The Truth About Radiator Covers: 15 Trendy Radiator Cover Ideas to Conceal Old, Ugly Radiators in Your Home

If you live in an older house or condo, you're probably aware that, while important, radiators can be an eyesore due to their lack of aesthetic appeal. Smart radiator veil ideas are the solution if you've ever wondered what you should do to make these utilitarian products appear a little bit prettier. If you're up for a large-scale project or just want to make a little, fast fix, there's a project for you below.

You've also come to the right spot if you have doubts or complaints about the best way to make, mount, and maintain a radiator veil. Metal is not the safest choice for steam radiators, according to Stephany Smith of Fantastic Services in London. “This is due to the fact that steam radiators are cooler than the other types,” she states. “Because radiator veils serve as a shield, they don't get as hot as bare radiators. However, the metal shape will deteriorate and lose its cosmetic properties when exposed to high temperatures. If struck, it can also trigger a fire, particularly if the metal sheet is thin.”

Heavy gauge metal, with a gauge number greater than 18, is the only safe and sturdy choice. Furthermore, cutting metal is a challenging process that necessitates specialist tools, so it's safer to leave this form of cover to the experts.

Smith recommends wooden radiator veils since they are a decent insulator and don't get as hot to the touch as metal radiator covers, which is a great protection feature if you have young children or pets. MDF, which is always cleaner than solid hardwoods and can also be decorated, is a decent choice if you're on a budget. “The first step, regardless of whether you prefer MDF, wood, veneer plywood, or another material, is to measure out the area around your radiator,” Smith says. She advises adding two to three inches to the dimensions of your radiator to ensure free air ventilation and ample room to match the cover.

Although a qualified DIYer or woodworker may complete this radiator veil project, Smith advises beginners to employ a competent carpenter or a radiator veil fabrication business to make custom covers. Alternatively, if the nearest hardware shop provides this service at this time, you will get the tough cuts on both the cover and the grates made by a specialist. Then, if your skills are ideal for this form of job and you have the appropriate protective equipment, you can assemble your cover at home.

Radiator veil styles are varied in terms of theme. “The grate opening on the front panel of a custom radiator cabinet is completely up to your preference,” Smith notes. “You may use aluminum, rattan, cane, or some other form of grate.” Decorative metal grills with laser-cut patterns, for example, are available in a range of types and add an elegant touch. “Best of all, high-quality materials generate amazing heat to shield you from direct burns and injuries,” Smith notes.

Using a non-toxic, competent glue that attaches to many surfaces is the simplest way to connect a cover to the front door. Smith suggests placing the metal shielding inside the front panel and using a staple gun to protect the middle piece. If you choose to make a string barbecue, use only natural materials such as linen, fur, rattan, and cane. Artificial materials can cause burns and pose a safety threat.

Try attaching a shelf to the top of your cover display to complete it. Oak, once again, is an excellent alternative for covering the top of your cover and can give it a warm appearance. Finally, apply a coat of paint in the color of your choosing to the radiator shell. Here are some decorative radiator veil ideas to consider for your own home now that you know the ins and outs of radiator cover design and protection.

1. Use caning to protect it.

We love cane furniture, so a cane radiator covering will be a no-brainer! Blogger Benita Larsson made the lovely solution pictured above out of caning, which is widely used in crafts, and the result is ultra-elegant. Smith recommends that you take the requisite measures before starting your project. “Your DIY activity could create a fire hazard if it isn't processed before installation,” she advises. “Cane, for example, should be immersed in hot water for at least 40 minutes before stretching it closely to the radiator covering the frame. As a result, not only will it be easy to treat, but it will also be resistant to temperature changes.”

2. Make a Shelving Device out of it

Why not incorporate the radiator into a useful storage system? Blogger Linda Duffy did exactly that, and she did so with the help of an old IKEA hack! She was lucky enough to have a radiator covering on hand, which she framed with two little BILLY bookcases that exactly matched the hue of the cover. She then applied stained pine to the top to tie the three different items together.

