Lorell LLR52502 Glass Dry-Erase Board, 72" x 36", Frost

Several low cost glass marker boards have recently become available on Amazon. I bought the long six footer Loreli because of the price point and on the basis of a scant few reviews. Miraculously, it arrived intact. There is a sticker on the box saying that it must be carried vertically during shipping and FedEx freight actually followed the instructions. I used a micrometer to measure the glass thickness, which turned out to be 4.57mm, or 3/16 inch. I have used professional class glass marker boards in office buildings and they are thicker than the Loreli. However, these boards cost a lot more too. The six foot board has six mounting holes. I decided to mount the middle set of holes on a stud and use drywall anchors for the two size sets of holes. The mounting hardware is a metal offset plug that is screwed into the wall with #6 screws. Since the screw has to fit into the body of the plug, you cannot use a larger screw because of the size of the screw head. It does not have a drill template, which is the biggest problem with mounting. The location of the mounting plugs must be exact so the weight is evenly distributed among all the six holes. I got a roll of kraft paper from the dollar store and made my own template. The instructions were ridiculous. It says to measure the distance between the glass holes and drill mounting holes in the exact spots on the wall. It is best to have three people mount the six footer. Two people wearing gloves can hold the board and one person can screw in the metal caps to the mounting plugs. The plastic screw anchors that came with the hardware did not seem strong enough to handle anything larger than a picture frame. Because of the #6 screws, your choice of anchors is limited. I got some 50 pound rated plastic anchors from the hardware store. I laid the glass down on a table to make the template. Be very careful laying the glass horizontally and lifting it back up to a vertical position again. This motion creates the maximum stress on the glass and you can feel it flex. The glass is not safety glass, though it must be tempered in some way for it to survive shipping and mounting. When done, the glass sits roughly half an inch from the wall. A white plastic film is applied to the back of the glass to make it a whiteboard instead of a clear board. Aside from TV shows, a clear marker board is not that useful. Be careful to not scratch the white film while mounting the glass. When writing on the board, you can feel a little bit of glass flex. It doesn't seem to be a problem. However, because the glass sits away from the wall, this board is not meant to be used by kids. Just think what happens when kids monkey around and someone gets shoved into the glass. This product is only for adults. It is quite attractive when everything is done. The board comes with one black marker.