How To Fix Scratched Chalkboard Paint

A couple of years ago I jumped onto the DIY Chalkboard bandwagon.  I love the idea of these beautiful chalkboards everywhere, I even thought about making a huge chalkboard wall.  However, in realty I wouldn’t keep up on it and the chalk dust would be all over the floor. I figured I would start with a small chalkboard project instead.  I found a picture frame, painted it teal and painted the glass with chalkboard paint.  I read the paint instructions on the label and it said that it would be fine on glass.  So I applied three coats, letting it dry properly in-between.  After everything dried, it looked great!  However, it soon scratched and then I needed to figure out how to fix scratched chalkboard paint!

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Scratched Chalkboard Paint

I was so excited to have my chalkboard finished.  I used it as my scripture board and put it up in my kitchen where I would see it all day long.  Over the years, it began to scratch.  It was like the chalkboard paint wasn’t sticking very well to the glass, which annoyed me since the paint said it would work on a glass surface.

I worked around the scratches for a while, but they continued to get worse.  It became basically unusable…so I guess it was time to try and fix it.

Possible reasons the chalkboard paint scratches:

• Didn’t use primer
• Paint brand
• Used glass as a base (even though the paint says you can)

How To Fix Scratched Chalkboard Paint

First thing to try, primer.  One of the reasons the paint may have come off is because I didn’t use a glass primer.  This is something cheap and easy to try, so I bought a primer specifically to apply onto glass.

I sanded down the scratches to smooth them out and then applied the primer.  Two other ideas, would be to flip the glass over and basically start over….or remove the glass altogether and paint the mounting board (back layer of the frame) with chalkboard paint.

Any of those options would work, but I was curious to see if painting the primer over what was existing would seal it enough so it wouldn’t scratch again.  The reason is I have an old window with chalkboard paint on it that scratched too.  I need to see if I can fix it or if I need to remove the glass altogether (which isn’t the easiest thing to do with a window).  So this is my trial piece.

After the primer dried, I was ready to reapply the chalkboard paint.

I applied the paint with a foam brush per the instructions.

Chalkboard paint doesn’t look the best right after the coat is applied, don’t panic, it will dry smooth.

We applied three coats and had to wait about three hours between each coat.  I say we, because my 5 year old little helper was right there in the mix.  Let me tell you, 3 hours is a long time for an anxious 5 year old to wait between coats!  It think every two minutes I heard…it’s dry!

I still had a couple spots that were not totally smooth (most likely because of the scratches).  So I used a very fine sandpaper and softly sanded them.  Then applied two more coats.

Scratched Chalkboard Fixed

Once the additional two coats were dry, I was ready to prep the chalkboard.  I did this by rubbing chalk all over the surface.

Then I took a wet cloth and wiped it clean.  The chalkboard was ready to go back in the frame!!

I was really happy with how it turned out and only time will tell if the fix really worked.  I promise to keep you posted!

In the meantime, I put a verse on it to help me get through the upcoming week!  So glad to have it back up!  Thanks so much for checking out my post.

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