3. Apply a New Coat of Paint

Will you have an hour to kill? Repaint your radiator veils the way blogger Kandice of Just the Woods did in her son's room. You won't believe such a drastic shift happened in such a brief period of time. Find a paintbrush and your favorite pigment, and start painting! Since you're painting the cover rather than the radiator directly, latex paint is typically perfect for this form of project.

4. Or, if you're feeling bold, try a different hue.

Blogger Erin Francois recently decorated her radiator covering, which now acts as a practical table in her entryway, a perfect idea to replicate if your radiator is close to your front entrance. In comparison to the dark wood door and black tile tiles, the soft gray shade is charming and calming. Her cover is made up of a variety of materials, including wood and metal, so she used spray paint to cover all of them at the same time. It's brilliant!

5. Make a Stunning Cover

If you're handy with a saw, you might be able to render blogger Vikkie Lee's handmade radiator covering. Although this isn't a project for beginners, it's a perfect choice for those who have the time and confidence to take on a bigger project. In Vikkie's space, the finished product is elegant, trendy, and unobtrusive.

6. Make a second one for the toilet.

The bathroom heater, oh, the bathroom radiator: They're still there and can be impossible to stop. Use this DIY cover, which designer Shannon Claire Smith designed for her own room, to camouflage yours. It not only looks fantastic, but it also offers additional storage space, as Shannon points out in her blog post!

7. Add a Shelf to Extend Your Storage Space

Tera Janelle also addressed the radiator in her shower, installing a custom-built cover with a top that stretches out a little on either foot. This new perch acts as a handy storage place for bath necessities.

8. Build a cover that can also be used as a desk.

Blogger Erin Kestenbaum had the bright idea of converting her home's various radiators into lovely window benches. Although it is a multi-step operation, who wouldn't be enamored with the lovely end result? Erin also converted the radiator in her master closet after finishing the above field. It's a win-win scenario if you can transform your radiators into built-ins, then you're repurposing an eyesore that would just be useless room.

9. Instead, you may easily slide a current bench into place.

Not involved in taking on a construction project? If you can find a bench that suits over your radiator, you've got yourself a really realistic, trendy, and easy solution! Designer Rachel Reider did exactly that by adding additional seats to the living room seen above, taking attention away from a possible eyesore. Simply guarantee that there is ample clearance above the radiator, as Smith suggested while making a cover. This will guarantee the protection of both your bench and your house.

10. Cut the Legs from a Bench and Build a Minimalist Cover

Another smart take on the radiator-turned-bench comes from Jules of IKEA Hackers. Drop two of your bench's wings! Jules put the seat of the IKEA bench over her radiator, fitting it so that it covered the whole length of the radiator and was almost flush with the wall. This is a fantastic budget-friendly and minimalist approach to this issue. Since the radiator fits in so well with the bench's legs, it almost seems like a cool sculptural item.

11. Make a cute shelfie vignette.

This Apartment Therapy before and after has piqued our curiosity once again! Blogger Christina of Christina's Adventures took a few easy measures to turn a mundane corner into a charming scene. We love the idea of a grate that contrasts so starkly with the rest of the sheet, as seen in this charcoal gray-and-white combination, and we love the idea of a grate that contrasts so starkly with the rest of the cover, as seen in this charcoal gray-and-white pair.

Why Should Radiator Cover Be Used?

Let's have a look at WHY you would want to use a radiator covering in the first place before we get into the nitty-gritty of whether they affect how effective your heating can be or how warm or cold a room can feel with or without a radiator covering mounted.

Just as for most luxury items, it's important to keep radiators away from children – the last thing you need is an expensive repair bill after one of the kids breaks your new cast iron designer rad with its skull!

All jokes aside, a heater will inflict severe burns if a young child gets into contact with it.

