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As much as everybody tries to avoid them, there are many incidents that can lead to a dented garage door.
Besides simply being an eyesore, dents in one’s garage door can also lead to further irks in functionality – even potential hazards.
Has a recent or long-forgotten happening left an ugly mark on your overhead door that you’ve been itching to do something about?
Read through the rest of this guide for some basic tips on how to fix a dented garage door.
Assess the damage done.
Firstly, checking how bad an overhead door has been damaged is what helps owners determine whether or not the kind of fixing it requires can be accomplished as a DIY project, or if it needs professional intervention.
For example, if the dent in your door was caused by collision with something as powerful as a vehicle, it’s possible that other vital components of the door may have been impacted by the incident as well.
Larger damages can mean extra problems, which may take more serious repairs.
On the other hand, if one of your neighbors’ kids simply kicked a soccer ball into your garage door, the resulting dent likely isn’t large enough to require the help of a licensed repairman.
If the latter scenario is more accurate to the situation you’re in, here’s how to fix a dented garage door yourself!
Determine the material of your overhead door.
What your garage door is made out of has a huge say in the means of self-repair you can go about attempting.
Aluminum
Prepare: dish soap, sponge, bucket of water, tin foil, compressed air can, tape, and some type of heat source (heat lamp/gun, hairdryer, lighter, etc.).
Put one drop of dish soap into a bucket filled with warm water, use a sponge to clean off any debris and dirt from the area of indentation, then leave it to air dry.
Once the cleaned dent has dried out, cut a piece of tin foil large enough to fit over the side that protrudes outwards, and secure the foil above it by using tape.
Take your chosen source of heating and hold it over the tin foil, this will begin to transfer heat onto the dented spot on your garage door itself.
The final step will cause a sudden change in temperature on the dent that essentially pushes it back into its normal figure, thanks to the interesting molecular structure aluminum has.
Once the designated portion has heated up, take off the taped foil and evenly spray over the dent with your compressed air can.
Steel
Compared to repairing aluminum overhead doors, steel is a slightly different story.
Clean the surface of the dented area before getting on with the rest of the process.
After drying out the washed section, sand away at the dent, and clean off residue.
Bring in an auto body filler, apply it to the indentation, allow it to dry, then use sandpaper with finer grit to smoothen it out.
Once the filled in portion has been smoothed, you can simply prime and then paint it the original color of the rest of the undamaged door.
Another method for repairing steel is to (again, after cleaning and drying the damaged spot) take a wooden block and position it over the dent, and then hit the wood using a mallet to knock the disfigured steel back into place.
Once the dent is as even as you can get it, sand it down, then use a putty knife to apply an adequate amount of patching material onto it before sanding it again once it’s dried.
To top it off, give it a layer of primer and then cover it with a matching coat of paint.
Know when to contact a professional
The aforementioned steps were a few methods meant specifically for salvaging slightly damaged garage doors, but some dents simply can’t be repaired without professional services.
If your overhead door has a dent, or any other damage that you know is due for a fix, get in contact with our staff and we will be more than willing to solve any issue you may have with utmost efficiency!
