How To Paint Garage Door?

[Arthur Shapiro]

Well, this sounds simple but I'm perplexed enough to ask for advice.

The patient is a standard metal five-section rollup double-car garage door. After 15 years, it is starting to look somewhat faded. This week I had major stucco work done on the house, and some of the contractor's material got on the door. When he washed it off, it left obvious huge streaks and discolorations on the door. I'm not faulting him - the door was due for repainting anyway.

But I'm not sure what to do. Several inches of each side is, of course, covered by the framing of the house. Only a tiny portion of the top section is visible from the outside. Presumably I want to paint the entirety of the door, not just the visible portion. Rolled up, there isn't much room between the door and the ceiling.

I'm not anxious to have the door removed temporarily - there's no way I'll fool with torsion springs.

What's the "correct" way to attack this problem?

Art

[Puddin' Man]

I don't blame ya.

Have the door removed temporarily, take 5 sections to Maaco or somesuch?? :-)

Seriously, do-you-know/can-you-determine what kind of finish (baked enamel or ?) is now on the door? How much (if any) rust is on the surface? Etc, etc.

Have you ever cleaned/waxed the surface?

If it's just badly faded paint, I'd start by giving it a good scrubbing with strong detergent. Then evaluate if a lite surface-prep and, say, brushed clear-coat (appropriate for the old finish) might do the job with minimal expense and labor.

Cheers, Puddin'

"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens!" -Friedrich Schiller

[Malcolm Hoar]

Try rolling up the door by about 12 inches. You may very well find that the top section of the door is sufficiently accessable for painting.

Obviously, you'll want to experiment a little to find the optimum position but the chances are good the objective can be accomplished with this little "trick".

It's a *lot* easier than removing the door ;-)

[ransley]

You wont see the rest so its no big deal, forget about it. What is is painting, it probably has an oil paint on it that is chalking, when you rub your hand on it you see the chalking. It must be washed well and primed with the right primer, and probably not latex. Go to a real paint store for the right products.

[Chris Lewis]

According to Arthur Shapiro :

Me neither. But, what I did once was to roll the door up, and jam a large screwdriver into the torsion spring crank hole, so it wouldn't move.

Then, disconnected the cable from the top of the door, and rolled the door farther onto the track so the rollers at the top of the door fall off the track.

At this point the top section is hanging, with the face towards the back of the garage. You'll want to strap down the door somehow so the door won't shift any further until you're ready to put the top rollers back on the track.

Once you get the top section painted, you can reverse the process.

[DerbyDad03]

I was able to get to all areas of my wooden single door by raising it in small increments to expose the portions behind the upper and side trim/weather stripping. It was a little tricky to start and stop the opener to get the door positioned right where I wanted it each time, but it was certainly doable. It's that damn reversing safety feature that made it tricky. Obviously you'll be painting from a step ladder, since the exposed portions will always be near the top.

One more thing to keep in mind. Avoid painting up into the gaps between the door sections, even a little bit. When the door is fully closed or open, the gap will shut tight, you'll have paint sticking to paint, and it'll make a loud CRACK as the paint separates when there door is opened/closed. SWMBO thought the door was broken due to noise it makes each time she uses it. I'll admit it is rather annoying, so I'll be sanding my gaps this weekend.

[Malcolm Hoar]

You can often disconnect the opener from the door and then slide the door up and down manually. The torsion spring, if properly adjusted, will take most/all of the weight so it shouldn't be hard to move. And it's not usually difficult finding some way to lock/jam the door in position.

Look for an emergency opener (red toggle on a short bit of rope?). You can also use this to open the door manually if the power is out.

[DerbyDad03]

- Look for an emergency opener (red toggle on a short bit of

- rope?). You can also use this to open the door manually if

- the power is out.

Uh, thanks for the instructions on how to use the opener that I've been using for 20 years. ;-) I know you're just trying to help.

When I said "tricky" I didn't mean "difficult". Certainly less difficult than trying to jam the door in all the various positions needed to expose the different areas. Most torsion springs (well, at least mine) will not hold the door open just the few inches required for me to reach some areas. In addition, I kept repositioning the door so that most of my painting was done at eye level. Using the opener to hold the door each time is a lot easier than trying to "jam" it it into all those different positions.

BTW if you still have that red toggle on a short bit of rope, and your door has windows, consider how easy it would be for a burgler to break the window, release the emergency mechanism and open your door.

[Malcolm Hoar]

Okay. I'll wager there's a million folks who've never figured out what that thing was for ;-)

Well, sure it depends on the exact design. In my case, the door was fairly well balanced and it was a simple matter to fix a C-clamp on the tracks to lock the door into position quite positively and safely. Moving the door up or down by one section took but a few seconds. Had the door been less well balanced I guess it might have taken two clamps; one on each track.

On the other hand, with my opener, it's *really* hard trying to stop the door at a specific position with any accuracy.

Heh, good point that I'd never thought about -- but I don't have any windows.

[Oren]

Thanks for mentioning this. I don't recall reading or hearing of this in any "home security" precautions.

Excellent point!

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

[yugami]

In my area people have been known to just pry on the top of the garage door untill the top section falls in and then hook the rope. Presto....

[DerbyDad03]

- In my area people have been known to just pry on the top of the garage

- door untill the top section falls in and then hook the rope.

- Presto....

I'm sitting in my office, visualizing my garage door. This is what my mind's eye tells me...

If you were somehow able to "pry on the top of the garage door untill the top section falls in" the opener would no longer be attached to the rest of the door. Hypothetically, the top section of the door would be hanging by the opener arm and pulling the rope would serve no purpose.

In fact, I'm not even sure how someone could "pry on the top of the garage door untill the top section falls in". There's bolts where each roller is attached to the door, bolts through the hinges that attach it to the next panel and bolts holding the locked-in-position opener arm to the door. I can't imagine how you would "pry on the top of the garage door untill the top section falls in".

[Oren]

Bigger pry bar :-)))

-- Oren

"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"

[Malcolm Hoar]

It doesn't seem a very smart way to break into a home. The garage doors are typically very visible from the street, and hence to neighbors, passers-by et al.

Most burgulars would attack the house from some other less visible angle.

[Oren]

Home invasions happen here when the crooks wait for the door to open and the victim is inside the garage They can rush in and close the door.

Two cops shooting pool one day with the garage door open. Faced with weapons, they killed one intruder and I guess the other is in prison.

Ever see the bank robber with tree branches to cover him up? It happened.

-- Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

[Oren]

-- Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

[DerbyDad03]

Oh! I thought you meant this kind of "tree branches" cover up...

[rmont]

replying to ransley, rmont wrote: Ammonia mixed with water will remove chalkiness. 2x of light scrubbing. Always use latex paint, SW, preferably. Oil cracks and peels.