How do I get sharpie markers off a wall. The wall is white. Other than painting the wall, what can I do?
You will probably have to paint over her artwork, but be sure to seal the marker with KILZ paint (or use KILZ wall paint or the marker will just bleed thru. (12/28/2004)
By Linda
Rubbing alcohol will remove some, but not all, of the Sharpie. After that, try rubbing the mark with some lighter fluid (naptha). Test the lighter fluid in a hidden spot first, but I don't think it will take off much (if any) paint. I was able to remove black Sharpie pen marks from a plastic surface using exactly the above method, which did not dull the plastic finish at all. The lighter fluid was the key. Good luck! (12/28/2004)
By Tori
use hairspray (12/29/2004)
By Kristy
I work at a personalized ornament stand and we use a sharpie to write on the Christmas ornaments, and to remove or correct the marker we use a little bottle of enamel thinner that you can find in a hobby shop. It may take the paint off though, but at least you can paint over with out the marker bleeding through.
Like Linda said, KILZ is the way to go. I took a scenic painting class in college and we used Sharpies to do outlines that we wanted to stand out underneath many layers of paint. Sharpie lines will really show through almost everything, but KILZ and BIN [another good hiding paint] will cover them well. They're kind of expensive, but they'll hide almost anything in a few coats. I believe you can buy both of them buy the pint, and I've also seen them as a spray paint. (01/04/2005)
By Mary
My husband runs a printing press and has been known to drag home a glop of thick gooey ink on his boots that end up on the entryway floor the only thing that I have found to clean this up, now wait this gets good... is PEANUT BUTTER. What made me think of it in your situation is that the friend that gave me this tip used it to clean sharpie marks off her wood cupboards.
By Kat
I tried the peanut butter and darn if it didn't get the mark off. I am totally surprised. (06/23/2005)
By Jimmie Dial
I had a tenant who used black and bright colored sharpie markers to draw all over the walls in one bedroom. After 3 coats of Kilz, 1 coat of BIN, and 5 coats of Behr camel brown the graffiti still came through. Finally, I used an old but true method and it worked. I painted the room battleship gray. One coat did the trick.
By Pam
Alcohol got about 50% of it when applied within 3 minutes and so I hit the web to see what I could find. So 10 minutes after the 2 year old had his way with the dinning room table, I saw the Peanut Butter comment above. I said, OK, I'll be the goof and try it. Well call me stupid, but darn it, it worked. Jif was the brand. Rock on... thanks for the advice. (07/03/2005)
PEANUT BUTTER! Cleaned Sharpie from a stained, carved wooden box like it was jelly! I had written it off as firewood. Read it here, THANKS! (12/28/2005)
By Shar Peanut Butterman
Rubbing alcohol took some fresh graffiti off my painted wood exterior. I tried peanut butter first, and it helped, but the alcohol took it off like an eraser. For future reference, is there any trick to using peanut butter? Just rub with a rag, or is there more to it? (12/29/2005)
By Uda
Peanut butter didn't work on any of the painted surfaces I have. (My toddler got 7 walls, So I am left sitting here consoling myself with peanut butter straight from the jar.) The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works... slowly. (02/22/2006)
By Alison
There is a product available called Goof Off and you can find it at paint and wallpaper stores. (04/26/2006)
By Ldyfromnowhr
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