Rusted and Dinged Metal Doors

Just as wood doors get dings and scratches, metal doors likewise get dinged, scratched and rust. Like wood doors, general maintenance and fresh paint will make them look like new.

Nearly all metal will rust. The better it is maintained, the longer it will last; the same applies to our home’s doors. If a door gets scratched, it is likely to rust in that area. If the paint deteriorates over time from the suns UV rays or sprinklers, then it may begin to rust. Maintaining a metal door is a very easy task and repainting gives you a chance to change the doors color if you had been thinking about doing so.

Rusted metal doors fall into three categories:

1. General maintenance 

Most metal doors will rust some over time. Part of home ownership is to keep the metal doors properly painted. Doing so will keep the door looking good and allow it to last for many years.

2. Moderate rust

Moderately  rusted doors may need to be sanded / scraped down to the raw metal, primed and repainted.

A little Bondo (the same type of material used to repair car doors) can be applied to small-deteriorated areas and sanded down to make a smooth surface before painting.

3. Severely rusted and deteriorated 

With a severely rusted and deteriorated door you may be able to stick a screw driver though a number of places, or the metal appears severely eaten away. With this type of door, it is best to just buy another metal door and replace the old one. These are usually a very generic type of door and are not very costly.

Check the sprinkler system

Sprinklers are one of the biggest culprits when it comes to metal doors rusting. The most common place to observe this is near the bottom area on the exterior side of the door. If you see rust beginning to develop, redirect the sprinklers.

Maintenance and repair of metal doors is often done by home owners. Door contractors and qualified handymen will likewise often do this work as well.