Best paint for sectional garage doors?

My two year old garage doors are showing signs of rust and are in need of a new paint job. Anyone have any experience on whats the best paint to coat them with?

Rick
Cholla Bay

I would do a sanding of the rust spots, priming with an oil-based primer, and finish with a latex topcoat.

Mondone,
Where can you buy the oil-based primer?

Rick
Cholla Bay

any paint store or home warehouse store. Behr, Valspar, Dunn-Edwards, Sherwin-Williams,Kilz, all make it.

We covered this before about 4 years ago. The product that worked best was an epoxy paint that they sold at the home depot at the time...

playaperro said:

We covered this before about 4 years ago. The product that worked best was an epoxy paint that they sold at the home depot at the time...

Playa is correct epoxy paint is the best... before moving here I worked for Anozira Door Systems in Tempe and the door sections that we manufactured were only primered and it was suggested that they be painted after installation.

Thanks,
I should have painted them when I installed them but I was so busy with construction. I have been sanding and touching them up with primer but I need to get more aggressive. I need to see what I can find in California, the banned all the good stuff. Even my wrought iron balcony rails are starting to rust. Triple powercoated, I thought I was good. I made them out of solid steel so the won't rust through.

Rick,
Cholla Bay

That's a very short time period for paint to last on metal, even here and near the sea. Preping the surface before painting is as important as the type of paint to prevent rust so I would prepare the surface carefully before painting. If you can, sand blast the rust spots then prep the bare metal, undercoat and final coat. There are a variety of paint prep products made for car restoration. When I was restoring old Brit rustbuckets I used a two step metal prep on bare metal before undercoating and finish coating parts. It's an acid that converts ferrous oxide. You rinse with water before painting. Leaves a fine white powder on the surface when dry.

If you don't want to be repainting every year or so, you should also consider removing all of the old paint over and near the rust spots then treat the metal surface. Wire brushing is ok but a disc sander is better. I used a paint remover made for airplanes that would take anything off. Covering the rust with another coat of paint will only slow the process down.

Cover the edges of the material carefully with paint too. Easiest to do the edges first especially if you are using a roller.


Lastly, dont be afraid to use some paint. Load the brush or roller, dab or roll, then reload the brush or roller. After you have covered a small area, coat it out quickly. If you find yourself rolling a lot or brushing a lot you are probably not using enough paint. I watched a guy paint a neighbor's metal gate and he managed it with one quart !! He'd load a little paint then brush, brush, brush, brush, covering the surface with as thin a layer of paint as possible. If you get a quote from a local that includes paint that's the way it goes. Less paint used more money in the pocket. If your doors show a haze of rust over a large area I would guess there was not much paint on them.

Have fun !!

Roberto,
I have a sand blaster and was planning of spot sand blasting as needed. I also am bringing down wire wheels to help in the prep. I have used the metal ready product which etches the surface and it works great. I was thinking of using a salt-X product to make sure all the salt is netualized before coating.

Thanks for all the input.
Rick
Cholla Bay

Think Vinyl Garage Doors, NO PAINT

I would cover the bare metal with undercoat as fast as possible. Might do it in sections if the doors are big. Rust starts overnight !!! I also wonder if periodic maintenance rinsing the finished doors with fresh water to remove salt would help.

Is the epoxy paint availible in Rocky Point or do I need to make a trip to Arizona. All banned in California

Rick
Cholla Bay

http://www.homedepot.com.mx/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomeView?storeId=10763&ddkey=http:TopCategoriesDisplayView

You can buy it in mexicali,

That's a great idea. I have been going through Mexicalli lately.

Rick
CHolla Bay

Rick, i got 5 years out of my powder coated gates. lots of washing down and wiping down helped. The rust started at the weld pin holes. you can't really see them when welded but after sandblasting they show up. The salt gets in the pin holes and eats away under the powder coating. I did a two part zinc paint from Valspar on a window guard for a friend and it held up real good for years. Requires blasting and spraying the paint. Paint cost is high.

The locals apply that red colored primer they use on boat's, then apply an oil base paint that is sold in penasco, they put it on the heat pumps, most metals products,
it don't matter the brisa eats it no matter what, I have to repaint most metal doors every two years. The sad part is the more you sand them the worst they get.

We had gates manufactured in Mesa out of steel tubing and wrought iron. I took them straight to a powdercoating place in Mesa and had them coated with an epoxy primer and two coats of paint. In hindsight, I wish we would have used solid steel because they developed rust everywhere to the point of rust holes in 1 year! In my case, the powdercoating did not hold up at all. I took them back to Arizona, repaired the rust, had them sandblasted and hot galvanized inside and out, and primed and painted them. The rust problem seems to have stopped, for the most part, but they needed repainted after a couple of years. The galvanize is working well, but tends to develop a corrosion in places where it is exposed to the salt air. The key will be maintaining the paint. Terry, it sounds like your powdercoating worked well. What place did you take your stuff to?

Landshark, I lookded into hot dipped zinc coating but the cost was way to expensive. You pay by the pound and when it is built out of solid steel I couldn't afford it. The triple powder coating was $700 for three 8' balcony rails.

Rick
Cholla Bay

Landshark, it was Desert Power Coatings 4409 S. 35th ave. 2 - 8-0 gates and a walk in gate was $ 310.00 to coat. It was a very thick coating they did.

Powder coating is not favored by auto restorers. The general concensus is that the coating always has pin holes to allow moisture to reach the metal, start corrosion and flake off the powder coating. Was subject to stress cracking.

Hot galvanizing is good but you had difficulty getting a nice finish on the surface, important to vehicles.

Any flexing at all, as maybe on a railing, will crack any coating at joints that can flex a tiny amount. Bolted or riveted joints being the worst.

Personally I would go with wood where ever possible.

PintoPoint, The cost of galvanizing at Arizona Galvanizing in Goodyear is 45 cents per pound. 100 lb gate would be $45. I could see how a solid bar gate could get expensive, but it did stop my rusting problem.

Landshark,
The funny part about galvanizing is that my 300 pound railing use less material. I really wanted to have them hot dip galvanized and wish I did now. I have been looking at POR-15 which I used on my 73 Landcruiser chassis but it needs to be top coated and they don't make a top coat in a clear.

Thanks,
RIck
Cholla Bay

Arizona Galvanizing has a minimum charge. It was $ 150.00 some time ago. Not sure what is is now.

Could you apply POR-15, let it cure, scuff it and apply an automotive urethane clearcoat?

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1523&familyName=Hammerite+Rust+Cap+%22Smooth+Finish%22+Cans

this stuff works pretty well but i say hell with it embrace the rust.. https://plus.google.com/photos/100910113640564801579/albums/4994495517194190865/5024066100836953810?banner=pwa

POR-15 requires a specific top coat applied in a timely maner. The other issue is color choices with POR-15. I think Jerry nailed it with the RustCap product. I have used there hammerite product before on trailer chassis.

Thanks,
Rick
Cholla Bay