A garage door is one of the features that create the first impression of your home. Depending on how you maintain your garage door condition, you have the power to build or kill your home’s curb appeal. It is not just about the looks. A garage door protects most of your precious belongings, which can only be affected if the door is maintained in an excellent working condition.
Do you want to revitalize your garage door’s exterior look and give it a fresh, new look? You are in the right place. In this post, we will discuss refinishing tips that you can leverage for your garage door repair Pflugerville TX.
Start with the inspection
To know if your garage door needs refinishing or the level of refinishing required, you need first to inspect it. No garage door is maintenance-free, so none are spared this.
Inspecting evaluates your garage door’s painted or stained surface structure and identifies any defects or surface deformities. If you observe the following signs, your door needs refinishing:
- Painted garage doors: Color fading, dullness/chalkiness, cracks in the topcoat, flaking, and scaling.
- Stained doors: Degradation, change in texture and thinning of the protective film.
Now that we have mentioned painting and staining, which is the more preferred refinishing technique?
Painting and staining are similar surfaces refinishing techniques; only that painting provides broader coverage, various sheen degrees, and better color uniformity.
When it comes to garage doors, painting is more suitable for metallic door varieties, while staining works best for wood doors. Staining adds a thin transparent, protective film, and it does not blur the wood’s impressive natural coloring and texture.
You cannot apply stain on the painted surface, and hence it is better to stick to repainting if paint already exists on your garage doors. It all comes down to personal preference and the look you want to achieve on your garage door. Below we go through the process of refinishing your garage door.
Prepare the garage door for refinishing
If the existing surface coat is significantly damaged, you should first do the following preparation practices before resurfacing:
Power wash your garage door
- Wear protective equipment (mask, gloves, and safety goggles).
- Use a wire brush and hard grit sandpaper to scrub off rust, dirt, grime.
- Use a sponge, soap, and water to remove soil on the outside of the garage door
- Rinse the garage door with a hose and leave it to dry.
Switch your garage to manual operation
To ensure that you don’t strain your back when repainting your garage door, you need to deactivate the automatic openers.
- Acquire all the items needed
The main items you will need for this job include handheld brushes and rollers, painter’s tape, primers, maintenance coats, access in case your garage door is a huge one, and of course, paint or stain that you think will bring out the desired look on your garage door.
- Tape the areas that do not need recoating
To reduce messes and ease your work, especially when repainting, you need to cover the sections you want to keep free of colors and drips with the painter’s tape.
Applying the coat or stain
- With your protective equipment still on, apply the first coat (primer) to the prepared surface and wait to dry.
- Use your brush and rollers to apply the first layer of the paint or stain and leave to dry satisfactorily
- Apply subsequent layer until you are satisfied with the uniformity and look of the garage door surface
- Round up the process by applying a thin layer of protective coating to protect your new paint or stain layers from outdoor elements.
- When everything is set up and wholly cured, reactivate your automatic openers and use your ‘brand new’ garage door.
Minor refinishing
If the existing paint coat or stain film on your garage door is not significantly damaged, you need to sand the scratched or dented sections and apply paint or stain on these areas. Just ensure that you even out or blend these sections with the surrounding areas.
Additional garage door refinishing tips
- Prepare in advance- Although the process of refinishing a garage door is not complicated, you need to delegate about three days for the task. Also, it would help if you were very strategic about the weather. Choose days that have low chances of experiencing extreme conditions such as heavy rain. A weekend that is not too cold or too hot could be perfect for a garage door refinishing project.
- Close your garage doors when drying sections- As seen above, repainting or re-staining is done in multilayers, and time must be allowed for one layer to dry out before the next one is applied. Closing your door during this stage ensures that there are no unwanted drips.
- Purchase multicolor paint coats- If you want a bright hue on your garage door, you should consider purchasing multiple compatible coats. In case you are handling this task on your own, you can get advice from the paint shop attendant.
- Hire a professional- If you want the garage door refinishing process to be error-free, you should hire an experienced professional for the task. It is also easier to achieve the desired look on your garage door when you work with a specialist that has handled several similar projects.
Conclusion
With the above tips, you can refresh your garage door’s look and maintain it in pristine conditions at all times. A garage door is arguably one of the features that ‘overwork’ in a home environment. The only way to pay this back is to keep it looking fresh and as good as new. So, don’t let your garage door look dull and boring. Take advantage of the above tips, and this investment will always be making a statement.