An extremely common piece of your exterior that’s likely to fail is the bottom of your metal (and let’s face it, ANY) garage door.

Today we will talk about your aluminum garage door and what you can do to remedy the situation.

Now, for this set of photos, I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like initially. But if you’re here, chances are you already know. ;)

The first step you are going to take is to clean up that rust and get yourself as smooth and rust free as you possibly can. A wire brush usually works best or sandpaper. Go very gently and adjust the pressure as you need to.

The next step is to apply some bondo to the damaged area. Again, your goal is to fix damage, fill any holes, and create a nice smooth surface to paint over.

Once that is dry, you may have guessed it….your next step is sanding. As a psuedo-professional painter, sandpaper is like your number 3 best friend. So if you hate doing it (we all do), you’re going to want to make friends with it and accept it for what it is - a giant pain in the ass.

Next step is another kind of pain thing to do, and it’s priming.

The good news - Now depending on your door, AND which product you are putting on it, you may not have to prime the WHOLE thing. You will definitely need to prime the repaired spots, and any other possible problem areas. Not all primers are created equally, so make sure to talk with your local paint store about which primer (and paint) they recommend you using for your specific situation. I will be creating some guides, but every region has different product offerings.

Follow up with your paint (number of coats totally depends on what color you are, what color you are going, etc).

When painting, start with your cuts (As Shown Above) and follow up with your rolls. Keep that wet edge as you go, meaning don't let your cuts dry before you roll them.

As you start each new section, double back quickly to the last section you painted to make sure any drips or runs aren’t forming and lightly tap them off with your brush or roller.

As always, work top to bottom, left to right to keep yourself organized and complete the project in the fastest way possible.