Radiator painting advice needed

princeofpounds

DD265 said:

princeofpounds said:

Personally I'd just get a new radiator that doesn't rust.

I'd be that way inclined as well. I know it's not as money saving, but when I recently painted a couple of ours (brush and proper radiator paint - can't remember brand, didn't prime) I was a bit disappointed with the finish. I found the paint really difficult to apply without brush strokes, and once it was on I couldn't go over it again as it was drying so quickly. Admittedly it's only visible if you look closely, but I know it's there!

Obviously it depends on the radiator, but the cheapest ones are what, 30 quid? A pot of paint, a brush and a tray and you're already most of the way there. Plus the added time investment and the inferior finish, so you could probably spend up to a hundred quid with a clear conscience from the MSE perspective.

Obviously if you need a more specialist radiator then maybe not. 

MrBrindle

Niv said:

I just sanded it down (It had been previously painted by the last owner) and used regular satinwood to match the wood detail in the bathroom. 1 year later zero issues.

Yep, this is exactly what I did. Did the three bathrooms radiators which were rusting and flaking along the bottom with an open pot of satinwood I had. So far so good. Zero money spent.

Make sure to use a wire brush and sand paper to remove as much loose paint/enamel as possible, and sand back the rust to bare metal where needed.

wishuponastar

Thanks all, everything considered i'm going to do down sand and paint route. If in the future i need to replace then i will cross that bridge if i need to but anything would look better than the rust spots i have currently, just didn't want to use wrong paint as i've never done this sort of thing before. Thanks all.