This is an especially serious concern for steam radiators, which are cooler to the touch than other forms of radiators (more about that later). Thankfully, they aren't as widespread in modern homes as they once were, but many homeowners still use gates and covers to childproof their radiators for protection reasons. It's preferable to be healthy than sorry.

Your Radiator Is Very Filthy This-and-that

Most radiators appeared as though they had fallen heavily from the ugly tree and struck every single branch on their way down until recently.

Since not everybody can afford to replace their old radiators with brand new ones, many people look for a less costly alternative and conceal them under a radiator covering instead.

Wooden radiator veils made of Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) are a simple and relatively inexpensive way to camouflage a radiator, and there are also some interesting printed wraps and specialist paints designed especially for the job, as well as a number of other materials that work almost as well.

Noise Abatement

It's only natural that, with all the water sloshing about and temperatures fluctuating all the time, the central heating can get a little noisy now and then.

Although it's not a complete solution, shielding a radiator will help to minimize the amount of irritating noises.

However, noises emanating from your central heating system are not a positive indication and may suggest that you need to bleed your boiler to clear trapped air, or that you have a more significant issue with your heating system as a whole – check out our blog about how to repair noisy central heating for more details.

Radiators are (obviously) a good source of heating that any room requires from time to time, but they do take up some space, and for many people – especially those who live in smaller urban houses and apartments – space is minimal.

You can recover some of the space by purchasing a radiator covering or taking the time to make your own, and using the shelf on top of the cover to view books, photos, a porcelain pig set, or even a mini herb garden.

Can RADIATOR COVERS EFFECTIVELY Limit HEATING EFFICIENCY?

There are a few excuses to invest in a radiator covering, as you can see above, but regardless of those justifications, the question that everyone wants to be answered is: do radiator veils decrease the efficacy and efficiency of your heating?

Now there's an issue...

To put it another way, the solution to that particular conundrum depends on who you ask.

For eg, if I own a company that sells radiator veils, I'll want to present facts to back up my claims; otherwise, I'll be out of business faster than Sam Allardyce losing his England job.

If, on the other hand, my company sells sleek designer radiators (which it does), I'm much more inclined to tell you that the risk of covering up your radiators, as well as the effect on your heating bills, isn't worth the hassle.

But (fortunately for you), I am a sincere guy, so what I will give you instead is an accurate and honest reflection of the facts as I learn them, whether or not that means more money in my skyrocket (pocket) or not.

So I'll lay out a case that explores those that are "pro" and "against" using a radiator covering, and YOU can tell me which alternative you think is the better in the comments below.

RADIATOR COVERS ARE A Subject ON WHICH EVERYONE HAS AN View.

The biggest reason why many people feel that using a radiator covering is a bad thing is that they (obviously) cover a radiator, and you can think that doing so would have a negative impact on how effective they are and can be.

Radiators heat a space by natural convection, as we've explained before – and we're confident you already know. To refresh your mind, this is the process of cold air sinking and warm air rising through the radiator, spreading the heat around the room.

Now, common sense and logic would indicate that sealing the radiator would block the flow of cold and warm air in its tracks – or at the very least have a detrimental impact on how to open the air is to circulate, and there is research to support this – but whether or not this affects a radiator'spower' is a separate issue altogether.

I assume that shielding the radiator slows the rate at which it heats the room so it slows down the convection currents and therefore the rate at which it heats the room. “Because installing a radiator covering delays the flow of heat out of the radiator and into the room, the amount of heat leakage out of the building's exterior wall is likely to be increased — also raising your heating bills,” says InspectAPedia, a free online encyclopedia devoted to all things building and inspection.

Given the fact that convection currents are blocked, the ‘radiated' heat generated when a radiator is turned on will still find its way out, so your radiator can still heat your space – but at a slower pace than if it were not protected.

InspectAPedia also says that when shielding a radiator, you can eliminate the issue of increased energy costs by applying foil-faced, sturdy insulation to the wall behind it.

