Garage door painting in Cambridge
A faded or rusty garage door can make a well-kept house look neglected, and it often takes up more of the front than the front door does. Our decorators carry out garage door painting on timber and steel doors around Cambridge, on up-and-over doors and on traditional side-hinged pairs, as part of our exterior painting service. Graham looks at the door first to see what it's made of and what's going on under the old paint.
uPVC and plastic-faced garage doors are a separate question. They need specialist coatings, which fall under our uPVC spraying service, and Graham will tell you honestly at the visit whether yours is a candidate.
Painting metal garage doors
Many up-and-over doors are pressed steel, either galvanised or factory coated. The paint on them usually fails in the same places: along the bottom edge, where water and road grime sit, and wherever the door has been dented. Rust then creeps under the paint from those points.
Preparation starts with washing off dirt and chalky old paint, then taking loose paint and rust back to firm metal with a wire brush and abrasive paper. Bare and rusty spots are primed with a primer made for metal, which matters most on galvanised steel, because ordinary paint won't bond to it. Once the whole door is keyed, the finish coats go on in an exterior paint suited to metal.
Rust that has eaten right through the steel can't be painted back to solid. Holes and badly corroded bottom panels need repair or a new door, and we'll say if we think that's where yours is heading.
Timber up-and-over and side-hinged doors
Wooden garage doors are treated much like any exterior joinery. They're sanded back to a sound surface, checked for soft spots, primed where bare with the knots sealed, then undercoated and finished. The bottom of each door is where rot starts, so it gets the closest look.
Side-hinged doors are usually boarded or ledged and braced, with plenty of joints and grooves that hold water. Those are worked into with the brush rather than skimmed over. If the doors have dropped or boards have split, our carpenter can repair them first. Natural timber doors can be stained instead of painted, which suits cedar and other boarded doors; our woodwork staining work covers that.
Working around springs, tracks and seals
Up-and-over doors have springs, cables, arms and runners that need to keep moving freely. We don't paint the moving parts, tracks or rollers, because paint clogs them and can stop the door working. Those are masked, along with rubber seals, locks and handles.
The door also has to stay put while it dries, which means agreeing with you beforehand whether the car stays in or out for the day. If the inside face and edges are bare, it's worth painting them in the same visit, since moisture attacks the back of a door too.
We're decorators, not garage door engineers. If the door is hard to lift, the springs are tired or the cables are fraying, have a garage door specialist look at it before it's painted; those parts are under tension and can be dangerous.
Garage door spraying or brushing?
Garage door spraying gives an even coat over the ribs and panels of a steel door, but it means masking the brickwork, the drive, the car and anything else nearby, and it needs still, dry weather. On most single doors a brush and roller give a good result with far less disruption. Graham will suggest whichever suits your door.
Choosing a colour for the garage
Many people match the garage door to the front door, which ties the front of the house together. Others pick the window colour, or a muted grey so a wide door doesn't dominate. It's a big area of colour, so a sample is worth seeing in daylight first. A lower sheen also hides dents in a steel door better than high gloss.
If the front of the house needs work anyway, the garage door, the front door and the soffits and fascias can all be done while we're there. Our Cambridge exterior restoration shows a mould-affected house front cleaned with an anti-fungal wash and repainted.
What affects the price of painting a garage door
- Metal or timber, and single or double width
- How much rust or rot needs treating first
- Whether the inside face and edges are included
- Side-hinged doors with lots of boards and joints
- A colour change that needs extra coats
- The frame, the fascia above and any side door painted at the same time
Quoted after the visit
Graham sets these out in a written quotation once he has seen the door, so you know what's covered.
Next steps for your garage door
Phone, WhatsApp or the contact form all reach us, and Graham will arrange a visit at a time that suits you. He'll lift the door, look at the bottom edge and the frame, and talk through colours. The quotation usually comes by email, and Belinda books a date with a dry forecast in mind.
Once the door is finished and working as before, we check it over with you, and you don't pay until you're happy with the finished work. We're based in Landbeach and paint garage doors across Cambridge and the surrounding villages, including Girton, about five miles away.
