Shipping Container Door Seal Replacement , How To Do It Yourself

Shipping container door seal replacement isn’t as difficult as you think. All you need is some time and patience. The door seals around a shipping container are there for a reason. They help to keep the moisture and vermin out of your box and have about a 10-year lifespan. If it looks like you’ve reached that 10-year lifespan then it’s time to replace them! Don’t worry, you’ll learn how to do this project yourself. This post will tell you how to replace the seals on a shipping container door.

How to Remove the Retaining Strip and Rivets

Shipping container door seals are also called gaskets. The names may be different but they serve the same purpose. Let’s say you need to replace all the door seals and not sections of them. To replace them, you first need to remove the retaining strip. You know, that long piece of metal with holds the gasket together. How do you do it?

The first thing you should do is chisel the rivet heads off. Or, you could cut them out with a Stanley knife. After they’re taken out, you can remove the retaining strip by pulling up on the metal tabs. From time to time you can reuse the old retaining strip. Or, you may have to buy a new one. Next, pull the old door seal out.

How to Install the New Gaskets

Before you got this far you went to the store and bought the new gaskets you needed ahead of time, right? More than likely the seal or gasket you purchased will cover the full perimeter of the door. You will have one for each door, which usually come as a set. They are 2 ½ feet long. After you’ve taken the old seal off you want to put the new one on top of it. Make sure the edges line up. This is to measure and make sure when you install the new seal it will fit the doors. If you need to cut off part of the new gasket to make it fit, you can use a pair of tin snips or a 5-inch cutter.

Now that you’ve done that part there’s one more thing to do before installation of the new gaskets. You’ll want to run a bead of sealer over where you took out the old gasket. You won’t have to do the entire perimeter. Three beads should do it! Now you’re ready to slide on the new gasket. Put either the old retaining strip back on or a new one if you had to buy it. Last, using a rivet gun, put the rivets back on to hold the retaining strip and the new gaskets back together.

Nobody wants a shipping container door that leaks!

If you find yourself with this problem, there is an easy do-it-yourself solution. All you need is some time and a few new gaskets.

Of course, you’ll also need some extra tools to make it happen but it’s not impossible to do.

If you still need some help on how to replace the shipping container door seal, then give us a call at 855-524-0888.