Can anyone tell me about painting radiators, skirting boards and doors?

[WiltedLettuce]

I am useless at DIY.

I'm slowly sorting my house out from being a tip but it's been a battle (recently diagnosed ADHD). The radiators could do with a repaint and the skirting boards are looking a bit chipped and worn, so I'd like to give them a freshen up. And then if I do the skirting boards, I think I'll have to do the doors as well so the colour matches. I have two young kids but was thinking about doing one thing at a time after they've gone to bed and then hopefully it will dry before they get back from school the next day. Of course, it would be more efficient to do everything at once, but I'm not likely to get to a stage of organisation anytime soon where that will be possible, so I'd just like to start with something!

If I start with the radiators, can anyone help with how to go about this? Important points:

• Radiators are painted white presently, but discoloured/chipped.
• We dry items that can't be tumbled on them in winter (probably at least partly why the paint is discoloured/chipped!) and need to be able to continue to do this - so does this mean oil-based paint is better than water?
• I'd ideally like to paint the radiator at 9pm at night when the kids are in bed, keep them away from it in the morning until they're off to school/nursery, and have it dry for when we get back at 4pm? Does this sound possible?

Can anyone recommend a white paint to use on radiators? Is oil/water-based best? How long would an oil-based paint take to dry?

Thank you!

Yes it’s definitely possible.
use quick drying gloss- the Dulux one is good.
The satin effect ones are not durable enough.
also, can you get the little racks that go over the radiator? Your clothes will dry quicker and the paint will stay fresh for longer.

It’s water based, so really easy to clean brushes etc.

Thank you! Is it this paint - https://www.dulux.co.uk/en/products/dulux-quick-dry-gloss?size=750ml.

Can you still put stuff on top of the radiators to dry? I'll look into racks but realistically we're a disorganised lot here, so even if it means having to repaint sooner, stuff is going to get thrown on them to dry when we're leaving the house in a hurry. It's difficult to describe exactly, but because of the ADHD embedding even simply changes in routine like using racks takes a loooooong time in our house.

Yes that’s the one!
you’ll be fine with washing on it, but it will need repainting sooner
I use these Drying racks you can just leave them on the radiators all the time

So helpful thanks. Going to get a small tin and start with one radiator. Of course it would be more efficient to do them all at once, but reality is that if I wait until the mess is sufficiently under control to do that, the radiators will still be grubby and unpainted in 5 years time 😂. Hoping if I do one, I can create some momentum.

Wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of decorating with ADHD - if I tried to do things sensibly I’d never get anything done. Good luck! And have some engrossing podcasts lined up!

Don't dry your clothes on the radiators, all that does it make the room more humid which increases the chances of mold. Get a dehumidifier instead and put it underneath/next to your clothes rack. They cost nothing to run and the clothes will dry fast. Meaco is a great brand and we love ours.

As for the rads/skirting, start by sanding them first, especially the rads to get any loose chips of paint off. Get all that dirty prep work done first and then tackle the painting. I'd also recommend using a coat of Zinnser BIN primer as you'd be going from oil based paint to water based. It dries superfast and you could get all rads primed in an hour, it's a simple job really. Going straight from oil based paint to water based will lead to the paint peeling off. Light sand again. Use a mini roller and a brush. Water based paint is dry to touch within an hour and would be ready for the second coat after 3-4 hours.

I don't use gloss at all! I use either a multisurface paint (water based, fast drying, durable and very wipeable - great for sticky marks) or just emulsion. My lounge radiator and skirting is multisurface and I last painted them in 2017 - still looking really good! The paint isn't cheap but a little goes a long way. I use emulsion because it's easy to touch up, dries quickly and doesn't smell (even low odour gloss smells). I also find it doesn't yellow over time. Preparation is the key to a good finish so don't skimp on sanding and cleaning. Good luck with your project!

I've just finished a two year project doing up my ruin of a cottage.
Like you OP I picked my battles and did a single thing at a time e.g. a door, a fireplace. I found it much easier to motivate myself to do small projects than face a total upheaval and weeks of work. It made each job a pleasure, like a little craft project.

Just another thought OP.
In some rooms I used a spray paint on radiators. I used Tailored Paint, but Little Greene also do it. It saved hours of work and looks great.

Thank you for all the suggestions! Going to formulate a plan.

We can't have a drying rack as we don't have space. Our downstairs is literally two rooms (kitchen and living room) plus a loo under the stairs. No cupboard space whatsoever so nowhere to store a drying rack out of the way. The hoover lives in the hallway but I recently changed it for a cordless Shark so it can fit in the shoe rack now..We could potentially try those racks on the radiators but we've had them before and the kids are really irritating with taking them off the radiators and trailing them around the house or hitting each other with them. We need as little stuff as possible here! Folding ones might be an idea if I can find some that fold right down out of the way.

I dry what I can outside and we have a washer-dryer. I used to get into a huge muddle with the laundry and have a huge backlog literally taking over one corner of the kitchen but I've managed to train myself to put at least one load on each night, hang it out in the morning if dry or, if wet, put the stuff which can be tumbled back in and put a drying cycle on and then hang the stuff which can't be tumbled on the radiators with the heating on for an hour. That also takes the chill off the house for the kids waking up. We don't get mould as we sleep with all the windows open every night even in December. We run hot as a family - the only time the kids mind the cold is getting out of bed in the morning.

After years of being a complete shambles and living in a complete midden, I've finally got a routine that kind of works - dishwasher on and laundry on before bed (regardless of whether full or not), up in the morning at 6am, heating on, hang laundry out or put on to dry, delicates on the radiators, empty dishwasher, sort packed lunches, kids up at 7am, do breakfast, plates in empty dishwasher, clean up after breakfast, wipe table and kitchen surfaces, hoover kitchen floor while kids play, teeth done at kitchen sink, turn heating off, leave for school, get back from school run (I WFH 2-3 days a week), put radiator laundry away. It sounds very inflexible, I know, but we've finally reached a stage of not having wet and dirty laundry everywhere and I don't want to sacrifice that even if my radiator paint job doesn't last as long 😂. The thing I've recognised with the ADHD is that it's a real battle to embed changes in routine - anything that involves planning to do additional steps (like take drying rack from upstairs bedroom, bring downstairs, set up, put stuff on it) just won't get done. You kind of get stuck in routines. So last year I was consistently 5 minutes late with my kids to school (never later, always 5 minutes), just because we got stuck in a routine with timings that didn't quite get us there on time. You'd think that would be easy to solve - just do everything 5 minutes earlier, right - but actually it has taken a lot of effort and "rewiring" my brain to accept a new routine to get us to a point where we're usually 5 minutes early now.

It sounds like a good plan op, a little bit at a time. Yes I would get some racks to live on the radiators, but if you don't that's fine too.

Do remember to lightly sand then wipe clean before you paint. The paint will stick so much better and last longer. One thing I've found with painting rads is the paint often runs and drips even after you have finished, so leave the covers down on the carpet over night just in case..!

You've got the right idea with little and often I think, good luck! And remember, don't let let perfection get in the way of good enough 😊

I'd leave the radiators for the summer when they aren't on and the washing is reliably outside. Other projects can be done at this time of year.

That would clearly be the sensible thing to do but the problem is that I've got the momentum going to start getting this done now and there is no guarantee that this will still be the case in the summer. By then I'll probably have lost all interest 😂.