Question:
We need to replace a 25 year old wooden overhead garage door and are looking at
steel garage doors. The door is 16 feet wide, so even the cheapest door we've
looked at isn't very cheap. It comes in white, and unfortunately white will
look terrible with the rest of the house's colors (brick and stone). The man at
the home center said it would not be a good idea to paint the door. Does
anyone have experience with painting a steel garage door? Does the paint hold
up fairly well, and what is the best way to paint it?
Answer:
Steel garage door is a bit of a misnomer. It's a steel frame but
the skin is thin, and very dentable, aluminum, usually over a foam
core. The same caveats that apply to painting aluminum siding apply
to metal garage doors, except moreso because the latter will be
raised/lowered/banged into frequently.
Most of the garage door mfr's supply very specific directions for repainting
and even then it's quite difficult to duplicate the durability of the orig
paint which is generally applied with electrostatic or other processes
before the garage door mfr. ever sees the metal.
Another thing to keep in mind is that most quality doors are available in at
least 3 or 4 color it's just that frequently there's a couple week wait
to order one .... vs. the white ones stocked by the home centers.
