Where to source grating / grille?

[paddytt]

Hello

can anyone recommend a suitable source for grating to use at the top of a channel by an outside wall, where the ground level is higher than the interior floor? I have read on here about "proprietary" grating or grille but the only ones I have found are fixed to the top of a gully.

thanks

paddytt

 

[Feltwell]

Paddy - Try "Longbottom Foundry" - they don't have anything much online, but if you call them for their catalogue it contains cast iron gratings. Some are intended for use with channels but they may sell them seperately if you speak to them nicely, they are a helpful bunch I've found.

http://www.longbottomfoundry.co.uk/gutters-pipes-fittings.htm

 

[paddytt]

Thanks Feltwell. Your link gave me some better ideas for searching Google, and I found the following:

http://www.castironairbricks.co.uk

They are not far away from us, and while their grating prices are eye watering :shock: their replacement air bricks and vent grilles are absolutely beautiful

regards

paddytt

 

[Penners]

Very nice, Paddy. I trust that, in this Jubilee/Olympic year, you will be fitting the Union Jack grilles, regardless of cost?

:wink:

 

[Feltwell]

By'eck, you're not kidding on the price! :shock:

I'd try Longbottoms as well if I was you - they also do some very ornamental designs, and I suspect their prices may be a bit more reasnoble. They have very minimal marketing, whereas the website you linked to does seem to be aiming itself towards the top end of the market!

 

[paddytt]

Very nice, Paddy. I trust that, in this Jubilee/Olympic year, you will be fitting the Union Jack grilles, regardless of cost?

With a nickname like mine, you need to remember that I was celebrating a win over Scotland yesterday, so maybe a shamrock profile would be more appropiate...?!

:wink:

paddytt

 

[paddytt]

...whereas the website you linked to does seem to be aiming itself towards the top end of the market!

I agree...!

 

[Feltwell]

Just found the catalogue, as I need to order a few rainwater bits from them anyway. Not a massive selection of gratings but:-

The plain ones:-

The fancy ones:-

Airbricks:-

 

[MatthewC]

Interested to see this as I've been looking for exactly the same things for, I think, the same purpose. I've been keeping an eye on auction sites and old church ones are pretty rare so when they do come up they are quite expensive, I thought, until I saw the price on the cast iron air bricks web site. :shock: :shock:

I have just found some chunky industrial type plain gratings which are cheaper - 27" x 9" x 2" - at £15 each, so I think I'll go for those...

 

[paddytt]

That's grate, thanks...

:lol:

paddytt

 

[Zebra]

I will be looking for something similar, and was going to pop into my local forge and see if they can make me up something.

 

[Penners]

That's grate, thanks...

:roll:

That's worthy of me. You should be ashamed of yourself.

 

[Feltwell]

Oh come on Penners, be fair, it's wasn't that bad..............

Pots & kettles, I know.... :wink:

 

[Penners]

I don't think you're qualified to judge, Feltwell, guilty as you so often are...!

 

[Feltwell]

Quite the contrary actually Mr P - it takes one to know one you know :wink:

 

[lou]

I am not sure what sort of costs make your eyes water but I have bought iron and nice old clay airbricks very successfully from eBay

See eg this item number 320863988906

 

[castiron]

Thanks Feltwell. Your link gave me some better ideas for searching Google, and I found the following:

http://www.castironairbricks.co.uk

They are not far away from us, and while their grating prices are eye watering :shock: their replacement air bricks and vent grilles are absolutely beautiful

regards

paddytt

Thanks Paddy, I'm the owner of the company so pleased to hear you like our grilles. I see a number on the forum have spoken about our grilles and some described them as expensive in £s which is fair enough. We have dozens of customers a day so we must have got the pricing right in some way, perhaps it is in terms of value that explains why our products appeal. Our conservation vent grille, which is a cowled vent grille for tumble dryers made in cast iron is one of our most expensive at nearly £130 but what the customer is really getting is two years of development and investment. The grille actually looks stunning so they can replace a plastic vent that used to be an eyesore with something in keeping with the property. The vent was designed along the lines of a Georgian rainwater hopper by a former Jaguar car cylinder head pattern maker, if you look here you can see this in the product http://www.castironairbricks.co.uk/conservation.htm in actual fact we're selling it for little more than cost - so is it expensive, perhaps not?

Of our other products, we try to keep the costs reasonable but if you look at our range it is vast, over 100 different grilles and air bricks. This means some sell really well and some not so well so we obviously have to make more money on the ones we do sell so we can provide a wide range of vents in every size. I think our niche is, we've already cast our products and they are sat on the shelves waiting to be delivered next day, which , when you've a builder standing by is priceless! That's not something a foundry would be able to do for you, I'd be interested to hear if anyone has managed to get next day delivery from a foundry. I've contacted plenty myself looking for companies to cast our products and quite often they're too busy to answer the phone - not to mention an email. But if you are looking for a bargain from all the grilles we sell, at £130 the Conservation 4" vent grille is a bargain!

kind regards Adrian

 

[Feltwell]

Hi Adrian

Your tumble dryer vent grille caught my eye when I first saw your site, a very nice product. Not at all cheap (in £ terms) but I can well understand the costs behind it, and I imagine it's unique to you.

Glad to hear that you've plenty of custom for your products, you do without question have some very nice items on your site. My price shock was at the long gratings, not the airbricks - and it is the absolute total £ that was the shock. If you can imagine Paddy laying them outside to run along a wall, as he wanted to - I don't know how long, but say a 30' wall - at £150 - £400 ish + VAT per 3' grating, that is getting eye-wateringly expensive very quickly indeed!

I have no idea how much cast iron gratings go for, but I have found Longbottom's rainwater goods to be far cheaper than other more popular, commercially marketed sources in the past - hence the suggestion - plus they are very helpful and have given me good service on providing some very obscure rainwater goods that no one else seems to make any more. They are a foundry, certainly their rainwater goods have always been ex-stock whenever I've used them, I don't know about airbricks and gratings. I've usually waited a few days for delivery - they are of a past era in many ways, no real website to speak of, a catalogue that could almost be a Victorian reprint (which I like a lot), I can't even remember if they take credit cards over the phone, I think the last time I used them I may have had to send off a cheque. So a very different offer to yours in many ways.

 

[Flyfisher]

Our conservation vent grille, which is a cowled vent grille for tumble dryers made in cast iron is one of our most expensive at nearly £130 but what the customer is really getting is two years of development and investment. The grille actually looks stunning so they can replace a plastic vent that used to be an eyesore with something in keeping with the property.

It seems a bit odd to think of something so modern as a tumble dryer vent being 'in keeping' with a period property - a bit like 'Georgian' electrical fittings - but I do agree that this grille is a very handsome thing indeed and is now in my 'little black book' for future reference.

Would this type of grill also be suitable for the external flue of a gas boiler or would it somehow interfere with the safe operation of the applicance?

 

[Penners]

Would this type of grill also be suitable for the external flue of a gas boiler

I suppose that depends on what you want to grill on it. It might not get hot enough for steaks.

For simply venting flue gases, I'd advise the use of a grille. :wink: