That spray foam insulation trick ruined my garage door seal

I saw a TikTok about using spray foam to seal gaps around a garage door and figured it'd be a quick fix for my drafty Detroit winter. I filled the gaps along the bottom edge last Saturday without checking if the door still needed to flex when it closes. The foam expanded way more than I expected and forced the rubber seal to bulge out, now the door won't even latch shut. Took me 3 hours with a putty knife and a razor blade to scrape out all the hardened foam. Anyone else fall for a DIY hack that made things 10 times worse instead of better?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_holly1mo agoProlific Poster

Well, did you at least get a good forearm workout scraping that stuff off? That expanding foam's got a mind of its own, I swear. I made the same mistake with a window frame and ended up with a bulge that looked like a tumor.

gavin6921mo ago

Did you see that video where the guy used shaving cream to stop foam expanding? Saved me a ton, @the_holly.

brooke7671mo ago

Mind of its own" is putting it lightly. My buddy Tom tried to fill a gap around an old pipe, and that foam ended up creeping out and hardening into this weird, drippy shape that looked exactly like a cartoon ghost. He had to take a hacksaw to it because sanding just made it worse, and now there's a permanent white blob haunting his basement.