Painting a garage door

[MiamiCuse]

I need to paint my garage door whose has a lot of it's paint taken off by hurricane Wilma. The neighbor across the street's shingle tiles were blown off the roof and all of them came in out directions. With the shingle coming at high speed it basically acted like sand paper on my garage door so I have to repaint it.

The problem is the door is made of 4 horizontal panels. I am not sure how to paint the highest panel because a portion of it is not visible when the door is closed. If I open it and roll it up then the highest panel is raised 7 feet above the floor and there is not enough room between the ceiling and the raised panel to paint it while it's up and I cannot get to half the spots when it's down.

Any suggestions?

MC

[<aemeijers]

Disengage the automatic opener, and close the door (gently) on top of a couple of milk crates, concrete blocks, or whatever you have handy. (Make sure it is sturdy, so it doesn&#39;t collapse and trap your hand.)That will let you reach the top edge of the top panel. Raise the door up a little more at a time, to get the end of each panel where it hides behind the weather stop. Do not put the door back down till paint is dry, or it will stick to the weatherstripping. BTW, one of those sponge painters will let you put on a smooth coat with only 3-4 inches of clearance. The paint on the edges doesn&#39;t need to be perfect, since it is well protected from weather and usually not visible. It just needs to not show a visible color change line as the door is going up and down. Painting the door the same color will make it much easier to make it look &#39;right&#39;. I went from green to white on mine, and made the painter do the edges before he loaded the truck.

aem sends...

[Eric in North TX]

You could disconnect the opener and remove the top rollers and just fold the top panel down inside the garage.

[krw]

Sure, I&#39;ve done the same thing (painting a garage door) for years. Simply stop the door after a second or so on its upward travel. You can then sneak a brush between the frame and the door. If need be, let the upper panel and around he edges dry well, then close the door and do the rest.

Note that it can take days to weeks (the labels says up to a month) for latex pain to "dry well" (actually "cure"). Before that it may stick, or worse, to any gaskets.

[Steve Barker]

With the door locked in the down position, disconnect your opener (if equipped) and then remove the top roller brackets. The tension cables are hooked to the bottom panel, so there&#39;s no worry with that part of it. THEN you can hinge the top panel inward and paint to your heart&#39;s content. Don&#39;t forget the edges and let them dry before you close the gap back up.

s