Skirting boards radiators

We have one in our kitchen and it gives out a fair amount of heat. It can also blow cold air so could be handy in summer

Why not move the existing radiator to another wall. When we moved into our existing home we had a bay window with radiators round it. We had the radiators relocated to another wall aand were then able to fit thick lined floor length curtains.

Monica did the curtains make much difference?

Yes, they did. Floor length with a good thick interlining. We draw then as soon as it gets dark, and on cold days only open them wide enough to let light in through the front window, not the sides (it is a square bay.).

The other thing to do if you cannot move the radiators, is to put foil behind them, so that the heated emanated from the back of the radiator is reflected back into the room. We were in that situation in our bedroom in a previous home and it took the room from tepid, to nicely warm. You can buy rolls of foam backed foil for this purpose in any DIY store.

A 1960s semi of ours had skirting board radiators. These were a great nuisance for two reasons. They kept disintegrating. They were thick enough so that you did not want to put storage units such as bookcases against them, actually as thick as ordinary radiators.

PS perhaps they have improved in appearance but they did not look like at all like ordinary skirting, and I personally found them to be visually intrusive.

I hope Alexa you will not take this amiss, but every time I see your name I imagine someone calling out the “command”,
“Alexa, write to Gransnet!”
Sorry!

Maw Broon , my thoughts exactly.

Are these the same as kick board heating. If so my son in law is a builder and has these in his quite large kitchen. He swears by them and always cautions customers against under floor heating a) because of the running cost and b) because if anything goes wrong it requires floor lifting etc. He says they are so easy to maintain.

Thank you for that Lovetopaint037. We are hoping to build an extension and I was holding out against underfloor heating and preferring skirting radiators, for similar reasons to your SiL. I have had friends whose living room floor was up for months following problems with ordinary CH pipes that passed under it.

They are not jot the same as kickboard heating -which is, essentially, fan heaters under kitchen cupboards with a grill. They are expensive to run.

We had skirting radiators on our first house and didn't find they gave much heat but I expect they have improved in nearly 50 years.

How old is the double glazing ? I would see if it's leaking. Find a feather! But yes, put another radiator somewhere else and put lined full length curtains up. Best thing to do is to get a central heating installer to give you advice. The gas boiler man who checks our boiler each year said what radiator we should have.