Fancy radiators weren’t in my budget when I began renovating my house, so I use an unconventional method to give my standard Stelrads a glow up. I add a splash of colour to my radiators by taking them to a professional powder coating service, saving myself hours of sanding, priming and painting.
It feels eccentric rocking up with a radiator to a workshop filled with freshly sprayed bike and car parts, but the results really speak for themselves. Powder coating, unlike painting, produces a perfectly smooth colour application so you can say goodbye to streaks and runs.
Powder coating is also superior to other paint application methods in terms of longevity and will protect your radiator from rusting too, if your home is prone to damp. I got my first radiator powder coated back in 2021 and have found the finish to be extremely hardwearing. Five years on, there’s no peeling, flaking, scratches or fading, which is ideal in the eyes of a house-proud perfectionist like myself.
How does powder coating work?
The process of powder coating harnesses electrostatic forces to apply a powder, made from either acrylic, polyester or epoxy, to a metal surface. The powder is then cured using heat, which melts the particles to create an even coating across the surface.
Shauna Nash, a powder coating professional at LSN Coatings, explains what happens to a radiator behind the scenes in the workshop: “We remove any valves and replace them with bungs to keep the inside clean. Then the radiator is shot-blasted with chilled iron grit and blown off with an air line to remove any previous finishes and make sure it’s clean. Next, a powder primer is applied and it gets pre-heated in the oven, comes back out, gets coloured powder coated on it, and finally it’s back in the oven to cure.
“You can powder coat any metal," she continues. "We regularly work with aluminium, cast iron, steel and stainless steel. We’ve coated all sorts of household items including fireplaces, candelabras, sculptures, the bases of antique Singer sewing machine stands, anything you can think of, really.”
Shauna Nash keeps LSN Coatings, a family-run powder coating workshop in West Yorkshire, running smoothly. She provides on-the-job support, customer service and scheduling coordination for the business.
How powder coated radiators elevate an interior scheme
Samantha-Jane Agbontaen, interior designer and founder of House Designer, finds that clients tend to shy away from their radiators, focusing on how to hide them, rather than how they can work within their home scheme.
Samantha-Jane says, “I treat radiators like any other piece in the room. When choosing a colour, I start with what's already in the room, the wall colour and the floor. I'd go a shade or two deeper than the wall, or pull a colour out of a rug or curtain. But too bright, and clashing with the floor, is where it goes wrong.
“I had a client renovating a Victorian house," she continues. "The half wall panelling was a deep olive green with white walls above, and we painted the radiator the same green as the panelling, so it blended in and didn't stand out against the white. In another room it went the other way. That radiator was cast iron, and some are elegant enough to be part of the design, so it worked better left on show.”
Your local powder coating specialist will likely use RAL colours, so you should have plenty of choice when it comes to opting for a stand-out or complementary hue that match the paint trends you want to follow.
Samantha-Jane Agbontaen is an interior designer with 16 years’ experience in the industry. She is also the founder of House Designer, a UK online home design studio covering interior, garden and exterior design.
What does it cost to powder coat a radiator?
Considering the total cost of painting a radiator by hand, including all of the decorating tools, primer and heat-resistant paint, the price of powder coating a standard sized radiator is comparable. And it’s generally a much more cost-effective option than buying a brand new coloured radiator.
Shauna Nash advises: “The cost depends on size. If you went for a standard 600 x 600mm, you’d probably be looking at £50 + VAT, whereas something like a big curved radiator for a bay window would be about £150 + VAT. Cast iron radiators cost much more though, the reason being that they take a lot longer to heat up so the oven is running for longer.”
I’ve not yet come across any fellow renovators who use this colour application method, which is surprising considering the benefits. I got the idea from my dad, who had some parts powder coated whilst rebuilding his vintage motorbike, and happened to mention that any metal object can be coloured using this method.
I’m a powder coating convert, especially as it only takes my local workshop a matter of days to transform any tired metal item I turn up with. Beyond radiators, I’ve particularly enjoyed breathing new life into second-hand garden furniture, which I’ve had coated in the same forest green as the colour of my window frames. If you fancy following suit all you need to do is search online for a powder coating service near you.
