How to Paint a Garage Door

Your automatic garage door not only protects your automobile from theft, it is & a barrier between your house & the elements. The single or double garage door with its width to let your automobile drive in functions as an outer wall to your house as well, & as such it needs to be treated as. It is exposed to the heat & icy, the rain & snow, the wind & humidity.

As a portal to your home where people and vehicles come and go, garage doors are susceptible to damage. Dents and paint scratches are common. Therefore, on a periodic basis you are going to need to paint your garage door.

Types of Doors

Garage doors come in a variety of materials. Most of them are metals, such as aluminum or steel, but some varieties are made with a vinyl surface. Wooden doors are also still common. The type of material that makes up the door, of course, determines how you paint it.

Wooden Doors

Wooden garage doors can have problems of their own. They need to be painted on a regular basis and need to be inspected to be certain that harsh weather conditions or insects have not introduced wood rot into your door. Fresh paint can go a long way to protecting your door from this kind of problem, but it cannot repair it. If you find wood rot, you may have to replace a panel, or in some cases, the entire door.

Clean the surface thoroughly. Sand the surface to remove any peeling paint or blisters from previous paint jobs. Fill in any pits or holes with spackle and cover your handles with painters’ tape or plastic.

At this point, it’s a good idea to apply two coats of primer, to help protect the door against the weather.
Paint the door using a weather proof outdoor paint. Allow to dry thoroughly.

Metal Doors

With a metal garage door, begin by hosing off the entire outside surface of the door. Then get a scrub brush and scrub the entire surface using water and a strong detergent. Get the entire surface clean and remove all dirt and rust. Allow the door to dry fully.

Apply a coat of acrylic primer. On a metal door, you will specifically need primer to help the paint stay on the surface.

After the primer has dried, paint the entire surface. A spray gun will probably be your best option in this situation, as brushes and rollers will leave paint marks. Allow the paint to dry fully before using the garage door.

A Few More Notes

It’s not hard to paint your overhead garage door, and you need to do so regularly in order to keep it in good shape against the weather. Remember to use painters’ tape and tarp or plastic in order to keep paint off areas where you don’t want it. If you are using a sprayer, keep the stream moving to get a good looking surface. And always remember to clean your equipment using the instructions from the paint manufacturer.