painting garage door

A week or so ago I sought opinions on the color of the garage door and the consensus here was white so off to the paint store I went and white it will be. Unfortunately, with a few unplanned events both at home and work, combined with inopportune rain and high humidity it hasn't been moved to the done stack. Meanwhile, another question popped into my head. My plan was to start at the top, work my way down to a comfortable working height, and then keep raising the door as I went. Maybe not the way that you pro's would do it, but I figured this way I could get an early start, have it raised before the sun got over the maple trees to avoid direct sunlight on it while it dried and wouldn't be as likely to get dust on it if someone drove in or out the driveway. But then I got to wondering, what do you guys do with the strip along the top of the door above the jamb? I've painted this one a few times as well as a number of other ones and don't remember even thinking it about it before, so have just carefully followed the exposed edge and called it good. Or is the right way to paint that hidden part too? Just for kicks I raised the door just a bit this morning, set the ladder up, and I could run the brush between the door and the ceiling, but with limited visibility so not sure how could it would be. Or I could take the top rollers off and fold the top section in to paint it, but can't imagine you guys go through that. So, again, just curious.

 

Well, speaking as a carpenter who does his own painting, I would probably remove the weatherstripping door stops and if they get destroyed taking them off, I'd replace them, and paint them last after the door has been painted and raised.

Having said that, you could also do it the way you planned, but just paint what you can see. If you pull the door down later and see that some areas got missed, touch them up with paint, and raise the door again. I don't know that I would try to paint the edges with the door fully raised if you cant see what your doing, for fear you leave a heavy drip line on your roller edge or something. If you can get on a ladder and see what you're painting, then go for it.

But yes, rolling the door up as you go is a good idea, anytime you can paint in the shade and keep fresh paint out of direct sun, it's a good thing.

One tip I will give you is to go easy on the paint along the horizontal edges of each panel. You don't want a bunch of paint rolling around the edges (between doors) because of the likelihood of that making the doors stick together, or pull paint off one side or the other. So roll the inner portion of each panel first and when your roller is partly dry, then spread that paint to the edges... with less paint in the roller you will be less likely to curl paint around the edges.

And if you intend to paint the horizontal edges between the doors, (which you don't see when the door is fully closed or fully open) I would say don't bother. It often does more harm than good if they want to stick together.

I was on a job where a professional painter had painted the customers garage doors a dark forest green and later, the paint was so sticky that the automatic door openers could not open the doors. They stuck to the weatherstrip, and stuck to each other so bad, they just wouldn't open. This went on for weeks after he had painted them until he came back and redid the paint job with better quality paint. (So that's where I was coming from when I mentioned blocking in your other thread).

 

When I painted ours I painted that strip from inside the garage with the door partially up.

 

When I spray paint a garage door, I do it with the door completely closed and then once the paint is dry I'll push back the weather stripping to get any edges that might show. I normally paint the edge that is exposed while the door is partially opened but care must be used to make sure those edges don't contact themselves until the paint is good and dry.

When I brush/roll a garage door I do as you suggested, start at the top and move the door upward as I complete each panel.

 

Okey dokey. Thanks guys. I figured I was on the right track, has always worked in the past, but never hurts to ask. I have pulled the weather stripping on some, but this predates that, never had it and whoever trimmed it did a nice job so I've never seen a need to add it. Came close a couple of times, but, like I said, a good fit as is, custom and redwood to boot, so figured why mess with something that works. No, definitely not painting the edges between the doors. Have not seen any residential doors literally painted closed that way, but always imagined it would be a good place to start peeling the paint the first couple trips up and down. Thank you again. Still not the best day for it, a little cool and dampish right now, but NOAA shows some distance between the temperature and dewpoint around the time I should start to get enough daylight so should be good to go.

 

Thank you again for the suggestions, the door looks great! Got one coat of paint on the door itself and a coat of primer on the jambs and trim. I seldom do, but going to stay home in the morning and get a coat of paint on the trim because time for things like this has been at a bit of a premium and tomorrow's supposed to be a repeat of today, weather wise, so hate to miss the opportunity. As I recall, the last time I painted this door I had a certain time frame in mind and ended up having to put it off for a week or so because that side of the house was all of a sudden covered with box elder bugs or lady bugs, can't remember which now, and then we ran into a string of cold and chilly days. So going to stay on it while Ma Nature is cooperating.

 

Bugs in your paint are the worst!

 

Curious, is this door metal or wood?