A half-inch of insulating board is optimal, but if you don't have that much space between the wall and the radiator, a quarter-inch would do. Instead, you should use a foil reflector like Radflek, which mirrors about 45 percent of the heat you'd otherwise lose back into the room while allowing air to circulate freely.

RADIATORS Need Room TO BREATHE.

Radiation, convection, and conduction are the three primary modes of heating, and each has a distinct effect on us (and the room surrounding us).

Heat that radiates

Radiant heat offers a sense of ease, close to the warmth of the sun or putting your hands in front of a fire in the winter. Radiant heat does not actually heat the air; instead, it flows in straight lines of energy that are only transformed to heat as they come into contact with and are consumed by your body (or your dog's body whether they're sitting closer to the radiator than you) or the radiator covering.

Heat Convection

As previously mentioned, as air is heated, it expands and becomes less compact, resulting in convection heating. This air rises, and colder air displaces it due to gravity. Warmer air rises and diffuses the heat, warming air that isn't as close to the heat source. The heat will be taken farther out by the convection current the colder your radiator or heat source is. So, at the very least, you'd have to say that a radiator covering has a negative impact on a room's temperature.

Heat is transmitted by ducts.

Conduction is the slowest means of transferring heat since it requires heat passing through rigid structures. It's something you've seen before. If you heat one end of a piece of metal, the other will eventually become colder, equivalent to what happens if you leave a poker in a fire. It may take some time, but heat will ultimately be transmitted through the whole piece of metal – this is not the case for wooden radiator veils (more on that soon).

According to most human condition experts, the perfect combination of heating styles expected to keep us feeling good, wet, and comfortable is about 20% radiant heat and 80% convection.

The vast majority of radiators we experience on a daily basis run through convection, with a slight amount of radiation tossed in for good measure (not the Chernobyl type though). For this sort of radiator to function properly, it must be exposed to the cold.

Radiators like the Milano Compact are built to expose as much surface area as possible to the air circulating around them, increasing the temperature of the air and causing it to rise and heat the room.

One of the key reasons that the ‘fins' on the back of the radiator are vertical and perpendicular to the wall, rather than parallel and horizontal, is to assist with convection, and that positioning furniture against a radiator is a major no-no.

Anything that blocks the air passage limits the radiator's effectiveness, which means it needs to work harder to maintain the same degree of heating as it would have without a radiator mask.

Will RADIATOR VEILS, ON THE OTHER HAND, Improve EFFICIENCY?

After reading what I've written above, you would think it's unlikely for a radiator covering to increase a radiator's performance, but according to a few different reports, if done correctly, a cover will potentially add about 5-10 degrees F more heat to your production.

The point is that using an open, naked radiator to heat a room is wasteful. This belief derives from the fact that warm air that rises straight to the ceiling of the room does not get projected out into space like it does if a radiator covering were added.

Regardless of whether you have a radiator covering on or not, heat will increase. The heat will increase anyway unless there is a flow of air (convection current) to help it travel through the room – isn't that just Year 6 science?

You would think so, but according to homeadvisor.com, a radiator can and would spread heat easier under a radiator covering with ‘proper' backing – something like Radfelk again – than one that is exposed.

According to them, this arises because "the backing forces heat away from the wall and the lid focuses heat away from the top," allowing "heat that would normally go straight to the ceiling to be forced into the level of the living room."

Home Advisor also reports that “studies have found that the variation (in temperature) in the lower space of the room can be influenced by as much as four and a half degrees,” but I can't find any proof to back up this argument, and they don't mention or refer to any references on their website.

U-switch, an online comparison site, has an opinion on the subject, saying that "a radiator shelf helps to throw heat forward from the radiator into the room," but the jury is still out on this one.

I'm not sure how heat can be 'thrown' out into the room by merely putting a shelf over a radiator; it doesn't make sense to me.

Yes, draping one over a radiator under a window may help deter heat from escaping between the curtain and the window, but “throwing” it out into the room will almost certainly necessitate the use of a fan, such as a radiator booster.

