Cast Iron Radiator Restoration in Greenwich, CT

Greenwich houses were built with good fixtures, and the cast iron radiators are no exception. The Georgian and Tudor revivals of the 1920s and 1930s, the older colonials nearer the water, and the backcountry estates all tend to carry heavier, more decorative cast iron than a city apartment ever had. Metal Man Restoration collects those radiators, strips them to bare iron at our shop, repairs the castings, and returns them refinished.

What Is Usually Hiding Under a Radiator Cover

Greenwich is full of built-in radiator enclosures. Somebody decided at some point that the radiator was ugly and boxed it in, and two or three owners later nobody has seen what is behind the grille. It is worth looking. Enclosures were often built over exactly the radiators worth showing, and they also choke the heat, because a cast iron radiator gives off a good part of its output as radiant heat that a wooden box absorbs. Taking the cover off and restoring what is behind it usually improves both the room and the heating.

Decorative Castings and Hand Polishing

The more ornate the casting, the more there is to gain from stripping it properly and the more there is to lose from a careless job. Deep fluting, scrollwork and raised panels hold paint in ways flat surfaces do not. This is also where hand polishing earns its place: on a decorative radiator a polished finish reads as a furnishing rather than a utility. We do that work in our own shop, which is not true of most people offering it.

What Radiator Restoration Involves

Each radiator is stripped to bare iron before anyone decides anything about finish, because on a decorative casting you cannot judge what you have until the paint is off. Rust is dealt with, the detail is brought back, and cracked sections, failed joints or broken feet are repaired where repair is the right answer. Where it is not, we say so. Finishes run from solid colors and period-appropriate looks through bronze and metallic to hand polishing, which happens in our own shop.

Working Around the House

Most of this work happens between heating seasons, when the system is off anyway and nobody is inconvenienced by a radiator being absent for a while. We schedule collection and return on agreed dates, work with architects, designers, builders and house managers where they are involved, and keep the disruption to two visits rather than an open-ended presence in the house.

Part of a Larger Restoration Shop

Radiators are one part of what the shop does. The same benches handle bronze and brass entrances, steel casement windows, lighting and hardware. See our radiator restoration service, or the rest of our metal restoration work.

Common Questions About Radiator Restoration in Greenwich

What Greenwich owners ask us most before booking.

How does this work if your shop is in New York?

Easily, because it is closer than it sounds. Our shop is in Mount Vernon, a short run down I-95 from lower Fairfield County. We drain and disconnect the radiators, take them to the shop, and deliver them back for reinstallation. Nothing is shipped and you are not arranging freight.

Should I take the radiator covers off first?

No need. We can remove an enclosure as part of the collection and tell you what is behind it before you commit to anything. If what is under there is not worth showing, you have lost nothing by looking.

Will removing the cover make the room warmer?

Usually, yes. A cast iron radiator gives off a significant share of its heat by radiation, and a solid enclosure absorbs much of that. Freeing the radiator tends to improve output in the room.

Can you match a finish across a house done in stages?

Yes. Tell us what was used before, or send us one radiator as a reference, and later phases will match rather than looking like an afterthought.

Is the old paint hazardous?

Radiators of this age usually carry lead-based paint under the later coats. That is exactly why stripping belongs in a shop under controlled conditions and not in an occupied house.

Do you handle a whole house at once?

Yes, and doing them as a set is the best way to guarantee a consistent finish from room to room. We can also phase it if you would rather spread the work.

We do the same work nearby in Westchester and across the city in Manhattan.

Restore Your Greenwich Cast Iron Radiators

If you have original cast iron in a Greenwich house, boxed in or buried under paint, we can bring it back. Use the form below or call (914) 662-4218.

Still deciding whether to restore what you have or buy new? Our guide to restoring cast iron radiators versus buying new covers what each route costs, why lead paint makes this shop work, and the four cases where new iron is genuinely the better answer.

Projects Like This

Real projects from our own shop and job sites. Every one of these is work we did ourselves.

The Rialto The Capital At The Beacon The former Jersey City Medical Center is a landmark Art Deco complex built between 1928 and 1941 that sat largely... View the project Yankee Stadium Plaques In April 2008, the New York Yankees and Skanska Construction Corporation hired Metal Man Restoration to restore two... View the project Metal Man Restoration at Yale University's Harkness Tower Metal Man Restoration was hired in June 2009 to restore the cast iron windows at Yale University's Harkness Tower... View the project

★★★★★

We moved into a very old house with radiators that were in bad shape, to say the least! I found Anthony from Metal Man and wow, amazing transformation as you can see in the before pic... Truly we were astonished when they were returned to us. Pick up and delivery by Manny was seamless, with great...

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