Find the Best Garage Door Paint For Your Home

Painting your garage door significantly improves curb appeal without doing much damage to your pocketbook. The only real question is: What garage door paint should I choose?

Modern garage doors primarily come in steel, aluminum, wood, wood composite, fiberglass and vinyl. Vinyl doors shouldn’t need painting, but it can be done if you want a new look.

The Importance of Primer

Some people worry about choosing the right topcoat paint for the composition of their garage door. In reality, you account for composition with your choice of primer. A good primer allows you to choose nearly any topcoat. With the exception of wood or a stainable fiberglass, the rest ought to come with a factory-applied coat of primer to protect the door.

Prime a bare-wood surface (either natural wood or engineered hardboard) with a good-quality exterior primer, such as Kilz. Choosing an oil-based variety allows virtually any paint to be used as the top coat. A latex/acrylic primer limits the topcoat to a latex/acrylic exterior paint. For other surfaces, use a bonding primer to promote the best adhesion.

Choosing Paint When Re-Painting a Garage Door

For recoating a garage door, or painting a factory-prepared product, primer may not be necessary. One exception: Painting over existing latex with an oil-based paint does require a coat of primer. If you plan to paint a door that is well-worn, a combination topcoat–primer makes a good choice. Make sure to prepare before painting. Scuff the old paint with 120-grit sandpaper and clean thoroughly before applying the new garage door paint. A satin or semi-gloss paint provides a harder, more durable finish.

Best Garage Door Paints

A selection of the best, long-lasting garage door paints with the widest selection of colors for your topcoat include: HTV Home WeatherShield by Sherwin-Williams, Sherwin-Williams Duration, Behr Ultra Exterior Enamel and Benjamin Moore Aura. If your choice is white paint, or you can cope with limited color choices, add Kilz Siding, Fence & Barn Paint, Montage Signature and Zinsser Perma-White to your list of options. You can even find a garage floor paint to match for a total garage makeover.