Lots of great cvomments and info as I begin the process of painting my teen's room. Are there multiple brands of magnetic paint and does anyone feel there is one that is better than another?

I was wondering how well the magnetic paint would work on slightly textured walls. I have a "drop and drag" type texture on my wall.

David Lytle:

I saw your website and I'm interested in your additive. It is cheaper and I can just add it to whatever paint I want to use. I like that idea. Does it work as well as the already mixed paint? It should right? What is your opinion on the slightly textured walls mentioned in my above post?

Ezra -
Don't know if you've found the answer but yes there is a whiteboard paint available. It is sold by Rustolem, and called "Dry Erase". I have not used it but you can check out the info on their website:
http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=758&SBL=1

Best of luck! I would love to know how it turns out.

If you're looking for a FREE earth magnet,

look in your hard drive. if you've got a dead computer hard drive that you're no longer using, dissect it...you'll find one in there....it's great for

finding studs behind walls!

Someone mentioned painting this over stripable wallpaper. Do you think the paint would adhere to contact paper? Or would the subsequent weight of primer and paint pull it down?

another question...

i'm considering using "magnetic" paint and applying a large, adhesive backed, world map atlas on the paint. anyone know if this would work well? would a layer of an adhesive backed map be too solid as to allow magnets to work? I'm assuming I'd need to coat several layers of the paint to build up as many metals in the surface as possible. Thanks for any insight!

Hello all.

Has anyone used put this set-up near a computer? I want to paint a portion of my office (roughly 3'w x 6'h) but my laptop is right next to it and I'm worried about wiping out my drive with all the magnets I'd use in that painted area.

I know it takes a super-strong magnet to have any adverse effect on a computer but you can never be too careful. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

If anyone has any experience/knowledge, please please please share! And my condolences if you did lose your drive.

Thank you.

Awesome thread, just what I was looking for.

I'm looking at the Melissa and Doug Deluxe Easel for my little one, and it's awesome, except for that neither side is magnetic. Bummer!

My question is, can I take the chalkboard panel that comes shipped with the easel, paint coats of magnetic paint on it, and then paint over that with blackboard paint?

In other words, is a chalkboard an OK surface to start with when working with magnetic paint?

And to repeat some comments before, what's better - individual layers ( magnetic paint first, blackboard paint second), or just go straight for the blended magnetic blackboard paint.

TIA

TIA,

I think this would work great! I have a magnetic/chalkboard wall in my playroom. One thing about the magnetic paint that nobody mentions, you have to really mix it up. The metallic component settles at the bottom. I just had the paint store shake it up for me. It takes multiple coats (3 - 5). The chalkboard paint should go on last - it takes multiple coats of that too. I've never used the combination magnetic/chalkboard paint. I've actually never even seen it. Good luck!

We just closed on a house yesterday! hurrah! we've inherited a big fridge with a wood overlay that matches the cabinets. I'm a fridge magnet person so don't like the wood, but magnetic paint sounds like a cheap, ideal fix.

I agree that this thread is really helpful-- My question is that it looks like rust-oleum primer is supposed to be used with latex paint, and I assume that the fridge panel, like normal kitchen cabinets, would be covered with an oil-based paint (or whatever it's called these days). any experience? any reason why an oil paint would affect the magnetic primer underneath? Thanks!

I found out about David B. Lytle's "Magically Magnetic Paint Additive" through this blog thread and it seemed perfect. I mixed it with regular latex semi-gloss paint (he claims in this thread and on Bob Vila's site that it can be mixed with "any paint") and painted two walls with three coats of it. Both walls completely rusted and it has been nothing short of a nightmare ever since. The additive is just powdered iron and the paint guy at my hardware store said that it was the water present in the latex paint that caused it to rust. After some research, I found out that the pre-mixed magnetic paints (rustoleum, etc.) contain rust inhibitors that prevent this from happening. The additive contains no such protection and will rust if it comes into contact with even a small amount of water. When I contacted Mr. Lytle about this problem he was super rude and insisted that the additive was for use with primer only, not regular latex paint. Fair enough, but as he stated on this blog as well as on others that it could be mixed with "any paint" I don't think it was crazy of me to think that regular latex would be okay, especially when he describes on his website mixing it with remainder paint that he got on sale. In response, he sent me the following:

"There are countless companies making many different brands of paint. There are oil based paints and latex based paints. That is only in this country. Every other country in the world has makers of paints and they don't even come close to the same formulations as the ones made here. There is no way in the world that we could have ever tested our additive with every paint available world wide for use with our additive. It is true that you can mix our additive with any paint. That in no way is saying that you will be happy with the results." Then he copy and pasted the definition of "paint" from wikipedia.

Whoa dude, what?! I would stick to the pre-mixed magnetic paints that contain rust inhibitors and far away from the possibility of a crazy rusty wall and condescending and insulting customer service. I wish I had.

