How to Paint a Wood Garage Door

A freshly painted wooden garage door makes the appearance of your home look bright and fresh. If you have decided to paint your own wooden garage door, you may consider removing it to make the job easier but this may not be necessary.

Step 1 – Clean the Door

Close the garage door. You can remove it if it is easy enough to do but it is not vital. Make sure the garage door is clean before you start. It will no doubt have been beaten by the elements and will certainly accumulate dust and lose debris. Give it a good thorough sweep with a broom to brush off any excess dirt. You can also opt to hose down the door with a power spray to clean it more thoroughly.

Step 2 – Furniture and Fittings

You will need to either mask off or remove any door fittings such as handles, brackets or hinges which show on the outside of the door. If you can’t remove them without affecting the balance of the garage door, simply mask them over using painters tape.

Step 3 – Preparation

If the garage door is already painted, you may not need to prime it. If it is brand new and just bare treated wood, a primer will offer a great base protection coat. Depending on your own circumstances, decide if you require a prime coat or not. If you do, use a sander to sand down the door. Use fine-grade sandpaper to give the primer a good bond. Remember that you are only creating a surface bond and you do not want to tear into the grain of the wood and scar it with score lines.

Step 4 – Priming

Use a large size paintbrush to cover the surface area quicker. A good size would be somewhere between 3” and 5”. Brush the primer in the identical direction as the grain of the wood. If there are any hairline splits in the wood that do not require filling, you can paint across the grain to make sure they get primer inside them. Continue over the top of the splits in the grain direction to keep the brush strokes even.

Step 5 – Painting

Let the primer dry thoroughly before you apply the paint. If you have bought a top-grade paint, you may only need one coat. Higher grade paint is of better quality and offers a thicker coating. Again, repeat the technique you applied with the primer and follow the grain. Get into any hairline fractures with cross brushing and then go over the top in the correct direction.

Step 6 – Drying Time

Once you have finished painting your wood garage door, leave it to dry for at least 12 hours. One hint which might also help is to paint during warm but neutral weather. If the weather is particularly hot, or the sun is actually on the garage door, it is not advisable to use paint on it until the sun has gone over the roof. Suggested temperatures for painting outside would be to keep between fifty and eighty degrees Fahrenheit.