Selling - what to do with ugly old radiator

[townie90]

We are aiming to put our house on the market by the end of the month. This radiator is a problem - previous owners painted with unsuitable paint, it is VERY flaky and looks terrible. Sanding/scraping off the paint to attempt to paint over would be a major task and may not even work.
I have been quoted £430 to replace it altogether. Budget is tight and would obviously prefer not to spend this amount on it if we could help it, but worry if we don’t do anything it will be off putting to potential buyers.
Option 1 - Bite the bullet and pay for replacement
Option 2 - try to repaint
Option 3 - do nothing and hope for the best

Thoughts?

Get another quote. Radiator itself is less than £100 and many keen DIYers could replace it. My 22 daughter has just her own in her first home with a bit of help from a friend.

Option 2. Sand it back as much as possible and then repaint. It won't be noticeable unless a viewer looks closely. All the diy stores sell radiator paint, not expensive

A radiator cover would be cheaper.

A light sanding and painting would take a few hours and look a hundred times better.
You need to fill the cracks in on the window sill as well, as they're quite off putting.

Tin of radiator paint is what ? About £15 ?

Get a tin, sand down a bit of it, paint and see if it looks OK. If you don't think you can make it look good then you have the option of DIY replacement or price you have quoted. But it is low risk/little money to find out if the paint looks OK.

With the paint, better to do several small coats than plonk a load on and have drips.

DIY replacement is not that hard presuming you can get a radiator of the same size.

I'd either - a) fit a radiator cabinet, b) sand and repaint properly or c) buy replacement radiator and DIY the install. My preference would be option 'c', but we're confident to do those kind of jobs.

I definitely wouldn't leave as is, but wouldn't pay £430 either!

Thanks all, I think we’ll give sanding and repainting a shot. Appreciate your feedback!

This kind of thing on Vinted or Amazon (about £60 so not cost free but straightforward enough if you measure) https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/8398045363-vertical-radiator-cover-grill-shelf-cabinet-mdf-wood-modern-traditional-furniture-x2

I've used special radiator spray paint in the past. Was very easy to use and looked good.

What we did with our 'ugly old radiator' when selling the house was to ask him to sit in the shed and listen to the radio.

That's not an ugly old radiator..I was expecting the old school type.dh drained down the system,we carried them outside,PPE ,lots of cardboard covering everything,sanded and sprayed.

Yes just paint it.

Do several coats as a pp said. I normally do 3-4 for one in that condition

You’ve been quoted far too much to change the radiator. A replacement one should be under £100. A new one could be smaller and much more efficient, especially if it’s double panel.
Look on City Plumbing website
Or here’s a sale
https://www.stelrad.com/radiators/designer-radiators/

It should be two hours work max for a plumber to replace it. It’s worth every penny when it’s been done in terms of extra warmth

Put a sofa in front of it?

how about a cheap radiator cover ?

It's probably because it is a one off job. Trades don't like to come out for short low cost jobs so they often have a minimum time they will charge for (1/2 day).

They might have just put in a generic quote which covers moving pipes as well which is more difficult with metal pipes.

If you got 2x changed at the same time it would probably be a lot cheaper per radiator.

Yesterday I was thinking paint, but I do wonder if they do paint whether or not they will be able to get to the wall behind and sort that out too.

I wonder how a radiator managed to get that bad.