I've been told by both door installers and manufacture reps that you should not paint doors (metal) with the typical Rustolium style paint or any exterior paint from the store. The factory uses a baked on enamel that is sun resistant and temperature compensated to prevent chipping and cracking as the seasons change. This is especially true of entrance doors.

That being said, I have painted many a door with a Rustolium type paint and not had any problems. But I would have reservations doing a whole garage bay door.

PS... Larson rep told me that any warranty of their storm doors will be voided if painted.

 

Most residential steel doors [both house and garage] are spec'd for latex paint. Because of the thinnest of the steel the metal will expand/contract ever so slightly. Latex paints are flexible enough to handle that while oil base coatings are not. Oil base coatings are harder and can peel when the metal flexes.

 

never considered the option of oil vs latex. Good point.

When I had my garage bay doors replaced they gave me a vial of touch up paint and told me not to paint the whole door. Better to replace a panel if need be than painting. This being a steel door. Aluminum or fiberglass I assume to be another story. He also said in most cases a door seldom needs paint. Most factory paint is very good. Most people will replace as opposed to repaint steel doors due to rust out (mainly at the bottom) and replacements due to damage.

 

I was hoping to avoid that question Norm because I figured the majority would say to replace it, and that wasn't the question, but it's fiberglass. And I'm no fan of fiberglass doors, not at all, so have thought about replacing it several times, but it is one of only a few I have seen that is actually very well constructed and has held up extremely well. I think this is the third time I have painted it over almost 40 years, used latex, and it has held up very good. No chipping, weather checking or anything like that, and the finish has held up real good except for the fact that, with a gravel road and driveway it invariably gets a lot of grit so gets to a point where washing doesn't cut it so it's time for a fresh coat of paint. And sheesh Sleeper, you're right about the bugs. Used my knife to dip a fly or two off the top of the paint in the can yesterday and somehow thought that I'd made it, but saw this morning that one still managed to land in the wet paint on the door. Very small, and went away when I flicked it with my finger, but still annoying.

 

Okay, just one reminder for anyone over 60, go for tinted primer. I got the trim painted this morning, but what a chore. And I even thought about tint when I got it, but went with alkyd primer so figured there would be enough distinction. But it's overcast today and and made the lighting just so that I had a dickens of a time telling where I'd left off even just turning my eyes long enough to dip the brush with more paint. But I wandered around looking at it from enough angles that I feel good about it. Not that either the door or trim looks like they need it, still figuring on a second coat, but told the wife last night that as long as it comes out looking good, and it does so far, I may move onto something else for now, let it weather a bit, scuff it up and give it another coat in the spring.

 

Any special reason you used primer?
I used to work with an older drywall man [he mostly did repairs] He got where he'd look me up to bum a little dark paint to tint his mud, that way when he went back to texture [white walls] he didn't get in trouble for missing some of them.

 

The paint on the door was in very good shape, Mark, checked the edges and whatnot with my jack knife, no chipping whatsoever, no weather checking or anything, so all I did with it was sand and paint it. (No, I lied, I gave the sandpaper to my wife, along with a brief lesson, and went on to other things while she sanded. And she did a really great job, very thorough, but didn't sound as thrilled by the time she finished a couple hours later!) Anyway though, the trim on the other hand had not held up as well, don't know what the original primer was but there was quite a bit of checking in the several layers of paint, and I ended up taking enough of it down to bare wood that I just went ahead and primed all of it. I'd be interested in hearing your decision making process regarding when to prime or not, but mine has always that drywall gets primed, bare wood gets primed, usually with something like Zinzer's if there are knots. Prepainted surfaces, as long as the paint is in good shape I sand and paint, but with something like this trim, some of it down to bare wood and not certain exactly what was involved in the base coat I prime.

 

As you know it's always best to prime bare substrates. Whether to spot prime or prime in entirety often boils down to which is easier/quicker. If there is more that needs primer than doesn't - I prime it all. Nothing wrong with applying primer when it isn't necessary.

 

Makes sense to me Mark, and that's pretty much where I ended up. Again, don't know what the original primer was, but on both sides I ended up with half or more that I scraped to bare wood with little to no effort, so don't know why it wasn't peeling off on it's own but it honestly still looked good at first glance and I don't recall seeing this at all when I painted it in the past. Only thing I can come up with is that it lost its' adhesion over time. So after I got through those first stretches I did a little heavier scraping and revealed some more areas, and by the time I was done had enough exposed that I decided to just go ahead and prime all of the trim rather than spotting that much.