Competition Knocks Down Price

Strong competition between manufacturers is always good for the consumer. And this is true for just about any common product.

Of course, it may not always be wise to buy purely because something is the cheapest. There must also be some quality. So a combination of price and quality must be factored into something as mundane as central heating radiators.

Radiators have become extremely stylish lately as designers have realised that they don’t all have to be flat rectangular panels. They can be produced in almost unlimited shapes and sizes and the finish doesn’t have to be that usual white or cream one we all used to live with.

A clean polished chrome can look very chic especially as a towel rail in the bathroom. Steel made with a chrome finish means it’s not going to rust in our lifetime.

Very cheap radiators are not really suitable for this part of the house that sees more temperature change and water droplets than any other room.

If you trawl through the internet you’ll find all sorts of weird and wonderful radiators. Naturally there are some very expensive ones but these can look almost like works of art.

With so many styles and different finishes there’s no need to buy a job lot of all the same when fitting a whole new system. Different selections can be made to have individual radiators to match the shape and décor of every room.

One of our favourites is a large mirror finish. This can stand at the end of an entrance hall to give the impression that the room is twice the size.

Or it is equally useful in a bedroom as it doubles as a full length mirror and a heat source. There’s never any reason to be able to say there’s no room for a radiator. They come in such a huge variety of shapes that even the narrowest alcove or smallest space below a window can be accommodated.

The Advantages of Buying Radiators at Trade

Unless you own a business, or you know someone that does, it's unlikely that you know about the secrets of trade shops and wholesalers. These shops are pretty awesome and they sell hundreds of different products, often at great prices. If you have someone that can take you to a trade shop, like Macro or Costco, them to do it because it will blow your mind a little bit. Here, we’re going to explore the reasons why these trade stores are one of the best places to buy radiators.

Access to Better Quality Goods

The items that you find at trade stores are often better quality than those that you find at your local hardware/DIY store. This is because the retailers know that their customers have a very in-depth understanding of the products they sell. For example, they know that a plumber will know if the trade radiators are good value for money and of a high quality.

If they sell poor quality radiators, they might not necessarily make any sales. However, the average hardware stores is less concerned with this, because most people don't appreciate the difference between low and high quality radiators. That’s not to say that they always sell lower quality items, just that they aren’t as concerned with selling high-end products.

Access to Better Prices

Next, it’s likely that you'll find the best prices at trade stores. There are two reasons for this:

1.They offer bulk buying discounts. If you're buying at trade, it’s usually because you want to buy more than 5 radiators. At trade, the more you buy, the cheaper the price per unit. This may or may not be the case at the average DIY store, and even if they do offer a discount, it’s never as competitive as the trade stores.

2.Because they cut out the middleman (i.e. the retailer), the trade stores can afford to sell their goods for less money.

Trade Stores Often Have Good Knowledge

Another reason to buy trade radiators is that you can get tailored advice and help that is often of a much better quality than you would find at the normal retail stores. This is because the staff are better trained. They're dealing with people who understand the business and if they themselves can't understand the industry that they're working in it doesn't bode well from a business perspective i.e. business people will be put off buying products from people that don’t understand what they’re selling.

Faster Delivery of Good

Again, it's all down to the fact that they're working business-to-business, rather than public-to-business. Trade counters/wholesalers understand that their customers have tight deadlines and that tardy delivery has a knock on effect on their projects. If the trade store lose its customers their customers, they’d all go out of business. This means it’s in everybody’s interest to deliver goods quickly. This is not the case when shopping at a normal retail DIY store.

We hope that you now have a much better understanding of why it makes sense to buy things at trade. Unfortunately, you often need to be a business to be able to get trade prices.

How to Improve Your Living Space with Cost-Effective Changes

We all want to live in a nice house but sometimes bringing the house up to scratch can cost a lot of money: money that many of us don’t have to spare, and so a renovation can simply prove beyond budget. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to improve things without spending too much money. In our experience, taking care of the little flourishes can go a long way to improving your living space. Today, we're going to take a look at some of the ways that you can improve your home while sticking to a very tight budget.

A Lick of Paint and Some Pizazz for Your Skirting Boards

Take a look around the skirting boards. How do they look? do they have scratches, dents and damage? are they coming away from the wall at all? if you answered yes to any of these, then this is the first place to start. A simple coat of paint can go a long way to improving your skirting boards.

Another common problem is skirting boards coming away from the wall or creating cracks in the plaster. Often skirting boards come away from the wall because they've been installed too tightly. To avoid this you can remove the skirting board and reattach it, but only reattach it on one plane: if you're attaching it to the floor you only glue/pin it to the floor; if you're attaching it to the wall you only glue/pin to the wall. You don't do it to both the wall and the floor. This is the cause of cracking, which happens as the house naturally contracts and expands.

If there are cracks above the skirting board and you don't want to take them off and on again, then you can use some decorators caulk to fill the gap, or some polyfilla if it's torn the plaster above. This will breathe new life into your skirting boards they look great

Banish Those Grubby Wall Stains

Next if your house is anyway lived in then are you likely to have marks on the wall, and if you have kids then you probably have quite a few marks. Many people choose to paint the walls every year or two, but at £100 a room that cost can soon add up.

If your decoration still looks quite good, and the only issue is grubby stains, then instead of repainting you can buy these fantastic gadgets called magic erasers. All you do is get them wet and then rub them on the wall where the scratches/blemishes are. They’re very good at getting rid of unsightly stains. You do have to be careful to test a bit first in case it ruins the decor but we've used them at home and they’ve always done really well.

Cleaning the marks off the wall in this way can stop you from having to repaint the walls too often.

