Cast iron radiators are an increasingly popular home improvement. An otherwise plain and boring household item is transformed into an objet d’art, creating an instant and stunning visual effect. This is an easy and cost effective improvement to your family home.
It is usual to have radiators attached to a heating source as a means of heating a house and these are generally flat white panels that take up wall space. Often hidden behind sofas or other furniture, these panels are purely functional, simply heating the room when the boiler is on and rarely given a second look.
It is now becoming fashionable to install cast iron radiators, and make a feature of an otherwise utilitarian object. With a wide range of designs, and a size exactly matched to your room’s BTU requirement, these ethereal and sophisticated radiators add much more than just value to your home. Cast iron radiators have been around for nearly two hundred years and fell out of fashion in the 1970s when the trend was very much for plain and square rooms. Victoriana and Edwardian features were removed in their droves from family homes to go with the trend at the time. This meant a lot of cast iron radiators went to the scrap yard.
With today’s fashion being more about making your house into a home, it becomes important to include objects of beauty and the radiator is now in focus as the next home improvement. After all, why have a plain white flat panel when you can have a sumptuous and stylish objet d’art? Available in many styles, these authentic reproductions of the Victorian and Edwardian designs can range from the pure and simple lines of the Princess Cast Iron Radiator to the elegant decorative finish of the Daisy Radiator.
The Daisy design first originated in France in the 1890’s and was particularly popular in the Parisienne circles where ornate was the fashion to have. Depicting an elegant floral pattern from the foot to the crown, this radiator is now a popular addition to stylish homes. The Cherub design is also highly regarded as ‘a la mode’ due to its intricate pattern which includes flowing lines, cherubs, lions and dragons. Any of these elaborate radiators can be finished in any colour paintwork, or highlighted to bring out the amazing details. These also look stunning when left as a polished finish.
If ornate is not your scene and you are looking for the beauty of a cast iron radiator without the ‘fussiness’ then look for the Princess or the column radiators. These can either be painted in any colour that you chose, or highly polished to give an eye-catching detail to your home. The column radiators also come in a wide range of heights allowing them to be used in almost any situation; the small ones might fit below a low windowsill, the tall ones might fit between a bath and a hand basin. The flexibility of size and design means that you do not have to compromise on your heat requirement, or BTU, for your room.
Bathrooms can also be given the ‘ornate radiator make-over’ by purchasing a towel rail specifically made to your exact requirements. The towel rail can include ornate or column sections to match the rest of your home, and these sections can be painted or finished in any way that you wish. You can design a towel rail that is unique to you, and enjoy the gentle and long lasting heat effect of cast iron.
Traditional Designs include on their website a helpful BTU calculator to enable you to design the radiators you need for each of your rooms. They also offer a home visit service so that you can appreciate the quality and elegance of these cast iron radiators and see how good these will look in your own home.
Cast iron radiators have the benefit over flat panels of not just beauty, but also of heat dissipation. Being of a much denser mass than the thin steel of panel radiators, these retain the heat and dissipate it over a much longer period after the heating source has been turned off. Effectively, they have a much flatter heat curve and heat a room more gently and for longer than a flat panel. The installation of a cast iron radiator is a simple job for a plumber, especially if it is a straightforward replacement of a flat panel. It is just necessary to ensure that the size of your new cast iron radiator will fit into the space vacated by the flat panel. To complete the look, Traditional Radiator Valves supply a range of superior valves, hand made in the UK and honed from solid brass.
The Buckingham Major Thermostatic Radiator Valve range is the latest design in valves to compliment cast iron radiators; the quality of these valves is unbeatable. It is only by comparing a Traditional Radiator Valve with an imported cast brass valve that you can appreciate the enormous difference in quality. The thermostatic mechanism works smoothly without that grating feeling, the wheels are crafted from walnut instead of being plastic, and the weight of the valves indicates the solidity of the design. These valves are built to order to cover any installation layout, and any sized pipework. Available in manual or thermostatic, depending on the room in which they are to be installed, a cast iron radiator would not be complete without a tastefully designed valve set to finish the look to perfection.
Once the cast iron radiators are chosen and installed, not only will your home be the envy of your friends and neighbours, but you will notice the heat generated from the radiators continues to warm the room for some time after the boiler has shut down. The new look that it gives to your home also improves its resale potential. Faced with two similar properties, one with flat panels and the other with stylish cast iron radiators, a potential buyer will, more than likely, chose the more elegant and sophisticated home. So not only are you making your home a more beautiful place to live, with a smoother and gentler heat curve; you are also improving your chances of moving up the property ladder if and when the time comes.