I’ve turned a blind eye to the baseboard heating systems that live in the kitchen, living room, and dining room. The thing is, I’ve never really liked them. They don’t seem to emit the same cozy warmth as the massive radiators throughout the rest of the house, and they always look dingy.
Mine attracts and retains more dog fur than any carpet. Many throughout the house appear dented and scuffed (even more so than any of my vintage finds). Baseboard heating systems may be efficient, but mine was especially rough. Scuffed. Scratched. Not dented, but pretty gross. And it’ll get grosser, just you wait.
I was determined to make it look better, so I figured out a way to fix it DIY-style for $4.
I considered updating the baseboard instead of replacing it. After estimating multiple alternatives, I learned that finding a new unit could run between $40-100+ depending on the finish and length. As much as I really would love to replace them entirely or reinstall radiators, it’s not practical from a $$$ standpoint. Instead, I upgraded it with enamel spray paint to see how that would work in the short term and the long term. I’ve read that normal spray paint works OK too, and that these heaters don’t get quite hot enough to distress the finish. I felt at ease going with a heavy-duty enamel finish because it’s in a high-traffic zone.
I’m not entirely sure about the order of operations when it comes to installing these heating systems, so uninstalling piece-by-piece was an adventure in its own right. If I can do it, anyone can do it.
Remove the end caps
Easy things first. Those caps on the ends slide right off. Mine slid off with a gentle breeze, which still seems a little too easy.
Pop the front panel off
Once the end caps are off, the main front panel will pop off too (on this short unit, it was only held on by 2 sets of clips). The little flapper flap that vents/conceals hot air flow also slides right off of the clips.
Detach the back panel of the heating unit
The piece of metal that attaches to the wall behind the heating unit is more challenging to remove. It was only attached to the wall with 4 screws, but it was wedged in place behind the heating element and with wooden trim. I’m not a plumber or heating specialist, but I bet that the back panel of the unit is installed before the heating element for ease of installation.
In any case, I was able to slowly remove it. I pulled it away from the wall to reveal lots of dog fur and an inordinate number of popsicle sticks. Side note: The folks that lived here before me were outnumbered by young boys.
Removing the metal baseboard heater from the wall.
Lift the back panel of the metal baseboard heater upwards so as not to disturb the heating element.
It was worth having the opportunity to paint completely behind the baseboard where no paintbrush had ever reached. Saving the 1/4″ of paint in the Behr Venetian Gold paint can finally paid off.
Exposing the unpainted drywall behind the baseboard radiator.
Apply new paint
Once all of the pieces were removed, I cleaned behind the radiator and painted the wall. I also cleaned every piece of metal trim to remove any dust and dog fur. As you can see, there were several areas where existing paint buildup and rush promised to make it difficult to get a smooth surface. I used fine grade sandpaper along those areas to smooth out irregularities.
Then, I loaded all of the pieces of metal baseboard surround outdoors for enamel spraypainting.
Pieces of removed baseboard, pre-painting.
I spraypainted the face of each piece with crisp white enamel spray paint in an effort to blend into the rest of the baseboard trim. I did not take pictures of this. Move slowly and steadily as you spray paint. (Side note: I picked up some normal spray paint in light gray initially with hopes to use the lightest of the shades, but I only found medium grays. Does no one make a super-super-light gray paint?)
Three very light coats of spray paint in one day (and overnight drying) left me with a very new-looking system.
Reinstall the baseboard surround
Reinstallation is the opposite of uninstalling the pieces. If you’re trying this at home, I hope you also find that the end results are exceptional.
In my home, it looks really nice against the new kitchen floor with the fresh Venetian Gold paint extending behind it cleanly.
Enamel paint transforms a damaged and dingy baseboard heater surround.
And here’s one of those unfortunate moments where the updated piece looks so new that the rest of the previous white trim looks deplorable.
The freshly painted baseboard heating surround looks like new.
Easy. And it is less expensive than replacing the unit.
If yours are looking dingy, I’d say you should give it a try, especially with springtime right around the corner, you won’t be needing to use that heater and you’ll be able to paint outside comfortably. Double whammy.
Anyone else spray painting to their little hearts content now that the weather’s improving?
22 Comments
I actually was going to do this but in black in a log cabin I owned. It’s a great, thrifty idea. If it ain’t broke…..!
Looks great!
I can’t tell (mostly because I don’t have a trained eye): is that an electric baseboard heater, or some other variety? I know you said it’s not as efficient as a radiator, but we’re thinking about enclosing our back porch (with windows/plexi instead of screen) and installing electric baseboard heaters in order to make it count as square footage. We have a heat pump and forced air heat for the rest of the house. Since we live in Florida we don’t need something that’ll get super warm, just something to take the chill out of our eventual-sunroom (as I like to call it).
