Painting Radiators: DIY-Tutorial & Pro-Tips
5 min reading time
Radiators provide warmth and are also part of your furnishings. With a new coat of paint, you can integrate the radiator perfectly into your living environment or make it an attractive eye-catcher. Find out how easy it is to paint your radiator.
Table of contents
1. Before/after photos of heaters from our community
2. Preparation: How to choose the right colour for your radiator
3. Painting radiators professionally: Instructions by MissPompadour (incl. video tutorial)
4. FAQ: Frequently asked questions about painting radiators
5. Material and accessories for painting
Before/After photos of heaters from our community
Depending on your mood, but of course also on the location, you can make your radiator "disappear", i.e. integrate it colourfully into the rest of the furnishings or make it an eye-catcher in your home. Our MissPompadour painting community has already collected some inspiration for you:
Before
- The owners missed their own style here and wanted to be daring.
Before
- The old heating system was getting a bit long in the tooth. Time for a change!
Preparation: How to choose the right colour
Varnishing or painting a radiator is easy and can be done without any special radiator paint. You can use all our colours for painting, whether varnishes or wall paints.
Which colour shade should I use for the radiator?
To choose the right colour shade, you should think about the visual effect you want your radiator to have. With white and above all matt colour shades, you can make it look discreet. If you paint it in the same colour shade as the walls, it will blend in visually.
If you want it to be an eye-catcher, you can paint your radiator black. This not only shows your courage with colour, but also creates an elegant effect with red or gold decorations.
If you want to repaint your radiator, you can choose from all our products.
If you want to "paint away" the radiator, i.e. make it disappear visually, or you are in the process of giving your walls a new coat of paint anyway, then use the same product for both projects. We recommend our wall paint MissPompadour - The Functional Wall Paint. If you are using The Valuable Wall Paint, paint your radiators with the matching Matt Varnish varnish, as this varnish is just as velvety as the wall paint and therefore hits the wall exactly the right tone.
Otherwise, the MissPompadour Eggshell Varnishesare also ideal for giving radiators a new look. Our eggshell varnishes are alkyd resin paints and are therefore extremely stable. You should use smooth varnishes for heat sources in the bathroom in particular, as this room has a high level of humidity and requires a particularly durable radiator paint. You can also simply wipe over them with a damp cloth. However, as the varnishes do not tolerate standing moisture, we advise against hanging towels on painted radiators.
If you have already painted the tiles behind the radiator with a varnish from our Eggshell Varnish product range, you will achieve the same gloss level on the radiator.
You can give your radiator a completely matt and chalky-soft finish with the varnishes from our CosyColours collection. Last but not least, you can also use our LittlePomp chalk varnishes. The matt, pastel shades are perfect in combination with the LittlePomp chalk paints on the wall.
The following three colour shades are great inspiration for repainting your radiator:
- Black colours & varnishes are particularly suitable if the background is also already in dark colour shadesn.
- Turquoise colours & varnishes are a modern eye-catcher, e.g. for your living room.
- You can use red colours & varnishes in your bathroom. You'll be amazed at how much wellness energy a red radiator brings to your bathroom.
What gloss level should I use?
With a matt varnish quality, you can achieve a sophisticated effect on radiators. The matt varnishes are similar to wall paint in terms of their surface texture and hardly reflect the light. Our MissPompadour Matt Varnish is a matt and durable acrylic varnish. The pastel colours from LittlePomp are robust, matt chalk varnishes.
If you want the radiator to stand out as a stylistic element, a silk matt varnish can be used, for example our MissPompadour Eggshell Varnish.
Do I also have to paint the heating pipes and behind the heater?
With MissPompadour, everything is possible, nothing is compulsory. Of course you can also paint the heating pipes. The procedure is the same as for painting the radiator. Just pay attention to the temperature the pipes reach. You can use any of our varnishes up to 80°C.
You can also paint the wall behind the radiator if you can reach it easily. In principle, it is not necessary.
