Dry erase boards are incredibly useful and handy in the home and office, as long as you remember to always use a dry erase marker on them. However, mistakes will happen, whether from uninformed children or absentminded adults, and eventually somebody will use a permanent marker on the whiteboard and ruin it.

Oh but wait… it’s not ruined! You can actually remove permanent marker from a marker board with tools you already have.

To show you how much I trust this technique, I’ve purposefully written on my marker board with a Sharpie marker (Fig 1) so I could show you how to clean it.

• Take a dry erase marker and scribble directly over of the permanent marker (Fig 2).
• Now just give the ink a few seconds to dry and then erase it with a regular whiteboard eraser or a paper towel (Fig 3). Both inks will wipe away instantly and easily!
• If you miss a spot, just go over it again with the dry erase marker and wipe when dry. Your board will look good as new (Fig 4) in no time.

P.S. If you have stubborn stains from dry erase marker that has been left on the whiteboard for too long (this is especially rampant with red ink), a little rubbing alcohol on a soft towel will work great at removing it. It’s just as effective as bottled whiteboard cleaner, and MUCH cheaper.