Painting Garage Doors

Post sponsored by Sherwin-Williams Paint. Create your own ideas here.

Ecstatic doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about the new paint on my garage doors. My house looks totally new and the curb appeal just took a huge leap. Here’s a reminder of what I started with:

We called it the “garagemahal.” The doors had never been painted before! They were yellowing and looked terrible. The doors bothered me from day one, but sometimes I am funny about exterior home improvements; while indoors feel like free reign, outside I think, people will see it. All the more reason to do it right. I hope this blog is helpful for you if you’re planning to do exterior paint.

1. Choose the right paint. Sherwin-Williams paint is high quality and my favorite. The people who work in the store are so helpful and knowledgeable. They have different paints, but their “Duration” paint is great for exteriors, perfect for places with extreme weather (here!) and doesn’t fade. Also it has a lifetime warranty! Completely worth the extra dollars to insure your home improvement will look great forever. The best part is, this stuff goes on like butter. Honestly, so smooth, and such a great coat, if you think painting is hard this paint will change your mind.
2. Choose the right color. This is, as always, a matter of opinion, but here is mine. If you live in Venice or somewhere in South America a bright orange garage is awesome, go for it. I would. But if you live in the suburbs, stick to something that will blend in. In my deserty area we use a lot of browns, garage doors are often the same color as the stucco or a stark, dark contrast. The latter is my favorite. I love the deep dark rich colors. I used Sherwin-Williams #6083 “Sable”. It’s gorgeous. I love having a big garage, but I don’t want anyone to say, “wow, check out that fuchsia chevron garage.” No esta bueno people.
3. Get enough to apply two coats. The person mixing your paint can help you with this. If you’re pricing it out my garage measures 18×8 and 7.5×8 and I used 1.5 gallons of the Duration paint.
4. Decide how much you need to paint. If you paint the garage doors do you need to paint the air vents? The drain gutter? The side door? Pick a stopping point before you start. Some projects have the ability to run away from you, so have a game plan ready before wielding the paint brush. Also, allow enough time to finish at least one entire door at a time, halfsies won’t work well for this project
5. Paint when it is 60 degrees or warmer so the paint dries well. Also, make sure no storm clouds are rolling in or it won’t be too windy. You don’t want rain to come down or leaves to blow onto a wet/sticky garage door (the thought makes me cringe!)

Okay! So here are the basic steps and a few points to note about painting a garage:

1. Pull the emergency release before starting (the red cord). This will let you move the door up and down while painting and someone won’t accidentally open it while you’re working.
2. Make sure the doors are both dry and clean before you start. You can use a power washer, hose or even a dry paintbrush to get the dirt off.
3. Tape off the doors. Get around the perimeter and the rubber strip along the bottom.
4. We used a paint sprayer (read this if you’re debating a spray gun or a roller). But if you’re using high quality paint like SW “Duration”, a roller will also look beautiful. Paint the edges then work your way in.                                                                     
5. Resist the temptation to paint the folds! You will only see the old paint when you open and close your garage, but if you paint in between the sections when summer rolls around the paint will melt, get sticky, pull apart and it’s a big ole mess. In the desert it might even stick together and break your garage door when you move it (worst case scenario). Hey, I can cook an egg on the pavement, trust me on this. Plus, painting the folds would be a pain and time consuming, seriously skip it.                                                                         
6. Paint in smooth, even rows (or sprays). And give the doors ample coverage, touching up where needed. You can push the garage door up and down to reach areas better if you need to. Use a ladder or strong stool to brace the door if needed.
7. Finally, put your doors up after painting to let them dry. Wind or dust is less likely to stick to the wet paint. I kept the doors up for about three hours and it was 70 degrees.                         

Here are some more before and after pictures.

BEFORE:

AFTER

Thank you Sherwin-Williams for making such a great paint I had to resist the urge to grab a spoon and eat it. Join me soon for the other two projects left on my curb appeal party this week.

Happy Creating!