F&B paints & Rad question

[Pford75]

I'm making good progress with the gym we are decorating, thanks to good advice from here on removing the floor tiles and finishing the boards.

I've used F&B soft distemper for the ceiling (found it is much easier to apply if thinned with water by apx. 10%).

I tried testers of F&B estate emulsion and modern emulsion. The modern emulsion does appear to give better coverage of colours underneath...however, i've previously used the same estate emulsion in adjoining rooms and although I picked the same colour of both emulsion types, the 'modern' did look slightly different. It's tricky to describe, the colour is the same (to my eye at least) and the sheen level is the same (according to the info pamphlet)...but it feels like the estate emulsion has a slightly textured/chalky finish (almost imperfect), whereas the modern emulsion finish doesn't feel as chalky. I realise this isn't a great description and I don't want the modern emulsion to sound 'bad'....I would however suggest that anyone else looking at F&B's in the future, try both types and go on personal taste.

Woodwork is F&B oil eggshell - have used their water based before and i'm not a fan at all.

Now, the question for the forum.....the rads. I was intending to paint them in the oil eggshell (which F&B says is ok) - the colour is 'House white' which is a yellowed white anyway, so not too worried about gradual heat discolouration. But there are 2 large column rads (each with 6 columns and apx. 20 sections)....so painting will be a nightmare. Sorely tempted to use radiator spray enamel (which I have used before)...but wondering if large lumps of 'brilliant white' in the corners of the room will look slightly off.

What's the general feeling?

 

[borischarlton]

Hi,
I would be amazed if you could get a good finish on the rads by painting them yourself ( no offence intended ) and spraying a column rad is very difficult as they are deep so you may well end up getting to much paint on the front whilst trying to spray the depth of it. Do you have a local friendly car body repairers? Or have you thought of powder coating?

Rob

 

[MdB]

Powder coating would sound sensible to me too.

 

[Nigel]

We painted ours (Princess radiators - like old school versions) using F&B oil egg shell, off white. Tedious job but looked fine once done and still looks fine 5 years later.

 

[JoceAndChris]

What did you do in the end, Pford? I now face the same dilemna

a) put up with exisiting corpse coloured radiators
b)rip em off and replace(£££)
c)paint them myself - don't fancy getting radiators I don't even like professionally powder coated.

 

[Penners]

Joce - are your rads traditional column-type or modern panels?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Modern panels

 

[Nigel]

In which case, assuming they are ugly best to paint them the same colour as the wall behind to make them "disappear".

As they are panels painting them with a brush is very easy and powder coating would be over the top in my view. I painted panels in my last house with regular paint with no issues. Likewise the F&B oil eggshell has stood the test of time on the old radiators in our current house.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks, more shopping for f&b oil eggshell whilst it still exists then!

 

[Pford75]

What did you do in the end, Pford? I now face the same dilemna

a) put up with exisiting corpse coloured radiators
b)rip em off and replace(£££)
c)paint them myself - don't fancy getting radiators I don't even like professionally powder coated.

I used spray enamel on 2 of the radiators which were not stripped.

On some others, I had them shot-blasted and then powder coated. Cost me 25 quid to have them blasted and 25 to have them coated. I'm lucky that I have both companies only 2 miles from my house...but even then, getting the rads into the car and back out after they were completed was the biggest challenge. I'm not a small guy, but lifting an 18 section, 4 column, full height rad is very difficult.

Unless you have someone locally, or biceps like popeye....the logistics alone can be a challenge. However, the finish is perfect and far better (both in looks and longevity) than I could have acheived by painting.

 

[Penners]

In which case, assuming they are ugly best to paint them the same colour as the wall behind to make them "disappear".

I agree with Nigel. But I would go for a proper radiator paint of the appropriate colour. This will have less tendency to change colour due to the heat.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thank you! Alll very helpful and reassuring, I'll look for proper radiator paint and see if it exists in a sludgy not quite blue not quite green colour. :?

And Pford, I'm now imagining you as a huge, muscle-bound hunk, which isn't very good for my blood pressure...

