Cast Iron Baseboard

How To: Dealing with an unusual toilet; sealing and polishing concrete

Q. When a home improvement company renovated my front porch several years ago, it was in a hurry to finish and painted the concrete when it was too cold. So now the paint is peeling. I could strip the peeling paint and apply a fresh coat, but I’m wondering whether it’s possible to seal and polish the concrete to make it look similar to the concrete floors at Ikea, the Home Depot, Costco and other warehouse-type places. My porch has a roof but is exposed to the weather. If sealing and polishing the bare concrete is an option, can you give me any advice on how to do this?

—The District

A. Sealing and polishing the concrete is certainly an option. There are a couple of approaches. A company with the right tools can simply polish the surface and apply a penetrating sealer. Or the crew can color the concrete by applying a stain before the sealer goes on. A third option is to sand deeper, enough to expose some of the aggregate, or small stones, within the concrete mix. This leaves the floor looking similar to terrazzo.

Mid-Atlantic Floor Care ( www.midatlanticfloorcare.com ; 877-745-4705) charges $5 to $7 a square foot for the treatments, with a minimum job price of $2,000. Based in Richmond, the company tackles jobs throughout the Washington area. Find other companies that polish concrete through listings at www.concretenetwork.com .

Tool rental companies carry diamond-grit grinders suitable for polishing concrete. At Sunbelt Rentals (202-529-4667; www.sunbeltrentals.com ) an electric grinder rents for $92 a day. So polishing the concrete yourself may seem like a great way to save money, since the process is basically like sanding wood. But to use the machine, you need to buy a kit with the different grinding pads from the manufacturer — and that costs about $600. Steve Howe, the manager at Sunbelt Rentals, says that in six years, he’s rented only to pros except for once, to a homeowner who had ordered the kit. “He got the machine on a Thursday,” Howe said, “and it took him through the whole weekend to complete his project. But he did it.”

When wet, polished concrete is more slippery than broom-finished concrete — the kind you’re probably used to — but less slick than polished marble or waxed concrete. “It has the best slip-resistance of any polished flooring,” says Jeremy Wilkerson of Mid-Atlantic. To keep people from slipping in rainy weather, you can add a mat where people walk. If the mat traps moisture underneath for long periods, it might make the sealer on the concrete look cloudy, but that should disappear once the concrete dries out, Wilkerson said.

Radiators ? Why Cast Iron?

Cast iron radiators heat up slowly and cool down slowly to give a very gentle, even, radiant heating. Since the 50′s less expensive copper finned convectors and baseboard have come to predominate but the heating is harsher more of an “all on,” “all off” effect. Along with these and other, even newer forms of heating, Burnham Cast Iron Radiators and Cast Iron Baseboard are still available at Colonial.

While there are any number of people out there who will follow the trends no matter what they dictate, keeping up with The Joneses is not necessarily for everyone. Some people prefer time-worn style over fleeting fashion, and will want to model their houses according to their own unique tastes, not the current flavour of the month in different interior design magazines.

For those who want a more timeless look to their house, focussing on classic design rather than artistic expression, when it comes to bathrooms there is more to creating the perfect look than simply finding a Victorian style tub. One of the focal points to any truly unique bathroom will be the radiator.

Cast iron bathroom radiators are much more ornate and attractive than your normal run of the mill radiators, giving you much more scope to find a design that is just right for you.

However the benefits of these beautiful bathroom radiators don’t just end with their looks. While they will be much more stylish than most other types of radiator, they are also actually much more economical and efficient. They will heat bathrooms evenly and thoroughly which certain other styles will not be able to do.

They are also surprisingly low cost and also cheap to run. Cast iron’s density means that it is much more efficient at storing heat than other types of radiator and will continue to radiate heat for a long time after the heating has been switched off.

Their use will also help to reduce condensation while gently warming the room rather than aggressively filling it with heat. For those who want to combine classic looks with a practical way to provide heat, there really isn’t any better option. And when the latest trend is yesterday’s news your bathroom will still look as stylish as ever.

Audel HVAC Fundamentals, Volume 3: Air Conditioning, Heat Pumps and Distribution Systems

Heating handbook, a manual of standards, codes, and methods

Time-saver standards, a manual of essential architectural data for architects, engineers, designers, builders, draftsmen, and other technicians

Build Your Dream Home for Less

Home Improvement 1-2-3