiteboard directly after cleaning it you should give it the once over with a clean cloth. This will remove any of the left over alcohol to prevent it from causing issues with your whiteboard markers when you clean your whiteboard.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Windex

There are a number of different Windex formulas on the market these days that all have their own advantages and disadvantages. Provided you go with an vinegar based Windex or alcohol based Windex you should be able to use it on your Whiteboard without issued. Although the lactic acid Windex and ammonia Windex can work, they may have an effect on the whiteboard surface and cause it to peel or bubble.

This is an inconsistent side effect that seems to be down to how the whiteboard manufacturer made their board. It is not specific to Windex either as the issue is consistent with any cleaning agent that has lactic acid or ammonia in it so keep this in mind if you go with any whiteboard cleaners not on this list.

That said though, the vinegar and alcohol formula Windex cleaners perform very well. If you have the smaller spray bottles then simply spray it directly onto your whiteboard but if you have the larger re-fill bottles then you will have to add a small amount to a cloth and then white your whiteboard down. Windex tends to make short work of even stubborn ink stains on your whiteboard but you should still wipe it down with a dry, clean cloth after the cleaning process to remove any left over chemicals.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Wet Wipes

There are a few different types of wet wipes on the market these days and we only recommend that you use the No products found. for cleaning your whiteboard. Although some of the alcohol-free wet wipes are able to remove ink, some of them will do little to nothing other than waste your time and money so going with the alcohol based ones is usually the best option.

To clean your whiteboard with wet wipes you simply remove a wet wipe and rub it against the areas of your whiteboard that need cleaning. A single wet wipe may be enough to clean a small whiteboard or a larger one that is not very dirty but some may need two or three wet wipes. The process tends to be quick and easy though due to the alcohol on the wet wipe being ready to go as soon as you remove it from the packaging.

Just like the other alcohol based whiteboard cleaning hacks, if you do need to use the whiteboard as soon as it has been cleaned then wiping it down with a clean cloth is recommended. If you can leave it for at least half an hour then any left over alcohol from the wipes should have evaporated and not have any negative effects on your whiteboard markers when you come to use it again.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With WD40

Although you are able to use WD40 to clean a whiteboard, we usually don’t recommend it as the chemicals in WD40 can be difficult to totally remove from the whiteboard after cleaning. This makes it a pain to write on your whiteboard again once it is clean without areas of the whiteboard fading any new marker applications to it due to left over WD40.

Even if you clean your whiteboard with WD40 and then go over it again with a spare cloth with warm soapy water on it there is still a high chance that some WD40 will be left over. Please keep in mind that this is no fault of the brand who make WD40 as it is not designed for use for cleaning whiteboards, it is just an additional application that it can be used for.

In our opinion though, you should be using any of the other whiteboard cleaning hacks on our list as they tend to perform just as well for the cleaning phase but are much easier to remove afterwards. This makes it much easier for you to reuse your whiteboard once cleaned without random patches of it having faded marker pen ink in the future.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Baking Soda

Baking soda can work when looking to clean a whiteboard but getting the ratios of baking soda to water correct for the cleaning process can be a pain. Although some people do just apply baking soda directly to a cloth and then rub it on the whiteboard this can end up having an effect on the surface of your whiteboard in the long run too due to baking soda being a pretty strong alkaline substance.

If baking soda is your only option then you are able to play around with it as even if you get the ratios wrong and it is weak with too much water, it will still clean your whiteboard, it will just take a little longer. If you make it a little too strong but have water mixed in with it then there should be no long term effects to your whiteboard. That said though, the options covered above are usually better than using baking soda to clean your whiteboard in our opinion.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Whiteboard Markers

Although this one is situational, you are actually able to use your whiteboard markers on some stubborn dried on ink or on any non-whiteboard marker pen that you have accidentally used on your whiteboard to help remove it. This is due to the chemicals in your whiteboard marker pens mixing with the ink already on your whiteboard making it much easier to wipe off with a cloth or your whiteboard eraser.

That said though, it it not very effective on smudges or smears on your whiteboard and that is why we usually recommend one of the other cleaning solutions on our list. As the majority of our readers will probably already have whiteboard markers near their whiteboard, we wanted to include it though as it can work well in some situations.

How To Clean A Whiteboard With Water

There are a number of things that you are able to mix in with water to clean your whiteboard with the most common option just being warm soapy water. Although this can work well on some weak stains, any stronger, dried in ink will probably not budget with just warm soapy water.

The stronger cleaning solutions for your whiteboard that you mix with water have the same problem that we covered with baking soda above in that their ratios are a pain to work out. This is why we usually just recommend that our readers go with any of the first few solutions in our article as they tend to perform the best.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over the ten best whiteboard cleaning hacks to an end. We hip that we have helped you get your whiteboard cleaned as fast as possible without having to purchase any industrial whiteboard cleaning solutions. In our opinion, the toothpaste hack for cleaning your whiteboard is probably the best option for the majority of our readers and we would usually recommend that our readers start there and then adjust as required if it doesnt work.