It’s the Little Things that Count

Next, you can try changing some little flourishes around the room. These little changes make a massive difference. For example, if your radiators looking a bit tired you can spruce them up by buying new angled valves, cleaning them of rust, or can even repainting them.

Other areas that you can improve with simple changes include door knobs, curtain ties, electric switches (sometimes they can look old fashioned),door stops, and the addition of a few decorations – a vase of flowers is always a great way to boost the look of a room.

If you would like to know more visit DesignerRadiator.

Classic Cast Iron

When people talk about traditional radiators in the context of central heating they usually mean those cast iron column ones associated with Victorian or Edwardian times.

These are often still found in large old buildings of the same era or even earlier. They’re part of the décor and period feel of the property where some of the more modern radiators may look a little out of place.

When redecorating a property most people fall into the bracket of old romantic or ultra-modern contemporary.

That’s the pleasure of seeing friends in their home and seeing what they have achieved with their preferences. Street after street in the UK are terraced properties all built at the same time. One of the biggest building booms occurred in the nineteen thirties with sways of provincial London.

The vast majority of houses and others like them were not fitted with central heating systems for another forty or fifty years. And when they were they all bought the same flat white panel variety.

Cast iron radiators UK had been installed in older and grander properties and even today this type of radiator looks the part.

On the other hand, even with one of these old properties it’s still worth looking at some very contemporary new radiators as they can bring any property into a completely different time.

Cast iron antique style or ultra-modern graphite or mirrored, all radiators are there for one single purpose and that’s to keep the home warm.

If your boiler is fifteen years old and keeps playing up so you are regularly calling out the engineer, or if the radiators are rattling and leaking, you should grasp the bull by the horns and look at new.

The latest combination boilers are more efficient than ever and as old radiators could be furring up inside its better that a new boiler is fitted at the same time as new radiators.

It’s almost certain that if the boiler is old the radiators will be as well. They may even be older so take a look at traditional and contemporary new ones and imagine how they will look in your home.

Even In Summer You Need This Radiator

The UK climate is one of the most unpredictable in the world. Just when we think summer has arrived because it’s a hot June day we’re suddenly in a wet and cold week before the month is up.

When you live in the Eastern Mediterranean the winters may be cold and a little wet but once April arrives and the days are warm it’s safe to bet it will remain getting warmer and sunnier right through to November and beyond.

And then if you want really consistent weather go and live on the Equator. And yet this would suit very few Englishmen as they’ve been brought up to moan about the weather almost on a daily basis.

So when’s the best time to close down the central heating system? Every springtime that question is asked of ourselves and our neighbours. But when it is switched off there is one emergency radiator that should be available at any one time to counter a sudden wet and chilly July day.

It’s the one in the bathroom. Towel radiators are designed to keep towels warm and dry throughout the year as even in summer it’s a reassuring feeling to grab a large warm and dry towel when you step out of the shower or bath.

It also just keeps the edge off any chill throughout colder summer days. Because it is the only radiator that truly is handy 12 months a year it should be a stand-alone item and consequently must be electric.

And please don’t fall into that trap of saying you don’t need a towel radiator as you have a perfectly good room radiator on which to hang your towel.

The room radiator is there to warm the room and not the towel that will just prevent it doing its job. Particularly if it is fitted with a radiator thermostat as this will fool the control into thinking that it’s time to switch off.

New towel radiators are these days manufactured in many shapes and sizes so just don’t forget to calculate how many people use the bathroom before you buy.

Factors to Consider When Choosing A Radiator

What was once thought to be something of a luxury, heated towel rails now are a standard commodity in any contemporary bathroom suite. They provide just the perfect level of warmth all through the bathroom and keep the towels cosily warm. Having a heated towel rail is affordable and can add a bit of decadence to your bathroom suite.

When choosing opting to buy a towel radiator, there are certain features that need to be considered. There are a number of good companies which offer quality products in a stunning variety of designs like Hudson Reed Radiators among others. Some of the things to look out for are:

The BTU: The British Thermal Unit (BTU) is one of the most important aspects to consider. The BTU is the output and the higher the output of a radiator, the better the heating capacity of it would be. Of course this subject to the size of the room you want to heat and also if you would be using a number of large, heavy towels. To get an accurate estimate of the required BTU you could use a free online BTU calculator or ask a trained technician to work it out for you.

Finish: If you have recently had the decor of your bathroom redone then you would need to choose one that matches the interior decor and theme. If is just an addition to an existing bathroom suite, you will have to find something that matches the existing ambience. For modern bathrooms with a minimalistic look the best option would be a radiator with a chrome finish. The material is incredibly durable so you can be assured of it giving you lasting service. For traditional bathrooms there are variety of other materials and finishes that complement the heritage appearance of the decor.

Size: The size of the towel rail should be suited to the dimensions of your bathroom. If you have a bathroom of relatively smaller dimensions a smaller rail unit will provide ample heat, whereas if you have a large and spacious bathroom, the unit will need to be of larger dimensions.  There are a variety of sizes from medium 700mm x 400mm to large 1800mm x 600mm models, which would suit any type of bathroom.

Cost: With utility bills always being an important factor to consider, opt for a model that offer dual fuel options. This could be used in conjunction with the central heating system in winters and alternately with electricity when the weather is warmer. It will save considerably on energy costs.

Towel storage: It depends on the number of people who will use the bathroom and the number of towels that need to be stored. For a large family choose one that has multiple columns for adequate storage. For a smaller household comprising of two or three individuals a compact rail would be ideal. Search for additional features like a useful storage shelf which could come in handy.

Cast Iron: Why It's So Blooming Fantastic!

As you can tell from the title, I absolutely love cast iron. I use it wherever it’s appropriate, e.g. I have frying pans (you might call it a skillet if you’re American) and radiators made from cast iron.