Metal garage doors are among the finest choices you have as far as garage doors go. Whether for homes or for commercial buildings, metal garage doors offer plenty of advantages that make them excellent choices and popular with both home and business owners.
In spite of all its benefits, there are some downsides to choosing a metal garage door. Perhaps one of the main ones is having to deal with rust. It might be convenient for you to simply ignore it at the start, but as it progresses and affects most of your door, you can’t help but do something about it.
The good news is that you can actually do it yourself. Yes, you can get clean off the rust on your own and without having to resort to getting help from professionals, but if you don’t have time to do that, you can hire someone who can do that for you, Wylie Garage Door is always ready to serve you. There also shouldn’t be any rush in trying to replace your garage door. Read on if you’re interested in how to get rid of garage door rust by yourself.
Preparing Yourself to Get Rid of the Rust
One thing you need to be prepared for is hard work. It’s not going to be that easy to rid your door of the rust, especially if it’s already accumulated to a point where it just doesn’t look bad but also impacts how your door operates.
You also can’t underestimate the amount of damage that rust can do to your door. It’s capable of eating through the metal that makes up the door and leaving it a mess with holes in it. As a result, significant amounts of dirt, as well as water from rain, can enter and cause even more problems.
Steps To Do It
The following are the actual steps that you need to follow to remove the rust and prevent the situation from getting even worse.
- The first step is to close your garage door. Start cleaning it by starting on the bottom panel with the use of warm water and dishwashing liquid. This mixture is effective in removing both dirt and oil from the door. Clean and then rinse the door carefully before allowing it to dry.
- The next step is to get a clean cloth and dip it in white vinegar as well as a steel wool pad. Use the cloth to wipe the rusty part of the door. To scrub the rust off, use the steel wool pad. Continue wiping and scrubbing until there’s no rust left.
- Use a palm sander to sand the areas that were affected by rust. By sanding the rusted areas, you’re actually going to aid the primer that you’ll apply later to stick to the door.
- Choose a zinc-chromate primer to apply to the metal. The primer will help keep rust from forming any further. Use a paintbrush to apply the primer to the parts of the door that you just finished sanding.
- Apply rust-resistant paint to those areas of the garage door where you just applied the primer.
The above tips on how to get rid of garage door rust on your own should serve as your guide on doing it right. If you find it too much of a challenge, you could still choose to hire the services of a professional for help.