"New" house in New York has old radiators. Considering refinishing (sandblasting? painting?)

oldradiator

hi all, just bought my first house and the hot water radiators look like hell! more importantly, we have a 6-month old and i'm very concerned about peeling/chipping (potentially) lead paint.

it seems sandblasting is the true course of action. i called a few local places. one charged $20/fin, another $50+ but had no solutions to removal and transport.

our painter also told us he'd sand and paint them but i doubt he'd take all the proper precautions if lead is present.

at any rate, hoping to spark a discussion here. thanks!

EdTheHeaterMan

Here is a discussion that started back in May 2020 that seemed to have a happy ending. https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/180002/stripping-paint-from-cast-iron-radiators-using-a-lye-bath

oldradiator

EdTheHeaterMan said:

Here is a discussion that started back in May 2020 that seemed to have a happy ending. https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/180002/stripping-paint-from-cast-iron-radiators-using-a-lye-bath

agree, they look nice but i'm in NO way comfortable attempting that process.

acwagner

Have you tested the paint for lead?

oldradiator

acwagner said:

Have you tested the paint for lead?

no. as of now it's just an assumption.

acwagner

You can buy lead testing kits at a hardware or home center. They're little swabs that you smear on the suspected surface. That might help understand the extent of the problem.

TomTA

Where are you located? $20/fin is outrageous, at least in my area. Try calling a powdercoating place (ask for "blast only", as opposed to blast and powdercoat), or failing that any sort of heavy truck or farm equipment repair place. If that doesn't work, an auto body shop might be able to point you to a sandblasting place.

Removal, transport, and reinstallation is a whole 'nother issue.

oldradiator

TomTA said:

Where are you located? $20/fin is outrageous, at least in my area. Try calling a powdercoating place (ask for "blast only", as opposed to blast and powdercoat), or failing that any sort of heavy truck or farm equipment repair place. If that doesn't work, an auto body shop might be able to point you to a sandblasting place.

Removal, transport, and reinstallation is a whole 'nother issue.

thanks - just outside NYC.

TAG

Many years ago when I was restoring an 1810 town house in Philadelphia we removed a had some sandblasted and then painted by a local auto body (different people) --- it was a lot of work. Later when doing a stone victorian in Chestnut Hill PA there was no way I was going through removing and reinstalling heavy radiators -- just getting them disconnected without damage would have been difficult. That project was large and I had people blasting other parts of the project .... they blasted the radiators in place and I had them sprayed. Back then they used shells.

Today they blast with both dry ice and baking soda ... I had a whole project soda blasted after a fire in 2012. Soda blasting is common when cleaning old beams for barn projects. It's actually easier to find blasting companies today as they have truck based franchised people around -- they don't use sand anymore.

Stripping them with chemicals depends on how thick -- it's messy and hard to get into the tight spots to clean off.

I would look for someone who would do them in place

Paul Pollets

Many times I've removed all radiators for sandblasting and paint in a renovation. Since I live in a major city, there were 2 places to have it done. Now there is one place that does it. The owner or GC is responsible for delivery and pickup. The paint used is a high temp paint available in a dozen colors. Powder coating is not used anymore due to hazards in the workplace. Costs were "reasonable", about $300 per radiator