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 warmth as the massive radiators throughout the rest of the house, and they always seem to be the first things that show the age of a room. Unless they’re brand-spankin’ new, and by new, I mean <1 month old, they just look beaten. Furthermore, they attract and retain more dog fur than any carpet, and appear dented and scuffed more than any vintage piece of furniture in the house. Sure, they’re efficient and all, and people seem to continue to install them in their homes, but efficiency, sch-ifficiency.
This one here that straddles the kitchen and dining room is especially rough. Scuffed. Scratched. Not dented, but pretty gross. And it’ll get more gross, just you wait.
Determined to not spend a bajillion dollars on something I didn’t like that much in the first place, I figured out a way to fix it DIY-style for $4.
Updating it instead of replacing it in full was enticing. I had looked into the costs of doing multiple alternatives to learn that finding a new unit could run between $40-100+ depending on the finish and length, and as much as I really would love to replace them entirely or reinstall radiators, it’s not practical from a $$$ standpoint, so I decided to give it an upgrade 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, that these heaters don’t get quite hot enough to distress the finish, but I went heavy-duty just to be safe, especially because it’s in a higher 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. Luckily, come to find, if I can do it, anyone can do it.
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. 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.
The piece on the back that attached to the wall behind the heating unit was a little more challenging, but not impossible to remove without damaging anything. It was only attached to the wall with 4 screws, but it was still a bit wedged in place behind the heating element and between the wooden trim that butted right up to the heater. I’m not a plumber or heating specialist, but I’d be willing to bet that the back panel of the unit is installed before the heating element, for nothing else but ease of install. In any case, I was able to slowly remove it, wedging it away from the wall quite easily to revealing a vomit-inducing amount of dog fur and an inordinate amount of popsicle sticks. Side note: The folks that lived here before me were out-numbered by young boys.
As horrifyingly dirty as it was, it was totally worth having the opportunity to paint completely behind the baseboard where no paint brush had ever reached. Saving the last 1/4″ of paint in the Venetian Gold paint can paid off (although know that what you’re seein’ here is a true “before,” taken just after I had all of the pieces removed).
Once all of the pieces were off, I loaded them onto the driveway onto sawhorses for their overhaul. Not shown, this next picture is definitely another “before” shot, I spray painted the face of each piece with crisp white enamel spray paint in an effort to blend into the rest of the baseboard trim. (Side note: I picked up some normal spray paint in light gray initially with hopes to use the lightest of the shades, but nothing I found was what I was going for, I only found medium grays. Does no one make a super-super-light gray paint?)
Three very light coats of spray paint over the course of a day (and drying outdoors overnight) left me with a very new looking system. I won’t delve into the reinstallation process, it’s exactly the opposite as your uninstallation process, but the end results were exceptional, especially nice against the new kitchen floor, with the gold paint extending behind it cleanly.
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.
Easy. And markably less expensive that replacing the unit entirely. 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.