Now that I’m completely done with Calderwood Cottage, I have all my tools back at my own house, including the pressure washer. I’ve been needing to pressure wash and repaint my front porch for a few years. Today the weather was beautiful, so I got started! I moved everything off the front porch and cleaned the heck out of it. And…since I already had the pressure washer out (and was already soaking wet from spraying the the porch ceiling), I hit the garage doors as well. I soon realized the pressure washer alone wasn’t going to make these doors sparkle.
The garage doors and the white rubber weather stripping were dingy and speckled with mildew.
How to Clean a Garage Door
I looked online to see what cleaner I would need to drive in to town to purchase so I could come back and finish cleaning… There were lots of suggestions but no clear “winner”. White tire cleaner was suggested for cleaning the white rubber strips around the doors. Lots of other suggested cleaners included bleach. Some people said, “mild dish detergent”. I made an executive decision to use cleaning supplies that I had at home instead of driving to a store to purchase something new.
This is what I grabbed:
- a scrub brush
- and a bucket of warm, soapy water (I used Dawn dish soap.)
- foaming bathroom cleaner (with bleach)
In no time at all (and with very gentle pressure), the black muck was coming off. I dipped the scrubber into the soapy water often and sloshed it onto the door and then scrubbed a small area. Repeat. Rinse. Repeat.
I used the water hose to rinse frequently so I could see what was clean and where I needed to wash next. These doors were BAD. I spent probably an hour or two cleaning out two garage doors. It’s one of those things that you notice every once in a while and think, “I need to get to that sometime”. Then continue on with what you were doing when you noticed the other thing.
Cleaning White Rubber Weather Stripping
The dish soap worked perfectly on the garage doors but didn’t make a dent at cleaning the weather stripping. Not a problem, I sprayed on some shower cleaner and left it for 5 minutes. When I came back, they were clean!
The weather stripping doesn’t look as good as new, but it looks 98% better than it did before.
All that with common household cleaners that I already had on hand. And like an hour of work. And no driving to buy something else just because it has the name “Garage Door” or “House”, or “Siding”, or “Roof”…or any other words that would make me think I needed to spend my time driving and money purchasing.
My garage door weather stripping has some spots near the bottom that would not come off. I think it’s paint. Or maybe from me dragging something into my shop and rubbing hard against it and marking it up…or something. Wes’ door didn’t have them so it’s definitely something that I’ve probably done, perhaps. Good thing I got up the gumption to do this task instead of asking him to do it. He definitely would have noticed and had 20 questions to which I would have no answers. I like to avoid those conversations whenever possible.
I also like to spend my time doing renovations on the inside of my home, not the outside. But this is something that needed to be done and it feels good crossing it off the to-do list! (Which is very long!)
p.s. Now that it’s cooling off, it’s time to check doors and think about replace weather stripping and winterizing windows.
Terri says
That looks great! Original blue Dawn and white vinegar is my all-time go -to cleaner. For inside window wells, rubber and all, it’s white vinegar and baking soda.
Sandra says
Great ideas! I’m going to try that next time.
Barbara H. says
I wonder if Magic Eraser would work on those remaining areas on the weatherstripping. Congratulations on getting to one of those important but easy to put off chores.
Sandra says
Ooh that’s a good idea. I’m going to give it a try!
Chad says
I would not use a magic eraser they are abrasive and will damage the finish
Sandra says
The abrasive in a magic eraser is suuuuuper fine. I’m not too worried about damaging the finish on rubber weather stripping.
Janell says
Excellent. Thank you.
Eileen says
I just spent six hours, two hour increments, pressure washing my house, pavers, furniture, everything. It’s hard to stop, but what a transformation. It’s a shock how dirty everything is!
Sandra says
I need to get some attachments for my pressure washer so I can properly clean my driveway.
CC says
thanks for sharing this – i have been wondering what i needed to ‘buy’.
Darlene says
Isn’t it funny how you keep looking at something and think, “I really need to clean that” . . . until the day you look at it and then it’s “holy crap, how did it get like that?”
Sandra says
Yep! That exactly!
Alan Ross says
Sandra, You’re too much! New to your site loving it !✌?️
Shannon says
My garage door weather stripping looked terrible and so I googled how to clean it and found you! I can not believe how clean they got with the Scrubbing Bubbles foaming bleach and without scrubbing! It was amazing. You saved me hours of work. Thank you so much!!!
Sandra says
Haha, well I’m glad it was useful! 🙂
Joseph says
Thank you so much. The black stuff on the garage door weather strip was always a to do project that I never go around to, but annoyed me immensely. I decided to do something about it today, and did a web search, came across your site, and took your advise. I agree with your assessment, it’s not 100% clean, but it’s 1000% better than it was. If I might add to your advise, I had a very small amount of the aerosol SB, and a full sprayer bottle of the squeeze stuff. The aerosol worked much better than the spray. I’ve told my wife that we should only buy the aerosol for our inside work going forward. Thanks so much. Our garage doors haven’t looked better since the day we moved in!
Sandra says
That’s so awesome to hear! I wish it was more of a solution, but it definitely was better than I expected. Next time I will look into the aerosol! 🙂 Thanks Joseph
Mark Brown says
Thank you very much for your advice! I have always been very careless about the cleanliness of the garage doors, and recently I came closer and took a closer look. And immediately ran for detergents, because everything turned out to be very bad 🙂
Yanso says
Hi, I just found you by google search as I am planning to clean my garage door weather stripping which got a lot of mildew on it too. I was wondering whether the Scrubbing Bubbles foaming bleach will damage the paint on the wood trim around the weather stripping?
Sandra says
Possibly. Do a test.