How to seal the gaps in a metal garage?

[amaliej1]

hello all,

looking for advice on how to seal up the gaps in our metal garage, to keep out bugs and dust, in a way that won’t cause rust. Any advice appreciated. What you can see in the photos: 

1. The centre of the ceiling

2. gap in a sliding window

3. gap between door and concrete

4. gaps up the side of the door

5. gap where the ceiling and wall meet

6. Gap in the corner of a window

thanks very much to anyone who can help!

   

 

  

[CSParnell]

Hi @amaliej1 I did a similar thing when I was spray painting in my shed and wanted I sealed up.

For the top selection where the wall met the roof I used a corrugated foam profile and pushed it in, you may need to use some cloth tape or silver air conditioning duct tape to hold in place if gaps are to big.

For the floor, concrete to walls I used expanda foam with a small squirt down the gap to fill the void. If you want to completely seal the bottom I'd suggest using a polyurethane sealant like Sellys make and run a bead around the bottom or alternatively seal in a plastic right angle.

For the other gaps you could use a cloth tap or silver duct tape as pictured below.

Tapes, foams, sealants will be the way to go.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jason]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @amaliej1. It's great to have you join us.

Also terrific to see you get such prompt and helpful advice from one of our resident experts in @CSParnell. I trust you found his reply useful. Let me also tag a few other members for their thoughts: @Brad, @TedBear, @Noyade and @EricL.

Looking forward to seeing how you can solve the issue. Feel free to post anytime you need a hand or have a project to share. 

Jason

[TedBear]

Hi @amaliej1 , I did a similar process to those suggested by @CSParnell and it has worked ok for me.  I would be reluctant to seal the roof hip gap though. You run the risk of having moisture trapped inside when the temperature changes if you have no airflow at all. This could lead to the rust that you wish to avoid and other issues.

[CSParnell]

Yes this Is true sorry I do have other ventilation to not completely make it air tight.

This could be achieved with a simple whirlybird and side vent with mesh on a wall. 

My shed is 8m x 9m also so it's no small shed.

[CSParnell]

@TedBear you could also use the corrugated foam for majority of the wall to roof gaps but leave say a meter either side of the gable and then just tap/glue sealant a fly screen mesh to that section instead to allow the shed to breath but keep the bugs out. Just a thought.

[MitchellMc]

Hi @amaliej1,

It's great to see you've already received some excellent advice. I thought I'd point out that we also have a wide range of foam sealing products. They will compress into a variety of gaps, and I'd suggest picking up a few different profiles and seeing which would best suit your needs. It's likely going to be a case of going around and filling the different shaped gaps with various products.

Please let us know if you have further questions or get stuck.

Mitchell

[Jason]

Hi @amaliej1,

Hope all is well. 

Just thought I'd alert you to an update on this similar discussion - How to seal the bottom of shed walls? Workshop member @jjebw has come back and shared the end result, which looks terrific. 

Please let us know if you need any further assistance. 

Jason

[amaliej1]

Thank you so much! Very helpful advice, feeling a little less lost now.

[amaliej1]

Thank you, definitely will, this has been so helpful!