Painting Cast Iron Floor Registers

Paint them with a good rust prevention spray primer then again with the color of your choice.

Painting cast iron floor registers.

Clean the floor vents. Typically made of cast iron the grates attract dust dirt pet hair and a variety of other. Spray paint can also be applied to cast iron. Cast iron floor grates and registers harken back to an earlier time in u s.

Use these steps to paint cast iron. Heat register grates are often found in older or historic homes. I cannot tell from the photos if these are cast iron or just aluminum. You can either strip them with a commercial stripper or with a drill with a wire brush attachment which will remove most of the heavy layers and loose paint.

I went with a benjamin moore interior latex paint that matches my trim. If you try to paint directly over the top of bare untreated cast iron rampant finish failure will result. You ll need to clean the floor vents before spray painting them. However the wrong kind will have no effect.

Pretty much any paint will work with this kind of heating system water and oil based paints work equally well over oil based clean metal primer. Since i only painted two i washed them by hand in the sink and used an old toothbrush to clean the narrow gaps. Cast iron can be painted with an oil based metal primer and paint. The grates sit directly on the wall ceiling or floors and in front of a vent.

Fortunately paint can roll back the years on any operational or non operational hot water or steam cast iron radiator. Many of the homes built during the 19th century were. Almost 40 years later reggio s cast iron grilles still set the standard for craftsmanship. How to get paint off cast iron floor grates.

Then sand them smooth. It lets the heat escape from the vent but gently directs the heat so that you don t get a blast of hot air. If the iron is rusty or has been previously painted the rust or paint should be removed before new painting is begun. Bare cast iron is nonporous and too slick to support long lasting painted finishes.

Reggio s ultra durable cast iron grilles and registers are our original product offering. Oil based painting can be messy and the paint can take several hours to dry. It can even dress up a unit made of mild steel which is steel with a small. The proper primer improves cast iron s adhesive qualities.