Clear the Seal! How to Paint a Garage Door Without Doing Damage | Elite Pro Painting

How to paint a garage door without creating damage.  You are ready to go.  You have your paint.  You have your brush.  You have your paint roller.  You even have your drop cloth on the ground and ready to catch any residual paint that may drip or splatter when you are painting your garage door.  You know that it is important to get two even, smooth, nice coats of premium paint on your garage door.  The problem is, most people do not know how destructive and expensive painting a garage door can be.

The process:

1. Clean the garage door and trim. Whether it is pressure washing it, or wiping it down with a wet rag, make sure that you get all of the pollutants off of the door.  No dirt.  No cobwebs.  No gunk.
2. Prime the exposed areas of the trim and door. If the door is metal, and there are scrapes, use a good metal primer.  If the wood trim has exposed wood, use a good wood primer.  Let it dry.
3. Apply two even coats of paint. You can spray them.  You can brush them.  You can roll them.  You can roll and brush them.  Make sure that the coats are even and the finish is smooth.

4. This is the step that can get expensive and destructive. This is the step that even some professionals do not know is important.  CLEAR THE SEALS!  Not the animal at the zoo that makes cute noises for fish.  The rubber gasket that goes around the garage door.  It is very important that you make sure that the gasket is not stuck to the garage door.  If the seal is stuck…terrible things will happen.  You can use a razor blade or a 5-way (painting tool) to clear the seal.  Just slide the tool under the gasket to pull it away from sticking to the door.

5. Make sure that the paint did not dry in the cracks between the panels. Use a razor to cut the grooves between the panels.  This will make sure that they do not stick.

So what kind of damage are we talking about?  New garage door.  New garage door opener.  Sometimes both.  If you follow these easy steps, you do not have to worry about a garage door nightmare!

If you have any questions on how to paint your garage door, or would like to hire a professional to do it, call us anytime.