Painting radiators professionally: Instructions from MissPompadour
If you want to get an idea of how repainting radiators actually works, watch our video on how to do it:
Video: Painting the heating with MissPompadour paint
Yellowed radiators are not very attractive, but replacing them is often out of the question. Luckily, you can paint your old radiators instead.
Painting radiators is very easy. It's best to paint your radiator in the warm season, as it needs to be cold during the painting process. Dust and dirt often collect behind radiators, so integrate painting into a little spring cleaning.
Step 1: Rough cleaning
Start by removing dirt and dust with a duster or feather duster - also between the heating rods or ribs of the radiator.
Step 2: Cleaning
Once the coarsest dirt has been removed, the To Clean - MissPompadour cleaner is used. It creates a grease-free and clean surface, which is a perfect basis for every coat of paint
Step 3: Remove rust
If you find rust stains during cleaning, remove them with the To Sand - MissPompadour Sanding Pad or with fine-grained sandpaper. Loose rust particles must always be removed before painting.
Even if varnish has flaked off, you should sand down the colour of your radiator in the relevant areas.
Then first apply a rust protection primer as a primer and, after the drying time, a coat of To Bond & Block - MissPompadour Primer.
If the old varnish is completely intact and free of rust, a primer is not absolutely necessary, but will improve adhesion.
Step 4: Paint radiators
Now you can repaint the radiator. When it is dry and cold, start painting. You usually need 2 to 3 coats. Allow about 4 hours for the paint to dry between each coat. If you are painting in winter, it is best to wait 10 days before heating it up again. Furniture that is placed at a distance from the radiator can be moved back after 2 days. If a piece of furniture touches the radiator, it is best to wait 10 days.
Professional tip: It is better to start with less paint so that no paint noses or runs form and the paint does not drip from the cover into the radiator.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about Painting Radiators
If you want to paint your radiator, you will probably have many questions. We have compiled the most important ones below.
Should I paint or spray the radiator?
Whether you paint or spray is up to you. To Paint you have more control over the paint and less work before and after. However, if you have a heater with ribs and different shapes, you can get into all the corners better when spraying.
Remember that when spraying, the surroundings must be well covered.
What is the best way to paint ribbed radiators?
If you want to paint ribbed radiators, a special challenge awaits you, as the interior areas are difficult to reach. But with us, no one has to despair - paint them anyway! Get a stool ready, take various brushes and rollers and turn on some good music or a radio play. With relaxation and a good mood, even the most difficult surfaces will come easily. Don't take on too much at once so as not to become disgruntled. You can calmly paint with pauses.
If you do lose patience, remember: you don't have to paint what no one can see.
Can I paint radiators with normal varnish?
To paint the radiators you can use both wall paints and varnishes. The advantage of varnishes is that you can clean painted surfaces with a damp cloth and the varnish lasts longer in rooms with high humidity, such as bathrooms.
Can I paint the radiator when it is still warm?
The radiator must be cold and out of order when you paint it. Since primer and paint always need a few hours to dry, you should paint at a time of year when you can do without the heat of the radiator.
How heat-resistant is radiator paint?
When the paint has dried thoroughly, the radiator can be put back into operation. The temperature fluctuations on the surface do not harm the varnish, as it behaves elastically. All our varnishes and paints can withstand temperatures up to 80°C without any problems.
Does the radiator give off less heat after painting - especially with the blocker?
No, the functionality of the radiator remains the same.
When can I paint my heater?
As described above, you should varnish the heating at a time of year when you can leave the radiator switched off for several days.
Material and accessories for painting radiators
- Brush : The To Paint - MissPompadour brush in 100 mm width is perfect for painting full-surface radiators. For ribbed radiators you can use the narrow To Paint - MissPompadour brush in 25mm width.
- varnish roller: You can also use our 100 mm varnish roller for water-based varnishes - but it is more difficult to reach corners and edges.
- paint tray: To make it easier to pick up the varnish with the roller or brush, we recommend that you put it in our paint tray, for example. This also prevents contamination of the original can.
- To Mask and protect the surface, use tarpaulins, cardboard and our adhesive tapes. You can find all this in our painting tools.
Colour selection
Material & Accessories
