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Frequently Asked Questions about Magically Magnetic Paint


Marty Magnet

What is Magnetic Paint?

Magically Magnetic Paint Additive contains microscopic particles with metallic properties so it will make any surface painted with it attractive to magnets. That is not to say that it will make a wall into a giant magnet. Small iron and steel items will not be attracted to a wall painted with magnetic paint. Only magnets will stick to such a wall. After being painted with magnetic paint, the wall is now attractive to magnets. Magnets stick to a wall painted with Magically Magnetic Paint just like they stick to a steel surface.

Magically Magnetic Paint Additive is a dry powdered material made to be mixed with either oil based primer/sealer paints or new latex paints. Some magnetic paints are sold pre-mixed. Others are available as wet paint additives. Both of the wet materials have been thinned with non-magnetic wetting agents that can further dilute the paint. These wetting agents allow the additive to be mixed with either oil based paints or latex paints and further allow the premixed magnetic paints to sit for months in the warehouse or on store shelves. Both of these products, due to the fact that they are liquids, have certain drawbacks. They must be shipped as a hazardous material at very high cost to you. Another problem is their tendency to clump or pack in the bottom of the can. Magnetic additives are very heavy and tend to sink to the bottom of the can where time sitting on store shelves plus the sheer weight of the additives forms a hardened cake that must be broken up, scraped off the bottom and stirred to a smooth consistency before use. This must always be done manually as not even a hardware store paint shaker can accomplish the task. The only sensible alternative is Magically Magnetic dry powdered magnetic additive. You mix it fresh every time you use it with top quality paint you purchase on sale in a store near you. Not only do you get fresh product, made with top quality paint produced by a paint manufacturer you've come to know and trust, but you also save the high cost of shipping a hazardous material across the country. Our dry additive powder is so safe, we are allowed to ship it through the US Mail.

A magnetic paint's attractiveness to magnets is directly proportional to the total amount of magnetically attractive materials it contains. Pre-mixed paints and wet additives have a set amount that can not be altered. What you buy is what you get. New Magically Magnetic Paint Additive is a dry concentrated additive that we have formulated to contain twice the amount of these essential ingredients as our competitors products. Because our additive is dry, it cannot clump on the bottom of the can like the wet products. In fact, our Magically Magnetic Paint Additive stays easy to pour and mixes up in seconds with your paint by just stirring with a wooden paint stick. Our formula adds a full quart, an incredible eight pounds of magnetic materials to a gallon of ordinary paint. It increases the volume of the paint it is being mixed with so much, it's necessary for you to mix the magnetic additive into the paint in a larger container than the can the paint came in. After all, you are mixing in an additional quart of material into the gallon of paint. That will give you more than a full gallon of the highest quality magnetic paint available on the market today.

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What color is Magically Magnetic Paint?

Magically Magnetic Paint Additive is a light gray colored powder that when stirred into white primer paint does not change the color of the paint it's mixed with. A white primer mixed with Magically Magnetic additive will remain white as it is stirred, as it is applied to a wall and after it has dried. This is one of the many reasons people love Magically Magnetic paint. It stays white so it covers easily with any color of finish paint.

Other brands of premixed magnetic paints come with a very narrow choice of colors, black, black or black. Magically Magnetic brand is mixed with white primer paint so before you mix in the additive, you can even tint the primer to match your finish paint color. This makes it possible to cover the magnetic paint with only one coat of the more expensive finish color paint without the additive. One single coat of finish paint can save you a lot over the cost of the additional paint and time reqired to cover the premixed brands of black magnetic paint. Only Magically Magnetic offers you this additional convenience and savings.

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Is Magically Magnetic Paint safe for use around children, pets, computers or pacemakers?

Magically Magnetic Paint Additive is completely safe around children, pets and computers. It contains no lead, no dangerous chemicals, solvents, thinners or poisonous wetting agents. Since magnetic paint is not actually magnetic in any way other than to be attractive to magnets, just like steel, it cannot harm computers or pacemakers. You wouldn’t find anyone with a pacemaker or a computer afraid to be in the same room with a steel filing cabinet or a refrigerator. It is exactly the same with a wall painted with magnetic paint. It is safe.

The magnetic additive is a dry powder that is remarkably heavy. Because of its weight, if thrown into the air, it instantly sinks harmlessly to the ground. Our additive doesn't add or produce additional fumes or odors. It is an inert material that doesn't change the color or the consistency of the paint that it is mixed with. Ingested, it can do no harm. It will pass harmlessly through and out of the body. Once mixed with paint, it becomes an integral part of the paint and when dry, part of the wall. Our magnetic paint additive contains no lead and no animals were harmed in its testing.