I was wondering if you could put wallpaper over the magnetic paint and it would still work?

My name is David B. Lytle and I am the creator of Magically Magnetic Paint Additive. The additive is not magic as the name might imply. It is made from very fine metallic particles that when mixed with ordinary paint and painted on a non-metallic surface such as wood or a plaster wall, will make that surface attractive to magnets. Not all magnets will stick as well to a wall painted with magnetic paint as they may to your solid steel kitchen fridge door. Our magnetic additive and your paint only add a very thin layer of magnetically receptive particles to the surface. The particles don't dissolve in the paint, they only mix with the paint and the paint acts to hold the particles on the wall. When the paint dries, the paint shrinks and the particles don't. Therefore, the particles impart a slight texture to the surface that was not there before. We advise the use of a foam roller to apply the magnetic paint to the wall. This will give the smoothest results. We also advise using oil based white primer sealer paint to mix with our additive. Oil based paints are the best and strongest paints on the market. If you have painted with latex paints, you may have noticed that they take a very long time to dry completely before they become hard and impervious to scratching. Some states do not allow oil based paints to be sold and only latex paints are available now. Our additive is formulated to be used in both latex as well as oil based paints. We do advise not mixing any water into paint containing our additive as the water can have an adverse reaction with some paints mixed with our additive. Our directions advise that if you are using a paint other than that called for in our directions that you try a little in some out of the way spot where it can be covered if your results are less than anticipated. Reading all the directions is always important.

We have been asked many questions about our magnetic paint and how it can be used. We make all of these questions available on our site hoping they will save you time and money. One such question was asking if our additive could be mixed with latex paints. At the time, we were still advising that only oil based primer sealer paints be used. We had done some experimenting with a few latex paints and had very good results. We told people that they could mix our additive with what ever paints they wished to use but to also try it in some out of the way spot. Marci W. above was one customer that moved ahead without either reading the entire answer or thought she would be safe. She painted her entire wall using expensive finish paint instead of the primer called for in the can's directions in order to save time and money and what she thought would be unnecessary steps using primer. She may have also added water to the paint accidentally by washing up her brushes and rollers and then using them again. She was unhappy with the results, whether it was the slight texture, the color or the strength of attraction. Adding our additive to white primer does not change the color of the primer. The additive is a light gray color and adding it to a special colored finish paint could make the color change to a shade darker. That is one of the reasons we advise against using expensive finish paint to mix with the additive. Another is that finish paint is much more expensive than primer paint. If you are going to do multiple coats of magnetic paint, mix the additive with primer paint and save money. It takes at least two coats of the magnetic paint, some prefer three and others four. If she would have painted over the magnetic paint with a final coat of her finish paint only, without the additive, her finish coat would have been the color she had intended. Again, not wishing to be bothered with more expense or work or additional paint, she called me to insist her mistakes were somehow my fault and insisted that I refund her money. I pointed out her problem and the solution but she would hear nothing about it. She wanted her money back. She then threatened to write a derogatory comment here about me and my product. Check out my site for your self and see if I don't make every effort to make your using my magnetic paint additive as easy and sucessful as possible.

In closing, when you try a new product that will have a permanent effect on your life, please read all the directions.

To Debbiedoll,

Yes, you can put wall paper over magnetic paint. It needs to be a thick enough layer of the magnetic paint, perhaps three or four coats. The thicker the magnetic paint, the stronger the magnetic attraction. Finally, after the magnetic paint is completely dry, sand it lightly with 000 sand paper. That is a very fine sand paper. Use it to take off any tiny tips of texture in the magnetic paint. You aren't trying to get smooth here, just take away any high spots of texture. Now you are ready to apply the wall paper. Strong magnets like our Safety Cap Rare Earth Magnets will work best since you are adding an extra layer of paper between the magnet and the magnetic paint.

Works really well for me; but you have to apply 3x coats onto wall & use the K&J magnets.

Yes, Yes, Yes, finally. I've had troubles with the paint not sticking and went to a website of oneyounglove.com. Beautifully decorated. She did her walls in magnet flowers magnets. They painted the walls 2 times as well but she had better success using stronger magnets. All those member are using magnets from magnetletters.com. She wall papered over her magnet paint then used magnet flowers for a pretty wall. My daughters loved this project and the youngest plays almost every day.

found a great store in downtown Toronto for this kind of thing...

http://www.primetimepaint.ca

in case there's any interest - my company (http://www.iolabsinc.com/) can custom print on thin magnetic material (film). It has a white surface that can be printed full color and also be clear coated for additional durability.
I'll check on the thickness we carry.
It's very easily cut into shapes as well.
It's not listed on our site by you can email inquiries to contact@iolabsinc.com
thanks.