How To Refinish Heat Registers

If y'all have rusty vent covers, don't supercede them! Permit me teach y'all how to paint metal vent covers easily and apace in this footstep-by-stride tutorial. You'll be surprised by how much better your estrus registers will look with minimal effort!

How to paint metal floor vents with spray paint

It's the little things that irk me.

Certain, the daily paper ataxia and piles of dishes in the kitchen sink make me groan. That's expected.

But sometimes, I get hung upwardly on the smallest detail in my home and need to fix it immediately, or else the idea of it consumes me.

Yes, I admit that'due south a bit dramatic, merely I'm OCD about totally random things.

My old metal floor vents (aka oestrus registers) are one of the random things I strongly cared nearly i recent Sun afternoon. Luckily, making them look new was an easy and pretty quick DIY projection.

Our dining room is one of the few rooms in our Garrison colonial home that has floor vents for the forced-air estrus and ac. Near of the rooms have baseboard units.

Every time I let the domestic dog out through the back door, I walked past the nasty, rusty vent covers on our dining room floor.

Although I painted our powder room's vent covers two years agone, I never got effectually to doing these (Why? It's such a quick set up!).

The transformation is pretty awesome and it's a quick spray paint projection anyone can do (seriously, even the to the lowest degree practise-it-herself amidst us).

Without further ado, I'll show you how to pigment metal vent covers so they won't be an eyesore for another 2d.

Should you paint vent covers?

When I first considered whether or not to paint the floor vent in our pulverization room, I worried if the heat coming upward through the vent would affect the paint. Or worse, create a toxic smell.

All I could recall of was how the landlady of my old apartment painted the hot-h2o radiators with regular wall pigment. Equally before long every bit the heat turned on in the autumn, the whole identify smelled terrible every bit the pigment burned off!

But, radiators get much hotter than flooring vents. I spray painted the metal floor vent in our pulverisation room two years agone and haven't experienced whatsoever smell. Plus, the paint job's held up over time.

Got ugly heating vent covers? Acquire how to requite them an easy and fast makeover!

What color should floor vents be?

If y'all're wondering what colour floor registers should be, I suggest selecting a colour that coordinates with the surface the register/vent is on.

Is your floor mid-nighttime wood like mine? So oil-rubbed bronze spray paint looks cracking.

If the vent is on a ceiling (I have one in my main bathroom), then cull white to coordinate with your ceiling paint.

You can besides match your floor vents with nearby hardware, such as doorknobs.

How to Paint Metal Vent Covers: Supplies You'll Demand

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Here's what yous'll need to spray paint rusty metal flooring vents (aka rut registers):

Rustoleum paint & primer in one spray paint (I used oil-rubbed statuary to paint these flooring vent covers.)
Sanding cake/paper for metal (optional – I skipped this step)
Empty cardboard box

How to Spray Pigment Metal Vent Covers

How to spray paint metal floor vent covers - rusty vent covers in boxes ready to spray paint

Step 1: Clean the flooring vents

You lot'll need to make clean the floor vents before spray painting them. Since I only painted two, I washed them past hand in the sink and used an old toothbrush to clean the narrow gaps. If you plan to pigment a lot of floor vents at the aforementioned time, pop them in the dishwasher to remove dust and grime.

Step ii: Remove the rust

This is an optional step, and one I skipped considering I'thousand lazy and decorated. Rusty vent covers will cause the spray pigment to adhere unevenly. If you lot care about perfection – which I don't – use a sanding cake for metal to remove the rust.

Step 3: Spray paint the metallic vent covers

Head outside to your driveway or garage (door open!) and popular the vent covers in a cardboard box to incorporate the over-spray. Requite the spray pigment can a skillful shake, and so use even strokes to utilise the pigment. Let dry, and then add another glaze or 2 until you've achieved solid coverage.

Be certain to turn the vent cover over so you can paint both sides.

Painting Floor Vents is Fast and Piece of cake!

At present that you know how to paint metal vent covers, you can quickly requite all your rusty vent covers a makeover in no time. This is a really quick DIY project yous tin knock out in an afternoon. The hardest part is waiting for the paint to dry!

How to spray paint metal vent covers - rusty floor vent makeover tutorial

In case you're wondering how my floor vents await since I skipped sanding off the rust before I painted them, here's an ultra close-upward.

Y'all tin can come across that the surface still has a bumpy texture.

But honestly, who is gonna stare at my floor vents??

At present that they're spray-painted in oil-rubbed statuary, the vents match the doorknobs in our home and blend in with the woods floors much ameliorate than before.

The whole betoken is for people tonot observe them. Including me.

Do you have old and rusty metal vent covers? At the very least, run them through the dishwasher to remove dust. And if you tin can spare a fiddling time this weekend, requite them a shot of spray paint to make them look new!