If you’re flipping a house or even living in a house that you love but want to update the garage door, sometimes painting can be a simple fix that is much more cost effective than replacing an entire garage door. A garage door that is painted properly can entirely transform the exterior of a home. With our simple tips and steps, you will have a garage door that looks better than new in no time. 

1.Start with a clean surface 

The very first thing that needs to be done to ensure the best paint job possible is power washing your current garage door exterior. This will remove all of the dirt and grime that has accumulated on your garage door, giving you a clean and smooth surface to work with. If you stand too close to your garage door with your power washer, it is likely you will remove existing paint and we do not want to do that. If paint does begin to come off, you will want to scrape off all of the paint so that your area will be smooth and ready to be painted over. 

Go ahead and power wash the hardware as well while you are doing this step so that your entire garage door will look good as new by the time you are finished. 

2.Create a tape barrier

Now that your surface is clean, you can tape off the outer surface of your garage door with painters tape so that you don’t get any paint on the trim or siding of your home.

3.Prime your garage

We recommend priming your garage door before painting. If you do not want to prime, you can find a good exterior paint that has a primer included in it.

4.Paint square by square

Be sure that you are using exterior paint for your garage door. Here is a good paint that we like to use. Now that you have your paint, use a brush (you’ll use a roller later) and paint the outside edge of each square on your garage door. Once that has dried, you can go in and roll over the entire square. 

Your garage door will likely need two coats of paint.

5.The framework

Now that your garage door is painted, let’s focus on the frame. The frame is not the same as the trim. The trim is what is on the outside, surrounding your garage door. And the frame is the inside of your trim. We suggest using a brush and painting from the inside top left corner to the bottom of the frame. After that, do the same thing on the right side. And lastly, paint from the left to the right at the top of the frame. If any paint drips or gets on your siding, have a wet rag handy to wipe up the excess paint.

6.Painting the trim

Whenever you paint the trim, you will want to be sure that you have taped off where the siding of your home begins. You can paint this similar to how you painted the frame. We prefer a small rolling brush for a smoother finish. Again, start from the top left corner down to the bottom of the trim. Do the same thing on the right side, and then finally from the top left to the top right. This may require two coats of paint as well.

Extra Tips

• If you would like, you can paint between the panels that fold up on your garage door. This is not absolutely necessary and is just based off of preference. 
• Be sure to paint on a day that is going to be warm and dry. In Arkansas, we know a lot of days are very hot and humid, but be sure to find a day where the humidity is low and it is just the right temperature. That is the best time to be outside and enjoy the weather anyway!
• If you want to you can paint the hardware on your garage door, replace it with new and fresh hardware, or tape it off from the beginning to keep the original look.

We know that painting your garage door may seem like a daunting task but once you get started, it is simple and a smooth process. If you would rather just replace your garage door all together to give your home a facelift, let’s talk about residential or custom garage doors! Give us a call at (501) 412-2475.