Rad Covers - Complete!

This weekend marked the end of our (initial) rad cover project! You can see Part 1 here. It was finally warm enough that we could spray paint the metal grates outside in the garage. It was VERY wet/humid but the paint seemed to dry just fine (thank god...we couldn't bear waiting much longer to get these up!). 

The perforated metal was the hardest component to find at a good price. For those of you in Toronto, we ended up getting the metal at FerrierWire. They had the best price and did custom cuts (for just a bit extra). Let me tell you, that "extra" was well worth it.  We ended up paying $150 for all the metal we needed for the living room and dining room covers and having it custom cut (as opposed to $160 for just the metal, uncut from our first source). Their pieces are $113 for a 3'x8' piece (Rona sells pieces 3'x2' for $40 if you're looking for something smaller, and Danforth Lumber sells 3'x4' for $80. Neither cuts to size). The only potential downside is that Ferrier is only open Mon-Fri, 8am-3pm-ish, but we made it work.

We used MDF for the box and top, with some trim for the edges. 

Here's the stuff you've been waiting for - the before and afters:

This was our entry rad "during" the project, as posted in Rad Covers -Part 1

And...after!!

For this rad we used a wooden screen that we had hanging out in the garage so this was one of the first ones done.

Here is what our rads looked like before our project:

Now do you see why we were so keen on getting this project done?

Rad cover box, pre-screen

Attaching the screen was pretty easy - just a small screw that it can rest on when gravity does its thing.

And the final product... 

Ta-da!!

It's funny how such weird, seemingly background-ish projects can make such a huge difference. Now we're hooked and will likely do some for our bedrooms upstairs - it just looks SO much better!