Most metal garage doors are relatively low maintenance. They stay in pretty good condition provided you pay minimal attention to them. And run well unless there is some kind of rare accident that compromises the good condition that the door was in. Even though these doors are low maintenance, they still require some maintenance. One of those maintenance things is waxing your garage door. If you’re like many people, you’ve never even heard of waxing a garage door before. Most people don’t know that it’s something that should be done periodically. In fact, Clopay doors stipulates that their doors must be waxed at least twice a year in order to keep the warranty.
Waxing your door protects the finish and ensures that it doesn’t wear away, causing the door to rust. If you wax your door twice a year, the warranty will be intact. BUT it’s unlikely that you’ll ever even need to make a claim on the finish because it will last the test of time! Especially if you live in a climate where there are severe conditions, waxing your door is really important. Here in Washington the areas we see the most damage from not waxing a garage door is right on the coast. The doors are constantly barraged with abrasive, salty air which often causes the finish to wear away from the door. The finish wearing off is bad enough, I mean who wants the pretty paint to wear off? After a while a recoat would be needed which is just extra work that can be avoided. Plus, repainting the door and continuing to not wax it would mean that you would probably have to repaint it frequently. The bigger issue is that if the finish becomes compromised, the doors constructive steel would be exposed to the elements causing the door to rust.
Waxing a garage door is super easy and can be done right after a quick wash. Clopay dictates that a door needs to be thoroughly waxed twice a year, which is a great excuse to wash your door too. The whole process takes me about a half hour from start to finish during a warm day, and a little extra in the colder months. The reason for this being that I have to actually dry my door manually in the colder months.
Waxing your door is easy and you don’t even need any special supplies! Next weeks post will have more details on how to wax your door!