Garage doors are notorious “leakers” in the sense that they will never fully seal unless you add some additional elements, thereby stopping air, insects, dust and other particles from entering your garage. Today’s article is going to explain how to seal the sides of your garage door to avoid unnecessary nuisances.
In order to seal the sides of a garage door you will need a stripping, something to fasten the stripping, and a hammer or a drill. Furthermore, you have to remove every old piece of strip and isolation, and then measure all your sides and the strips before installing them, because finding the right fit is crucial. Proceed to check if there are any cracks left and add an aesthetic touch if necessary.
Below, we are going to discuss the sealing of all the sides of a garage door and sealing away different types of external factors in more detail. So, keep reading to find out more!
How to Seal the Sides of a Garage Door: Step-by-Step
When talking about sealing a garage door, you’ll usually take the sides and the top together. How do you even know if you have to seal the sides of your garage door? Well, you won’t always know directly, but it is a safe bet that you’ll have a problem soon enough if you manage to fit a pencil through your garage door. So, we’re now going to see how you should seal these spaces.
1. Get a Stripping, Something to Fasten a Stripping, and a Hammer or a Drill
The first thing you need to do is get every supply you need. You’ll need a stripping for isolation (you can choose whoever you find suitable, there is no precise rule here), something to fasten the stripping (preferably nails or screws, although you can also use glue, but then you have to completely clean the old jambs, because the glue won’t work unless the surface is clean) and some tool to finish the whole process with, like a hammer or a (pneumatic) drill, whichever suits you better. Before you purchase all the necessary material, measure everything so you know how much of it you need.
2. Remove Every Old Piece of Strip and Isolation
The second step is rather logical and we’ve already mentioned it above and can be summed up as – in with the new, out with the old. Before you start any kind of work, completely remove every old piece of strip and isolation, as you’ll need a clean slate to start installing all the new elements you’ve ordered.
3. Measure the Strips in Liaison With the Measures of Your Door
After you’ve secured a clan surface, start measuring the strips in liaison with your door’s measures. Carefully place them along the surface, but don’t push them or anything, just place them so that you can see how much you need to cut off (since they usually come in rolls). You need to be very careful and very precise while doing this, because that is the only way to secure good isolation for your sides. After you’ve done that, you can start pushing the strip inside. Here, you’ll want to use your nails to hold the strip firm in certain places as you fasten it along the sides and the top.
4. Fill Out the Remaining Cracks
After you’ve done all of this, it is time to see if there are any “cracks” left to fill. Namely, even if you think you’ve done a good job with the stripping, you’ll have to open and close your garage door to see if it truly does fit perfectly. It probably won’t, but don’t worry – that is easily solvable. Namely, once you check for the “cracks” with the door, you just fix those specific spots with the nails (like you did with the rest) and repeat the procedure until the doors fit perfectly.
5. Apply Aesthetic Touch If Necessary
The last step, although not always necessary, is adding an aesthetic touch. Namely, even if you’ve been using nails, there might be some small cracks around the stripping, which is why you may need to apply caulk to fill them. This is an efficient move and will give your garage door a better visual impression.
The same rules apply to both sides and the top of the garage.
Weatherstripping a Garage Door
We all know that air leaks are a big nuisance for a garage. It’s not such a big deal during the warmer months, because you probably won’t have an A/C in your garage, but it can be a nasty problem during the colder periods. If you have some sort of heating inside, it can annul your heating.
So, how do you fix this common problem? Well, since this problem is connected with air coming in from the sides and the top, we can just repeat what we’ve said in the paragraphs before. All the steps and actions you can and need to take can be applied here, with the exception of obtaining weatherstripping made for specific weather conditions. So, if you want to isolate your garage from the air and the climate, you’ll need to get a special stripping designed just for that.
The process of weatherstripping your garage doors is likewise described in the preceding section of the article.
How to Seal the Bottom of a Garage Door
Now that we’ve explained everything you need to know about sealing and replacing the sides of your garage door and the top, we can explain what you need to do with the bottom part. Namely, the bottoms are somewhat specific and are treated differently than other parts, so we’ll explain that process separately.
Now, let us see what you need to do.
The first thing you need to do is determine what kind of seal you actually need. Most manufacturers use a common variety of seals, but there are some old ones you’ll find on the market, so you need to be careful not to spend your money in vain. After raising your garage door, the best way to clear this dilemma would be to cut off a piece of the old seal and take it to the store so that you can find the perfect replacement.
The next step concerns a lot of measurements. You’ll have to measure your bottom seal precisely, as well as the width of your door. The point is to precisely determine the length and width of your seal, as a smaller or bigger seal won’t fit on your door. You’ll also have to determine the type of your seal, because there are several available types – T-style, P-Bulb style, Bead style, T-Bulb style and some others, but these are the most common ones out there. The style is based on what the seal actually looks like, so a T-style seal will be shaped like the letter T; the same applies to the other types.
When measuring, you’ll want to measure everything when it’s lying on the floor, taking into account every part of the seal, including the specific elements of the shape. After you’ve done this, you’ll want to measure your garage door. This task is significantly simpler, but be careful not to measure the opening, but the door itself, because the door tends to be a tad larger than the opening itself.
Now that you’ve written down all your measures and specifications, you can go and get the new seal. When back home, you’ll want to lift your garage door and remove the old seal first. There might be some resistance that comes with time, so if you cannot do it by hand, use something like a knife to help yourself. Be careful not to leave anything behind – remember, in with the new, out with the old!
The next thing you’ll want to do is clean the aluminum retainer that holds the seal. It is is not an overly complex task as metal is not too difficult to clean, but do remember to lubricate it afterward so that the new seal just slips in. If you need help installing it, it’s not bad to have a helping hand nearby as the whole procedure can get a bit tricky, especially if you’re doing it for the first time in your life.
When you’ve installed your seal, you’ll need to fold the extra material into itself. You can use nails, but the sheer pressure of folding will do the trick here. When you’re done with that, you can close your garage door and let time do the rest.
So, this is the procedure of securing (i.e., sealing the bottom of your garage door). When you combine these tips with the ones about sealing the sides and the top, you now have a complete guide on how to isolate your garage and replace old materials with new ones.
What Is the Best Strip to Seal a Garage Door?
There are many products available on the market, and garage doors aren’t universal, so it’s hard to pick one that would fit every door and situation – we have tested one for you, so we can confirm it works.
The M-D vinyl garage door sealer is a cheap and effective product. You’ll find it’s an excellent product because it’s both cheap and very effective; you’ll even get the nails you need to fasten the seal to your door. Along with us, there are a lot of other satisfied customers who picked this product and would recommend it, like us.
And that’s essentially it for today. Sealing garage doors is a common issue for garage owners, but there are ways of doing it. We’ve presented to you a guide on how to seal all sides of a garage door – the bottom, the top and the two sides – so you won’t actually have many problems with figuring it out. Just follow our instructions and you’ll be done in no time. We’ve also given you a list of the best-selling products so that you can use it as a point of reference when considering what to buy.