Without it, the rules of physics will inevitably change. They do, don't they?

COMING OUT AND SAYING IT As IT IS

On the topic of radiator veils, I've come across a number of different views, but none have been as simple as Samson's Joinery in Glasgow.

Samson's has years of experience bringing together incredible pieces of bespoke furniture, and radiator veils have been a common buy for many of their clients among the many commissions they've completed.

Despite their value in generating sales, Ross Samson (owner of Samson's Joinery) has this to say about radiator veils: “Covering a radiator lowers its heat output, end of story“, adding that many of his rivals "make the ridiculous assertion that by piling up heat behind the screen and drawing up cooler air from below, heat is convected through the radiator, end of story“. "Waste of time!"

That's a fairly accurate explanation of what a radiator cover does and doesn't do. Ross also uses science to back up his point, referencing the heat that is lost or drained into the very top of the radiator covering and how this affects the system's overall performance.

If your radiator cover has a firm top, a lot of the heat that will otherwise escape would be absorbed by the material. Ross wonders why producers don't stress this further, and believes that placing a reflective coating on the underside of the shelf would serve to reflect the conducted heat back into the room – but not as effectively as an open radiator.

But there's more to worry about than that; what about the different materials and technology used to make radiator veils more efficient? Is there something I've forgotten that you think I should hear about? Is it as straightforward as it appears?

WHAT Styles OF RADIATOR COVER ARE AVAILABLE?

I've already discussed MDF – the sort of material that adorns the radiators on Changing Rooms in 1995 – but should people actually be covering their radiators with it? What other materials are there that could be suitable for a radiator cover, and how good are they?

Radwraps are an instant pick-me-up for about every radiator, and they come with a range of designs and colors (you can even get your own photo put on one!).

They not only transform a radiator into a work of art, but they can also maximize the productivity of your radiator by up to 118 percent as opposed to a conventional wooden radiator cover.

“If any home in the UK that has wooden covers fitted were to replace one of them with a Radwrap, the country could save up to £75 million a year in energy costs,” said James Maddocks, director at Radwraps. And if any home in Europe did the same thing, it would result in a significant electricity cost savings of up to £1.5 billion.”

Crystal, to be sure. I couldn't believe it when I first learned it, but crystal covers exist, and when you think about it, they make absolute decorative and realistic sense.

One like this from Couture Cases is all about covering an unsightly radiator behind a curtain – a curtain that covers the radiator's bad looks whilst also enabling a free-flowing current of convection to happily encourage warm air in the room.

Stylish, functional, and a surefire conversation starter at dinner parties.

Putting a jacket on your radiator can sound odd or even ironic, but it could boost productivity while still saving you money. The CozyTM, which is intended to work with steam radiators, is the brainchild of a group of friends in the United States and was born out of a crowdfunding effort that culminated in the establishment of Radiator Laboratories.

The CozyTM is a retrofit design that promises to save you up to 35 percent on your heating bills. It's straightforward to install and doesn't entail any modifications to your plumbing.

Metal radiator covers offer a real designer look, and are definitely something different from the traditional radiator covers. They are excellent at conducting heat, but maybe not something to use for the kids, but they do offer a real designer style, and are certainly something different from the standard radiator veils.

This one is made of galvanized metal and comes from Couture Cases – who knows, maybe they'll recruit me after this.

The method of galvanizing metal involves applying a zinc coating to steel or iron. This system avoids rust and also looks pretty cool. They're going to give me a job right now!

I know I promised you an informed opinion on radiator veils at the start of this essay, but when it comes to wood, I have to take a deep breath and stop myself from ranting.

Since wood absorbs too much heat and does not conduct heat well, it is an inefficient material for radiator veils. That's why you've seen every wooden frying pan you've ever seen as a toy.

When I was a kid, having an MDF radiator covering was the thing to do, but come on, guys, there's plenty of solid science behind it, and wood is a bad choice.