Radiator Covers

Steel covers made to fit your hot-water or steam radiators, with a vented top, a perforated or grille front and access to the valves.

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See the types

TrussMetal is a metal fabrication shop in North Vancouver that works across Metro Vancouver. This page is for homeowners, strata and property managers, and offices with exposed radiators.

Older houses and apartment buildings around Vancouver often still heat with cast-iron or panel radiators. A made-to-measure cover tidies them up, adds a shelf and matches the room’s other metalwork. We fabricate and supply covers for hot-water (hydronic) and steam radiators, sized to each radiator, its pipes and its valves.

Covers

Radiator covers

A cover over the front, sides and top of a hot-water or steam radiator, with a vented top and a perforated, mesh or grille front. Freestanding against the wall, or fixed to it where agreed.

Covers with a shelf top

A top that doubles as a shelf along a windowsill or a hallway, slotted or perforated so warm air still rises through it.

Fronts for built-ins

Perforated or grille panels for a window seat or cabinet that a joiner builds around a radiator. Other joinery metal is on metal components for millwork.

Concept drawingRadiator cover with a vented top and front (section)Section through a steel cover standing in front of a wall radiator supplied by others: the top is open or vented, the front is perforated or a grille, and a gap at the floor lets cool air in so warm air can rise out through the top. Concept only; a cover reduces some heat output.Open or vented topPerforated orgrille frontGap at the floorSectionRadiatorby others
Concept drawingRadiator cover with valve access (front view)Front view of a radiator cover with a perforated front panel, a separate opening or panel at the radiator valve and an optional top shelf. Concept only; openings follow the radiator’s valves and vents.Top shelf, if specifiedOpening at the valveFront view
Concept drawingCover lifted off for access (section)Section showing the cover lifted forward off the radiator, which stays in place, so the radiator can be bled, cleaned and serviced. Concept only.Lifts offwithout toolsRadiator staysSection
Concept drawings, illustrative only: not a tested design, a shop drawing or an installation detail, and not a photograph or record of completed TrussMetal work. Dashed parts are by others or bought in. Parts marked “if specified” are included only where the agreed design calls for them.

Your Radiator

Type and model
Each cover starts from the radiator itself: cast-iron, panel or convector, hot-water or steam, and its maker and model where known, with photos and measurements of the radiator, pipes, valves and vents.
Airflow and clearance
A cover reduces some of a radiator’s heat output. We design for an open or vented top, a perforated front and a gap at the floor, and keep the cover clear of the radiator and its pipes. We don’t promise unchanged heat output.
Valves and service
Valves, bleed screws, steam air vents and any thermostatic valve head stay reachable or outside the cover, and the cover lifts off or opens without tools for servicing.
Fixing
Freestanding, or fixed to the wall into suitable backing where agreed.
Heating professional
Where the radiator maker’s documentation doesn’t cover enclosing that radiator, or a room is already hard to heat, your heating contractor or mechanical engineer settles the arrangement before we accept the order.
Not a safety guard
A cover gets warm itself. We make no safe-touch, burn-protection or child-safety claim.
Not on this page
Electric baseboards, fan heaters and gas- or wood-fired heaters.

Materials and Finish

Fronts
Perforated sheet, woven mesh or a bar grille in a steel frame. Perforated sheet and mesh are bought in; we fabricate and weld the frames and covers.
Finish
Powder coated in your colour by a specialist applicator. Stainless steel or brass trims where wanted.

Who Does What

Responsibilities that affect the quote

TrussMetal: covers made to the agreed radiator details, finished and supplied. We work from your measurements and photos, or measure on site by arrangement. Supply only.

Owner and heating contractor: the radiators, valves and any change to the heating, settling the arrangement where the radiator’s documentation doesn’t cover it, and wall fixing where it is needed.

Related Work

Register and return-air grilles are on metal components for millwork. See also metalwork for strata and property managers and metal furniture.

Questions

Will a cover reduce the heat?

Some, whatever the design. A vented top, an open front and a gap at the floor help, but we don’t promise unchanged output.

Is it a safety guard?

No. It gets warm itself, and we make no safe-touch or child-safety claim.

Do you make covers for steam radiators?

Yes, with the air vent and valve left reachable and the cover clear of the radiator and pipes.

Can you cover electric or gas heaters?

Not on this page. Those heaters come with their own maker’s instructions.

Do you install them?

We fabricate and supply them. Freestanding covers simply stand in place; wall fixing is by your installer.

Request a Quote

Send photos and sizes of each radiator.

What to include in your message

  • Hot-water or steam, the radiator type, and its maker and model if known
  • Photos with a tape measure in view: width, height and depth, and where the valves, vents and pipes are
  • The wall and floor around it, and how many radiators
  • Cover, shelf top or built-in front, and the front you like (perforated, mesh or grille)
  • Colour or finish, timing, and whether you’d like us to measure on site

The form starts blank: in “What do you need?”, select Other Custom Metalwork.

Request a Quote

Sending photos of your pet? After submitting, email 3–6 clear photos — front, side, three-quarter, full body and a close-up of the face — to sales@trussmetal.com with your name in the subject line. Photo tips

Have photos or drawings? Email them to sales@trussmetal.com after submitting this form. A photo of the site is the single most useful thing you can send.

Prefer to talk it through? Call (778) 805-5333, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5:00.