Faded Garage Doors: Paint or Replace?

Learn which garage door surfaces can be repainted to undo effects of sun damage and oxidation. Also, pick up tips on priming the doors and applying a topcoat.

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LESLIE: Marlene in Minnesota is on the line. How can we help you today?

MARLENE: We have two aluminum-clad, factory-finished garage doors, dark brown in color – or at least they were.

TOM: OK.

MARLENE: And they’re beginning to fade due to oxidation and sun exposure. Is there anything we can do to restore that finish?

TOM: Well, not short of painting them. Because if you – when you say “restore them,” that would presume that there’s a way to kind of bring back the luster of the original paint finish. But after years of exposure to sun and especially those darker colors, you do get oxidation where the paint surface is broken down. And you’re not going to bring that surface back.

The good news is that because they’re metal doors, they’re fairly straightforward to paint. You want to make sure that you lightly sand the door. And then I would use a metal primer – so a good-quality, metal priming paint – and then whatever your topcoat of paint is going to be beyond that.

And if you do that right – because it’s metal and it’s not organic, so it’s not subjected as much to expansion and contraction and certainly not moisture absorption – a good paint job on a metal door like that could easily last 10 years.