 

[Penners]

Pford75 is exactly that. Think of Burt Lancaster and George Clooney, with a modest dash of Clint Eastwood thrown in.

But add some extra intellect.




P - I reckon that's a really nice Burgundy you owe me.

 

[Moo]

P - if I second Penner's description**, can I have some Burgundy too?


** it's pretty accurate

 

[Pford75]

Penners & Moo.....grateful as I am for the flattering and wildly inaccurate descriptions, I wouldn't want Joce to overheat. I can assure you that lifting the rads into the back of the car nearly finished me off (and I like to thing of myself as still relatively youthful )

I can't offer you a Burgundy, but if you like your whisky I do have a crate of the first ever distillation from Englands only whisky distillery sitting in the cellar

Joce - I would urge you to think about the powder coat option before going down the paint route. Our local coaters offered an almost infinite range of colours and the great thing is that they won't need re-painting in the foreseeable future.

Penners & Moo - If you're not tempted by the whisky, perhaps you might be tempted later in the year when my first lambs are ready for the oven?

 

[Moo]

Now that sounds really good!

Do I detect a PPUK barbecue coming on?

 

[Lime]

What did you do in the end, Pford? I now face the same dilemna
a) put up with exisiting corpse coloured radiators
b)rip em off and replace(£££)
c)paint them myself - don't fancy getting radiators I don't even like professionally powder coated.

I used spray enamel on 2 of the radiators which were not stripped.
On some others, I had them shot-blasted and then powder coated. Cost me 25 quid to have them blasted and 25 to have them coated. I'm lucky that I have both companies only 2 miles from my house...but even then, getting the rads into the car and back out after they were completed was the biggest challenge. I'm not a small guy, but lifting an 18 section, 4 column, full height rad is very difficult.
Unless you have someone locally, or biceps like popeye....the logistics alone can be a challenge. However, the finish is perfect and far better (both in looks and longevity) than I could have acheived by painting.

That is the ideal way to deal with them IMO although moving the radiator may be difficult as you say.
Disconnecting older plumbing can be a job in itself.
It is a very long time since I had an older central heating system but if I remember rightly the sludge that came out of them, when you thought they were empty, was nobody's business.
Don't forget to use plenty of inhibitor because it will save you a fortune with less corrosion over time and little or no "air" to bleed off.

 

[Lime]

Now that sounds really good!

Do I detect a PPUK barbecue coming on?

Sadly large old radiators are associated in my mind with food, at least to milk, and it is not nice to remember.
When young the school used to warm the little third pint bottles on the radiator before break.
I thought them disgusting.
However at boarding school the radiators were the only source of warmth in the world and were very useful to stand on to warm the feet.
It was a common sight to enter a commonroom to see perhaps 7 boys standing halfway up the wall, on the only radiator for 10,000 sq metres, getting warm.
I think I started the habit.



edit for clarity

 

[JoceAndChris]

Our boarding school did that to us too: it put me off milk for life. I think ours was a bit warmer than yours, though I remember I never wanted to wear a coat (or much at all, to be honest), and was completely nonchalent about freezing weather. Ah, the ancient toughening up process of the good English boarding school!

I'll look into getting these rads powder puffed as you're all so keen on it, but, really, giving a donkey strawberries is a good analogy- they're scabby old things and as you say, prohibitively heavy especially as my car is quite a distance from the door... any bored hunks fancying a nice country break reading this? I need you!

Pford - lambs and fine whiskey and bulging biceps? Could you be any more alluring?! Please don't tell me you wear a tweedy jacket with patches on the elbows, then I'll be completely done for.

 

[AMc]

Pressed steel radiators aren't very expensive, if they're in poor condition you may find it cheaper to replace than to remove, blast, powder coat and reinstate.
If you decide to paint them be careful of the valves - ours were painted before we got here, something either the paint on top or the water inside has caused several of the valves to rust. One started to leak and the others put rust stains on the washing hung on them before we noticed. I'll be very glad to see the back of them in a few weeks when the underfloor heating goes in.