Rad rads

"There's a whole stack of cast iron radiators out the very back of the salvage yard"....music to my ears dear reader, music to my ears.  I love that my builder knows every nook and cranny of every salvage yard around.  

It took a few weeks to find the time to head out over the bridge to search for these rads. And on Saturday, despite pouring rain, I was determined to go see these cast iron beauties. 

"Only the ones without legs are for sale" said the store man gruffly as he led me outside, briskly walking past three huge lumber sheds and into the far back corner that bordered a busy highway.  In the rain and mud, thankful I had the sense to wear gumboots, I climbed through the overgrown blackberry and there they were.  Three pallets stacked up with gorgeous old cast iron radiators.  In desperate need of some love.

Of the fifteen or so radiators, they all had legs except three.  Two of those were broken, which left only one worth buying.  A big heavy eight bar monster. Painted gold. We cut back the blackberry and the forklift was driven up to carry the beast to the car.  It is super heavy.   

To be honest, I have no idea if it will work.  Seems a more common practice in the UK and North America to restore these old radiators.  But I'm up for challenge and will give it a go. Next step is to get it tested, sandblasted, painted and buy some new feet for it.  A pretty easy process I've discovered after a few night's google research.  Once it's painted AWUSA it will look smashing, at a fraction of the cost of a new one.  We'll hook it up to the oven, which also heats water, and by next winter our house will be toasty warm.

One rad down, four more to go. 

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