KEEP. THE. RADIATORS !

^^They can however, be painted over fairly easily.

Anonymous wrote:What's involved in cleaning and reprinting radiators? OP here. I'm quite certain that they are original to the house and they are filthy and most look like they've been painted 10 times. Can a contractor disconnect them and refurbish them?

You can do this, but it is expensive. Stripping them takes a lot of time. I would just clean them up/dust as best you can and then get covers made.

Our last house was an older home that had been remodeled with forced hot air and central AC. Current house is an older home that was retro-fitted with central AC, but retained forced hot water heat (radiators).

I cannot describe how much better radiator heat is. Warmer, quieter, cleaner.

I meant repainting. Sorry

What's involved in cleaning and reprinting radiators? OP here. I'm quite certain that they are original to the house and they are filthy and most look like they've been painted 10 times. Can a contractor disconnect them and refurbish them?

I don't have a dog in the fight - I have forced air and I'm ok with it, I guess - but I have ALWAYS heard that radiators are the ne plus ultra of heating options. People just love them!!!

We recently added on to our house which include extending the radiator heating. We considered taking them out but even the folks who gave us estimates on adding A/C and forced heat encouraged us to keep the radiators. I'm in the camp that "loves them" and I've never posted about them on DCUM before today.

I don't think it would hurt resale to take them out if you truly don't like them, but we've been very happy with our radiators and recently swapped out a few to make some rooms more liveable. We put baseboard radiators in living rooms/bathrooms. They need to all be balanced size-wise to get good heat distribution. A good HVAC person can help design it all out. We found used cast iron baseboards on Craigslist and went with those to cut costs.

a 1925 row house is a historic row house. Sometimes they get gutted and redone, and sometimes that looks ok. But often it looks terrible. Taking out radiators is a similar decision. You buy a nearly 100 year old house for character. Remove the radiators, and you're changing the character.

I dislike our radiators because they are huge but I do like the quality of the heat they put out. We did look into ripping them out a few years ago and talked with three different HVAC companies about it (we also wanted to put in central A/C). Every company we talked to advised us to NOT take out the radiators, even though they could charge us a pretty penny to do so.

We ended up going with a minisplit system for A/C and keeping the radiators. However, on our future improvement list is to replace the radiators with thinner modern radiators. There are definitely better options than what we have.

I am the PP -- just saw the prior post. I don't think it is a small contingent in real life. I don't know if I would spend the very large amount of money it would take to put in radiant heat, but I certainly would not take it out.

Anonymous wrote:There is a small, but very vocal contingent of radiator lovers on DCUM, so you have to filter the comments. I think radiators tend to be very efficient and reliable and put out a nice heat, but with the average price per foot in DC over $500, I would not want have a lot expensive, unusable real estate space. Not only do radiators take up space, but they also really limit how you can lay out the space. Also, they look old fashion. Furthermore, I find it hard to accurately control the temperature. I would be tempted to replace the radiators with new, flat units, if you like radiators, or with central heating since you already have the vents. Your ducts may not be well placed for proper heating though (too many vents in the ceiling, causing hot air around your head and cold feet).

Some of us like that.

Radiators are the best. Whenever I stay at a hotel with forced air heat, it is dry, uneven, and uncomfortable.

There is a small, but very vocal contingent of radiator lovers on DCUM, so you have to filter the comments. I think radiators tend to be very efficient and reliable and put out a nice heat, but with the average price per foot in DC over $500, I would not want have a lot expensive, unusable real estate space. Not only do radiators take up space, but they also really limit how you can lay out the space. Also, they look old fashion. Furthermore, I find it hard to accurately control the temperature. I would be tempted to replace the radiators with new, flat units, if you like radiators, or with central heating since you already have the vents. Your ducts may not be well placed for proper heating though (too many vents in the ceiling, causing hot air around your head and cold feet).