Wood--while elegant--is also highly susceptible to the changing temperature and environment surrounding it. Your wooden garage doors are constantly exposed to sunlight and other external elements. This is why you should find the right coating to protect your garage doors from extreme temperatures, and this guide will help you do just that. 

The Right Coating: A Layer of Defense 

Your wooden garage doors have two major enemies: the sun and humidity. Thankfully, outdoor paints have coating properties that can help keep your wooden garage doors from humidity and sun damage. UV rays can degrade color and dry your wood out. Wood contains natural oils that help keep it from splitting or rotting. Whereas humidity penetrates wood and causes it to expand, which could weaken your garage doors and cause things like splinters. 

Consider the following when choosing the right paint for your garage door:

Enamel Coating

This type of coating is usually the cheapest option and comes in a variety of colors. The layer is thick and helps hide any imperfections in your wood. The enamel coating is the best option if you want to repel rain. The thickness of this coating also protects your wood from sunlight. The problem is that humidity still penetrates this coating and may begin to degrade it. 

Choosing this type of coating also means that you have to replace it frequently. 

Lacquer Coating

The lacquer coating is somewhat see through and allows the natural look of wood to be seen. This type of coating is better at resisting water and humidity than normal enamels. The only problem is that the lacquer coating does not repel sunlight as well, which could lead to some discoloration. 

Stains

This particular coating is the best to show off the natural beauty of your wooden garage door. Stain coating helps keep humidity away and also allows for your wood to breath. Wood needs to breath to help against degradation, which should help maintain your garage door longer. One of the advantages is that stains are easily removed and replaced. 

These coatings are helpful, but that does not mean that they are permanent. You will need to talk to your garage door specialist about removing whatever coating you have and replacing it on your next garage service date. Make sure you stay with latex-based paints and coatings, as they tend to last longer than the oil-based options. This is simply because the structure of latex takes longer to break down even with sunlight exposure.

As you can see, protecting your garage door from temperatures can be done with just some knowledge and the help of your garage door specialist, like those at Quality Doors.