Garage door paint peeling

[blinn]

I built our house 17 years ago and the garage we use for parking has 2 nine foot garage doors. The first time our trim was painted the goofball painted latex on our aluminum garage doors. Now the paint is peeling off but the bad part is it's bonded so well to the original door enamel that its peeling down to the bare aluminum
What are my options? I don't want to buy new garage doors! Do you think i could strip the doors in place? They have and embossed woodgrain in the aluminum panels which will make is more difficult to work with for sure.

Let me know if anyone has some experience with anything like this.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[spotco2]

I would try pressure washing before I tried a stripper.

 

[Wingnut65]

I use Sherwin Williams A-100 latex on most of my projects. When we were painting our church, we had an aluminum roll-up door that we wanted to repaint. Sales rep said that A-100 would be perfect as it was first formulated for use on aluminum, but turned out to be excellent paint for many other substrates.

Buying new doors should not even be considered!

 

[rslaback]

A couple things.

Your door is probably steel, not aluminum. Check with a magnet.

The problem is likely the paint underneath. A garage door (particularly one that faces south) heats up and cools down a lot. This causes the door to expand and contract. Because the metal is so thin it really has no thermal mass. As such the paint becomes unbonded from the metal and flakes off. If this is the case, the door paint will continue to flake off even if you repaint it.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Sounds like the doors are fairly expensive and we know garage doors are the largest single piece of architectural hardware on the front of ones house, so they need to look good. Saying this, buy GOOD paint, not the big box store paint...

If it is aluminum, you need to treat it with a aluminum prep agent and use it as instructed exactly. I have painted aluminum doors that are 1/4 inch thick at work that are exposed to the hot sun.snow/ice year round. Two years now, they are not flaking or cracking, but shine is fading a little..

Then once the aluminum is prepped (basically a etching chemical) , prime it with S & W top DTM direct to metal primer or a bonding primer. Then, top coat with S&W A 100 latex exterior color of choice or S&W exterior Super Paint.... High dollar stuff, but you dont want to do this often I am sure. You get what you pay for in paint...

If it is steel, just ask S&W for their primer that is good for bare metal. Top coat this with A 100 exterior or their Super Paint. Any wood components with loose paint need scraped and sanded to get bonding tooth and use a exterior wood primer, top coat with A100 or Super Paint. A lot of work, but the more intricate a garage door fabrication/ design is, the more work they are to maintain. good luck. jmo

 

[blinn]

I don't know what I was thinking, yes they are steel. They must be galvanized or something because in the spots that have flaked off they have been bare for over a year now and the metal is bright and shiny. Probably why I was thinking aluminum
I'm also replacing a metal entance door going into my shop, it has the factory primer on it now. Is the A100 SW a good choice there too? I was going to scuff it with a scotchbrite pad and degrease first with some Prepsol.

 

[AndyL]

Yeah they're zinc coated - so the metal will stay ok for a while.

Never dealt with the paint pulling right off - Probably yeah - strip with pressure washer (remember that metal is probably 24-26ga, don't get too aggressive) You will want a primer - for bare steel - memory serves there's something particular about the zinc coating and primers?

When I paint doors - I always use PPG Pitt Tech. It's an industrial coating - might be a bear to get local; but it's a good 20yr paint (around that 15+yr mark the satin starts getting a bit chalky) Never EVER had or seen a performance issue with it. Around here we just roll it on, takes 3 coats or so on some colors, but it works well - looks good.