Dumb caulking question for replacing garage door stop strip

[aemeijers]

Thought I already asked this on here, but can't seem to find it if I did...

Finally got around to buying the new stop strip (the plastic stuff with the flap) for garage door, and plan to put up this weekend (if Ma Nature cooperates), before fall starts in earnest. Seeing as how if I had kept the old stuff caulked, it wouldn't have failed and directed water against lower panel of garage door, causing it to fail, I suppose I need to caulk the new stuff. Should I bed it in caulk, or just run a bead in crack (on weather edge) after it is up, or both? And is ordinary outdoor-rated painter's caulk good enough, or do I need something special?

2nd dumb but related question- is it worth it trying to miter the top corner joints, or should I just run sides hard into the corners, and then put the top section between them, so the top flap overhangs the flaps on the side pieces? That plastic stuff doesn't look like it will miter-cut very well, and I'll have to eyeball the cuts on the flap with snips in any case.

If this works, next weekend will be the door bottom seal. It's never gonna be beautiful, but I am trying to cut down the wind speed in garage, and make the small animals at least work to get in out of the cold.

[hrhofmann]

I used that stuff last fall on my garage, and it made a BIG difference in the air leakage.. Before you could see daylight around the edges, now no light, and no air flow. I don't undestand about caulking, I nailed the new stop so the plastic flap just touched the edge of the door when it was all the way down. If the old wood is smooth, the new stop with the flap should fit tightly against the frame and all you have to do is paint it. If it is uneven, you could just push caulk in the cracks and wait a few days and paint. You must have some really big gaps if you feel the need to caulk everythiing.

[aemeijers]

No, not real big, but enough to create a water path for driven rain to get in there, and run downhill, and keep the ends of bottom garage panels wet. I suspect when I pull the old stop off, I'm gonna see a stripe of bare wood in there I need to prime, and I just hope it isn't too mushy.