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What kind of magnets stick to a wall painted with Magnetic Paint?

Of course magnetic paint does not change the wall into steel, but merely coats the wall surface with a thin steel-like coating of magnetically attractive particles. Strong magnets of any kind will stick to a wall painted with our magnetic paint. Rare earth magnets, possibly the strongest magnet available, work very well. They can be expensive depending on where you purchase them and care must be used when using them. They can snap together instantly with greater force than you might expect. This is why David Lytle invented his Rare Earth Safety Cap Magnets. The colorful safety cap on each magnet stops the magnets from being able to attract eachother face to face. Safety Cap magnets can't snap together or pinch little fingers like other rare earth magnets can.

Perhaps the most popular magnets used on walls painted with magnetic paint are sheet magnets of the type that we use in all our magnetic photo and art frames. Sheet magnets are made of plastic or rubber materials with millions of tiny steel particles embedded in the sheet. The sheet material is made 24 inches wide in large rolls. The entire roll of sheet rubber is then fed through an electromagnet to impart a magnetic field to the steel particles in the sheet. This turns the sheet into a permanent magnet. The sheet magnet can then be layered with white, black or colored vinyl on the non-magnetic side that can be printed with words or art work to make magnetic business cards or the very popular refrigerator advertising magnets. Sheet magnet is often coated on the non-magnetic side with a self-adhesive layer that makes it a wonderful product for craft work. Just cut a piece of adhesive backed sheet magnet and stick it to the back of any item you want to become a magnet.

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What is sheet magnet?

Sheet magnet is a rubber or plastic sheet that contains millions of microscopic iron particles that have been magnetized by an electro-magnetic field. Once magnetized, these iron particles hold their magnetic charge permanently. There are many different kinds of magnetic fields that can be set up in sheet magnet to perform different jobs, but the most popular are the type of sheet magnets used to make advertisement items that are cheap enough to give away and will hold their own weight on the kitchen fridge indefinitely.

Sheet magnet is most often available in two styles. One has a self-adhesive on the front, which can be used to stick it on the back of a flat object like a business card to hold the card on a steel surface. The second is made with a thin layer of white or colored vinyl on the non-magnetic side. This type of magnet sheet can be used to silk-screen messages or art on. Again, this is very useful for advertising give-aways.

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Why are there different thicknesses of sheet magnet?

Sheet magnet differs in its strength proportionately to its thickness. The thicker the magnet sheet, the stronger it is, due mainly to the increased number of magnetic particles in it. Thicker magnet sheeting will hold heavier loads.

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How many coats of Magnetic Paint are needed to attract sheet magnets?

One coat of Magically Magnetic paint will impart a light magnetic attraction to sheet magnets. Two coats will give a stronger attraction and will hold sheet magnets very well. Three coats will usually impart a very impressive attraction that will hold sheet magnets very well and will also be strong enough to hold heavier objects like framed pictures using thicker stronger sheet magnets on the back. Four coats of magnetic paint on a wall produces the strongest magnetic attraction. It is important to remember that the magnetic paint should always be stirred before each new coat. If you are working on a large area, you will need to stir the magnetic paint a few times during each coat to keep the heavy magnetically attractive particles in suspension in the paint. You don't want the particles settling to the bottom. You want those particles on the wall where they will attract magnets.

We have had a couple of people call saying their magnetic paint didn't attract magnets when they had used three coats, only to find they had stirred their magnetic paint only once when they had originally mixed it. After the mixed magnetic paint sat in the container overnight, the particles had settled to the bottom where they sat throughout the next two coats. In actuality, only the first coat of magnetic paint had the attractive particles. The second and third coats were mostly just paint.

This leads us to the question we often get... "Can I double the amount of additive I mix with the paint to cut down on the number of coats of magnetic paint I have to apply?" The answer is more complicated than you might think. Yes, with Magically Magnetic Paint Additive you can double the amount of additive you add to the paint. This will give you a thicker paint with more particles in it, but it will also be a little thicker. An article in Budget Living magazine mentioned that the author doubled his Magically Magnetic additive and cut down on the overall number of coats he used. It may be that he didn't change anything by making a thicker magnetic paint because he may have rolled it on thinner than he might if he had used the suggested mixing proportions. We will never know. The important thing is that it really doesn't matter. It works incredibly well either way.

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What is the Suggested Coverage or How much Magnetic Paint do I need?

One quart
Covers an area of approximately 40 to 50 square feet with two coats or 20 to 25 square feet with three to four coats. We advise using the entire quart of freshly mixed magnetic paint on this size area. The thicker the magnetic paint, the stronger the attraction.