That right there is a hot water heater, not electric. It’s probably pretty darn efficient, the guy who came to clean my boiler over the winter explained that hot water systems produce much hotter air, but it definitely doesn’t emit as much heat as the bulky radiators due to sheer surface area. A small heater in the porch would be wonderful; I’d actually consider that same kind of thing in my currently unheated sunroom, although without forced air and no desire to actually add water pipes into the room, I’d probably settle for one of those freestanding fire hazards to cut the chill. (Thanks for popping that idea into my head!)
Ohh that makes sense about a hot water heater!
I’m considering one of the hardwired electric baseboard heaters, sort of like what YHL did in their old sunroom. You just hard wire something like thiss and add a thermostat for it. It would probably work for your sunroom, too! Maybe not as efficient as a radiator, but it’s a cheaper option!
It’ss an awesome option. Thanks for sharing the link!
Wow, nice 2 Ss on “this”, self. Thissssssssss. haha
Nice work!
Thanks Reuben! Sorry for the delay – your comment fell into my spam folder!
End product looks great. Was the dog fur from Cody? I wouldn’t have assumed the heaters would suck in hair since they’re radiant. Make it an $12 Tim the Tool Man enhancement when could put a set of box fans underneath to get a lot more heat off your small radiator. Downside, you’d have clean the radiator fins pretty often. Upside, it will keep the floor Cody-fur free :)
The fur wasn’t totally identifiable. It was mostly gross along the wall and down behind the back panel of the unit (along with where I found the hidden popsicle sticks). There wasn’t so much the system sucking in air, just long-time settling of dust and fur. Cody’s fur tends to amass everywhere, and it was especially lodged in the underside of the heating unit where the broom couldn’t reach upwards.
Awesome frugal DIY fix! It looks fantastic. I took advantage of the nice weather and spent my Sunday afternoon spray painting about a dozen items I’d collected over the winter. Spray paint is like magic in a can. :)
Hey Bane – Glad you like it! I had such misconceptions about the quality of spray paint for so long, I’m glad I finally became a convert. It does wonders for things like this!
We bought a home 100+ years old with the same system through the whole house. :/ It was a foreclosure home, so the Realtor sent in a horrible paint job and painted them a VERY ugly tan/yellow color. Do you think sanding them would work before hand? Just to get that smooth finish??
I think sanding could work. Is the coat of paint thick, and was it spray painted or applied with a brush? If it is, I might even be inclined to try some paint stripper to relieve the excess paint before refinishing them.
You did a nice job. Easy slip-on baseboard heater covers are often the easiest route, but you certainly made good use of your $4.
I’ve been thinking of paint the baseboard radiators in our new home. They’re currently a banged up dirty beige color. The trim in our home is all natural wood, not painted…so I can’t decide what color to spray paint the baseboard heaters. White seems like it would look out of place with no other white fixtures besides the ceiling. Black seems too stark. Maybe the same color as whatever the walls are in each room?
If you think it would be easy to match the paint color, that might be a nice solution. I personally don’t mind them standing out if if means they look clean (white worked for me, and we only had white ceilings), but maybe a light gray would be a fresh, neutral color? Whatever way you go, the fresh glossy finish will be a dramatic improvement if they are currently scuffed or scratched!
Dear Emily,
That finish on the baseboard looks great. Mine are so bad, I will need to sand them down a lot.
No prep? You just spray painted them? What brand paint? Thanks for anything you can share.
Hey Caroline! Short of washing them with a light soap and water to clear the dust, you might find that running a piece of fine sandpaper over the surface is helpful for adhesion. I don’t think I prepped with sandpaper in this case though, and the paint has been holding up well for years. Your run of the mill Rustoleum or Valspar brand spray paints will work well, so long as you apply in light, even coats to avoid drips. Good luck! Easy and worthwhile DIY upgrade!
Thanks for posting the pics! Helped me to see how to take the cover off.
I realized that I’m 9 years late, but tho so fewught I’d give it a shot. After many many hours trolling the internet, your post has the only pictures I’ve found containing the exact baseboard enclosures as my home. I am trying to find missing end caps and outside corners. Do you have any idea who manufactured these? Mine have absolutely no markings.
Great maintenance details on the baseboard radiant heat. My question in the photos’ showing the red fin edge protectors are they available to replace. after 73 years they get a little cracked and fall off to the point that most are just missing. Let me know Thank you.