Maybe you have a garage door that’s structurally sound, but you’d like it to look different. Maybe you’re painting the rest of the house. Or maybe you want some sort of design. Regardless, you’re wondering if you have to buy a new garage door or if you can just paint yours.
Good news! Garage doors can be painted.
When should you paint your garage door?
Usually when your garage door starts looking chalky, that means it’s been 10-12 years and it’s time to paint it.
Maybe you just want to paint some design on it. Obviously you’ll need to check with your HOA, but as far as we’re concerned you can put pink hearts on it!
The painting process
When you paint your garage door, you’ll want to start by prepping it. Regardless of what type of paint you’re going to use or the material of your garage door, clean it off and be sure there’s no debris stuck to it. Not only is it a good idea, but it’s even on the paint can’s manufacturers instructions.
After that, you’ll usually want to spray the paint on. You can often use the same type of paint that you’re using on the rest of the house. But definitely check with a painting expert on your specific situation.
Be sure to paint during moderate weather. If it’s wet, very cold, or very hot, that can cause issues with the paint drying.
Two examples
One garage door we recently painted was on a house that needed a number of maintenance items. It was a brick house, but had several wood features as well. We caulked all the windows, painted all the soffits and fascia, and painted the garage door to match.
At another house we worked on, the owner was retired Air Force. She had her garage door painted Air Force blue, which looked nice.
So if your garage door is in good shape but you’d like its appearance changed, painting it can be a great idea.