[Joewho]

Same brick and frame house. Two huge garage door. 1x1 panels, about 25 across and twelve deep. They "float". Then move easily. My idea is that they are supposed to move. The doors are so big there's bound to be flexing and twisting. Contracor i work for had me caulk every one of them. His reasoning is that water can get into the cracks at teh bottom of the panels.

My take is that on every winow or garage door, that bottom profile is always dirty and worn because it takes the sun and dirt sits on it. I wouldn't caulk those.

What would you guys do in this situation?

 

[DeanV]

Honestly, floating panel wood garage doors are among the worst ideas ever. Rank right up there with the new coke formula from the 80's and those silly looking painter hats that paint stores give away. From what I have seen in the repaint world, water gets in the lower profile and they do rot out from there. I think that is the most important area to caulk, but even when it gets caulked, they rot out and peel badly from that area. When the entire panel is caulked or filled with paint, it seems like the panels want to move so much that the panels can break if there are not allowed to free float.

There is no good solution for these kinds of doors. I always try to get the people to put up metal doors instead. It really is fighting a losing battle.

 

[MAK-Deco]

Hey Joe, nice to see you how have you been busy??

 

[slickshift]

The floating panels are meant to float
They are not meant to be caulked

Occasionally on a decades old, many times re-painted, door that is looking pretty bad around the panels, I may caulk them just so they don't look so bad
But I would not ever caulk a new one

...of course, usually the new floating panel doors are stained
At least around here
Not sure why someone would buy one new to paint it....
There's better options for that

But they float so they don't crack with the extremes of the climate
(High humidity summah then dries out when the wood stove kicks in)
Could be more of an issue out here then inland someplace
And even less of in issue on a garage door (than an ext. or int.) anyway

 

[Joewho]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

I'm still in the Chicago suburbs. No real computer access so it takes time to post and reply. I'm doing fine.

Working for a paint contractor, but looking for someone else to work for. It's hard to work for someone else, but basically it's the SOS.

Due to arthritis, I'd rather not spend 8 hours scraping rough cedar, but I'm the temporary guy and that's how it goes until I find some interior work, or at least a non-cedar, scrape your ass off exterior.

I'll post a new thread about this one.

"Joe"

 

[Joewho]

The floating panels are meant to float
They are not meant to be caulked

Occasionally on a decades old, many times re-painted, door that is looking pretty bad around the panels, I may caulk them just so they don't look so bad
But I would not ever caulk a new one

...of course, usually the new floating panel doors are stained
At least around here
Not sure why someone would buy one new to paint it....
There's better options for that

But they float so they don't crack with the extremes of the climate
(High humidity summah then dries out when the wood stove kicks in)
Could be more of an issue out here then inland someplace
And even less of in issue on a garage door (than an ext. or int.) anyway

Just a follow up to say I think you're spot on slick.
Many times I've done work just to save the HO from having to replace a deck, garage door etc.