One Half Gallon
Covers an area of approximately 80 to 100 square feet with two coats or 40 to 50 square feet with three to four coats. We advise using the entire half gallon of freshly mixed magnetic paint on this size area. The thicker the magnetic paint, the stronger the attraction.

One Gallon
Covers an area of approximately 160 to 200 square feet with two coats or 80 to 100 square feet with three to four coats. We advise using the entire gallon of freshly mixed magnetic paint on this size area. The thicker the magnetic paint, the stronger the attraction.

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Why won’t some of my old refrigerator magnets stick to Magnetic Paint?

There are many kinds of refrigerator magnets. Some are stronger than others and some are just junk. For instance, I once purchased some colorful plastic alphabet magnets for my grandchild. When I gave them to her, she tried in vain to stick them to the kitchen fridge. They wouldn't even stick to a steel surface. The reason was the little rubber magnets glued to the backs of the letters were just too small. The manufacturer in China never caught this mistake and truckloads of this junk were imported and sold to consumers here in the US. The amount of magnetic attractiveness in a wall painted with magnetic paint can be light in any one small spot. When using sheet magnet, the magnetic attraction is spread over a large area, as is the weight of the magnet and the item being supported by the magnet. It is for this reason that we advise the use of sheet magnet or our super-strong Rare Earth Safety Cap Magnets on a wall painted with magnetic paint.

One small baby can’t lift a very heavy weight, but a million small babies working together could lift a huge weight. Think of the tiny magnetic particles in the sheet magnet as being like those million babies working together to lift a large weight. The rubber sheet that binds the magnetic particles together multiplies their holding power.

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Can Magically Magnetic Additive be mixed with latex paint?

The answer to this question is a definite YES. Originally, we intended that our Magically Magnetic Paint Additive only to be mixed with oil based paints. We did this because we knew that oil based paints were the thickest, the strongest and gave the best protection to the magnetic particles in the additive. We still advise that if it is at all possible to use an oil based white, primer/sealer, stain blocker paint as your base, it is your best choice of paints to mix with our additive. So many of our customers asked for a magnetic paint additive that could be made with a latex paint base that we reformulated our additive to accept either oil based paints or new latex paints. Latex paints aren't as thick as oil,based paints and may need to be stirred a little more often to keep the metallic particles in suspension, but the fact that they clean up easily with soap and water seems to outweigh any negatives. Some states no longer allow the use of oil based paints. In these states, latex paints are a must. Magically Magnetic Paint Additive fits the bill.

We have actually had very good results when mixing our additive into ordinary latex paint. As a real low-budget answer to this latex question, we tried it with finish latex paint, not primer/sealer paint, that people had purchased specially tinted and then brought back for a refund to stores in our area. Some stores will accept tinted paint on a return, but they can’t put it back on the shelf as is and they can’t sell it at a cheaper price with the tint in because some dishonest people would have the paint tinted their color and then bring it back for a refund to only buy it again at the reduced price. That isn’t very good business for the stores so they have taken to adding additional black tint to the colored paint to make it a gray color. They figure they are pretty safe selling gray paint at a sale price of $1 per gallon and $5 per five-gallon bucket, since not many people actually want gray paint. That’s a great price for a paint of any color. Farmers often buy the gray paint for their barns. Of course it’s gray in color and is a little more difficult to cover with light color finish paints, but a price of only $1 per gallon is certainly a temptation.

We tried this returned gray latex paint with our additive and it worked just fine. We didn't mind the gray color because we covered it with a finish coat of our favorite color anyway. You sure can't beat the price of $5 for five gallons of paint.

Latex or oil based, primer/sealer stain blocker paints are different than ordinary finish paints. There is always a possibility that an ordinary finish latex paint will not perform as you want completely. I would always suggest trying a little in some hidden area just to make sure. You can’t be too careful.

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Can I paint over the Magnetic Paint with latex paint?

Yes, Magically Magnetic Paint is made to be finished with a coat or two of your regular latex paint. We recommend using an eggshell paint because it is harder and will hold up to more use than a flat paint. Simply wait until the last coat of the magnetic paint is dry before covering with your color choice of finish latex paint.

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How is your Magnetic Paint different from other magnetic paints?

Magically Magnetic Paint Additive is in a dry concentrated powdered material. You can get the liquid paint portion from a store near you at low sale prices. You only have to stir the additive into the white, primer/sealer paint with a stick. Either oil based or latex paint works the same. Oil based paints are a little thicker and hold the additive particles in suspension a little better, but either will work. Magically Magnetic Paint is cheaper than the premixed magnetic paint brands because you don't have to spend extra cash shipping a hazardous liquid, the paint, and the additional weight of the liquid paint portion across country. Why pay twice as much with shipping just to have somebody else stir your paint for you? You're going to have to stir it again after you get it anyway.

