Lately I have been working from home more and as I have been outfitting my corner of the bonus room and working on some tricky projects, I thought it was time for a whiteboard. When it comes to writing software, I really need to get the problem written out and spread out before me so I can take it all in at once. Naturally, this means I need considerable whiteboard space.
I was about to head to Walmart and just quickly get whatever I could, when my wife reminded me we had used shower board in the old root cellar as writable surface. So I went to Lowes, instead, for a project!
Shower board has a white glossy side and a dull brown side. It is somewhat flexible and not terribly thick. It can be cut with a utility knife and easily drilled.
To get it mounted to the wall, I needed a way to hold the weight of the sheet while I drove wood screws through pilot holes into the wall studs. A quarter inch strip of scrap pine was screwed to the wall temporarily along the bottom of the level line I had drawn on the wall at the 3 foot mark.
The shower board rested easily on the pine and made it painless to get the five screws in along the top. With the strip still in place, I put five more screws along the bottom all about 3/4" from the edge.
Then it was safe to remove the strip and start cutting the trim boards to fit. I found some nice looking polystyrene trim boards for $8 each, featuring a burled maple or mahogany print. While it could be cut with a blade, my goal was to get it done quickly and neatly, so I used the electric miter saw. The only trouble there was that the hot plastic chips kept fouling the laser guide.
The trim went up easily with my electric brad nailer. A mahogany colored marker touched up the edges and the end product is functional, not unattractive, and huge!
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Quick Office Whiteboard - for Cheap!
A software architect by profession and maker of things by passion, Mr. Carter makes his home with his family in the Ohio wilderness. He readily shares knowledge and experiences and has interests in helping his fellow humans with basic finances and simple financial planning as well as spreading the joy of creating physical goods with practical aims. Mr. Carter can be hired for sundry needs on a sporadic, short-term basis. Email datatribe@gmail.com to begin a conversation about your next project.
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