With our dry powdered additive, it is very easy to mix into the paint and since you are mixing a quart can of additive with a full gallon of paint, you end up with more than a full gallon of magnetic paint. Clean up is easy. Just throw away your used roller cover and tray liner when you’re done. When you use latex paint as your base, you can simply clean up with soap and water. We have great bulk pricing on larger quantities. Our competitors don’t offer either bulk pricing or cheap shipping. In fact, theirs is more expensive to ship because it is heavier due to the liquid paint being already mixed in. Also they must ship their magnetic paint as the hazardous material it is.

Another company makes a wet additive that first has to be stirred because it has settled to the bottom of the can it is shipped in. It comes as thick sludge at the bottom of an empty can. It gets thick and hard in the bottom of the can from sitting on the shelf a long time and can be quite hard to chop up and stir to a smooth consistency before adding the paint. This company claims that you can add any kind of paint to their additive such as your finish color paint, even though this will change the color of the paint and will still have to be painted over again when you are done. Finish paint is much more expensive than primer/sealer paint. With this wet additive, you are adding only enough paint to come up to a line on the outside of the quart or gallon can it comes in. This produces less than a full can of magnetic paint and the price is still much higher, not to mention the additional cost of shipping because it has to be shipped as a hazardous material. They don’t pay the freight. You do!

Another competitor offers a latex liquid magnetic paint that is sold as a primer, already mixed, dark gray in color and very expensive as well as having additional freight charges added on. Since their product contains liquid paint it cannot be shipped inexpensively. It must be shipped as a hazardous material. Who makes their paint? They don't say. Do you want to paint your walls with an unknown brand of untested paint? Not me. With Magically Magnetic Paint Additive, you purchase your favorite brand of paint that you have come to know and trust over the years.

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Why is your magnetic paint so cheap compared to the other brands?

Our Magically Magnetic Paint Additive isn’t cheap; it’s just priced realistically. You are buying direct from us and not through a middleman. If we sold our additive through stores, it would have to cost much more in the stores also. We don’t have to worry about paying a sales rep to sell it to a store or a profit margin for the store to sell it to you. All we are supplying you with is the magnetic portion of your magnetic paint. You purchase the liquid paint locally from a store near you. This way, you know exactly what kind of paint you are painting on your walls. We say “let the experts make the paint, they know what they’re doing. Our area of expertise is magnetism.” Good quality white primer/sealer, stain blocker paint is always on sale. Why pay the high cost to have a hazardous material shipped to you when you can buy your high quality paint easily down the street on sale? Because our paint additive is dry and harmless, we can ship it inexpensively and pass the savings on to our customers. We have done this purposefully to keep the cost of our product low and our quality high.

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What’s the best way to mount things on a magnetic wall?

The best way to mount anything on a magnetic wall is to use sheet magnet. Sheet magnet holds best when it is in direct contact with the magnetically attractive surface, be it a refrigerator door or a wall painted with Magically Magnetic Paint. It is best to adhere magnetic sheeting to the back of a piece of paper instead of putting the paper between the sheet magnet and the magnetically attractive surface. Sheet magnet cut as a mat, surrounding a paper item like a photo can hold a light object very well. Many die-cut magnetic frames or mats are available on the market that take advantage of this fact. We have a page on our site that explains the best way to hang heavy objects like framed pictures on a magnetic wall. This link will take you to our tips and information page.

A great way to display posters on a wall painted with magnetic paint is to use rare earth magnets, one in each corner. They are so strong they can be used with the paper of the poster between the magnet and the wall. They are quite a bit more expensive than sheet magnets, but they do work very well and they don't wear out with age.

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How can I remove magnetic paint?

Magnetic paint made from Magically Magnetic Paint Additive and your paint can be removed from a wall just like you would remove the paint alone from a wall. The magnetic additive doesn’t change the paint at all. There are paint remover liquids and gels on the market that will take the paint off the wall. Talk to a paint expert at a paint store near you to get the right remover for the type of paint you used to mix with the magnetic additive, oil based or latex paint. If the magnetic paint was already on the wall when you bought the house and you don’t know what kind of paint it was made with, tell the paint store agent and he will suggest a remover for you.

The remover is applied to the wall and allowed to stand and soak into the paint. The paint will soften and wrinkle up and separate from the wall enough to scrape it off with a plastic putty knife. A couple of applications will be needed to get all the paint off the wall. After the wall has been cleaned, sand the dry wall to remove any tiny specks of remaining material and repaint the wall with your new paint. This isn’t a hard process. It just takes a little time.

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