How much does it cost to paint a radiator in the UK? (2026)
Published 13 October 2026 · Last updated 13 October 2026 · ~6 min read · By a working Glasgow painter
Short answer: in 2026, a UK painter or decorator charges about £15–£100 per radiator to paint it where it hangs, depending on size (MyJobQuote, September 2026). Taking a radiator off the wall to have it sprayed costs £50–£120 before any paint, and a new like-for-like radiator, fitted, is £150–£250 (MyJobQuote). Old cast-iron radiators are a separate trade: restorers charge from about £150 per radiator, and from £600 for a large one.
Most cost guides answer only one of those questions. This one puts the three options side by side (paint it in place, take it off and spray it, or replace it) and shows the sums behind each, so you can see which one a quote is pricing.
How much does a decorator charge to paint a radiator?
About £15–£100 per radiator painted in place, depending on size: £15–£40 for a small single-panel radiator, £30–£70 for a medium double-panel and £50–£100 for a large one (MyJobQuote, September 2026).
| Source | What it prices | Price |
|---|---|---|
| MyJobQuote, radiator painting cost guide (updated 22 Sep 2026) | Painter or decorator, radiator painted in place | £15–£70 per radiator (headline) |
| MyJobQuote, same guide, by size (labour) | Small single-panel · medium double-panel · large · cast-iron or column | £15–£40 · £30–£70 · £50–£100 · £80–£180 |
| Checkatrade, painter and decorator prices (unverified) | Radiator, as shown in Google's search result for the page | About £15 per radiator |
| MyJobQuote, radiator removal and replacement guide (updated 10 Sep 2026) | Plumber removes a radiator | £80 small · £100 medium · £120 large |
| MyJobQuote, same guide | Like-for-like replacement, fitted | £150 small · £200 medium · £250 large |
MyJobQuote's guide gives more than one answer. Its headline is £15–£70, but the same page also says £50–£100 per radiator with a professional and an average of £75. Its size table explains most of the gap, so we lead with that. We could not open Checkatrade's page to check its figure, so treat it as unverified. None of these prices says whether VAT is included. A decorator whose VAT-taxable turnover is £90,000 or less over 12 months does not have to register for VAT (HMRC), so many small firms charge none. A VAT-registered firm adds 20%.
Painting the whole room? The free calculator prices the walls, ceiling and woodwork in a couple of minutes. Add the radiators using the figures on this page.
Why does one radiator cost £15 and another £100?
Size and type, says MyJobQuote. And £15 is only about 40 minutes of a decorator's time, which in our reading works only when they are already painting the room.
HaMuch's UK average painter day rate is £173. Over an eight-hour day that is about £21.60 an hour, so £15 buys roughly 40 minutes, £100 about four and a half hours, and the £180 top for cast iron about eight hours. These conversions are our arithmetic, not a published price.
Forty minutes is realistic inside a room job. The decorator is already there, the dust sheets are down, and the radiator's first coat dries while they cut in the walls. It is not realistic as a job on its own. A radiator still needs cleaning, a light sand, any rust spots primed and two coats, with drying time in between.
That is why a one-off radiator tends to be priced as a block of time. We found the same thing with front doors, where a "two-hour" job is billed as a half day. At HaMuch's average, half a day is about £87.
The top of the range is the slow work. MyJobQuote prices a large radiator at £50–£100 and a cast-iron or column radiator at £80–£180, and on any radiator, rust has to be treated and primed before it is painted (Vaillant).
Should you paint, spray or replace a radiator?
For an ordinary steel panel radiator, usually paint it in place or replace it. Taking it off costs £50–£120 before any spraying, and size for size, removal alone is about half the price of a new fitted radiator (£80 v £150 small, £120 v £250 large, MyJobQuote).
| Option | What you pay | When it makes sense |
|---|---|---|
| Paint in place | £15–£100 per radiator by size; £80–£180 cast iron or column (MyJobQuote) | The radiator works and is just yellowed, chipped or the wrong colour |
| Take off, spray, refit | £50–£120 to take off, depending on which MyJobQuote guide you read, plus spraying. We found no published UK price for spraying steel panel radiators | Designer or column radiators you want to keep |
| Replace like-for-like | £150–£250 fitted (MyJobQuote). The radiator alone is £20–£120 | Rust coming through, leaks, or an old radiator you would replace anyway |
| Restore cast iron off-site | From about £150 to £600+ per radiator (see below) | Period cast-iron radiators worth keeping |
MyJobQuote prices removal per radiator: £80 for a small one (about an hour), £100 for a medium one (one to two hours) and £120 for a large one (about two hours), with plumbers at £45–£75 an hour. The same guide puts a new panel radiator at £20–£40 small, £40–£80 medium and £85–£120 large, before fitting. It does not price refitting the same radiator after spraying. MyJobQuote's painting guide disagrees with it: there, taking a radiator off and refitting it is £50–£100.
So spraying only pays when the radiator is worth more than its replacement: a heavy column radiator, a designer model, or cast iron. We looked for a UK price list for spraying ordinary steel panel radiators and did not find one. If a quote includes spraying, ask whether taking the radiator off and putting it back are in the price, because that part is plumbing, not painting.
How much does it cost to restore a cast-iron radiator?
From about £150 for a small radiator at £30 per section including VAT (Radrestore), or from £350 for a small radiator and from £600 for a large or complex one (The Old Radiator Company).
Radrestore, a restorer in Stockport, Greater Manchester, prices by the section (the vertical columns you can count along the front): £30 per section including VAT, with a five-section minimum. Its standard finish is included; an upgraded finish adds £10, £15 or £20 per section, repairs typically add up to £10 per section, and collection and return are quoted separately. The Old Radiator Company prices by size and complexity, from £350 for small radiators and from £600 for large or complex ones. We checked both on the companies' own pages on 13 October 2026; check the current price list before you book.
Old cast iron needs one extra check: lead. HSE's information sheet on old lead paint (CIS79) says lead pigments were "widely used in paints for homes, schools and offices until the 1960s" and were not removed from commonly used paints until the early 1980s. Dry sanding and burning paint off are the risky jobs. HSE's guidance, written for builders, is to strip old paint only if it is flaking or chipping, and to key sound paint with waterproof abrasive paper. If the paint on an old radiator is flaking, that is a good reason to send it to a restorer rather than sand it in your living room.
What paint should you use on a radiator?
Use a radiator enamel and paint the radiator cold. Vaillant warns that ordinary emulsion can crack and discolour from the heat, and cheap gloss can crack, peel or yellow.
- Turn the heating off first. Hammerite's Radiator Enamel instructions say radiators "must be turned off and only painted when cold".
- Skip ordinary emulsion. Vaillant, the boiler maker, says it is "best to avoid standard emulsion" because of "cracking and discolouration from the heat", and that cheaper gloss paints "are susceptible to cracking, peeling or yellowing over time".
- Prime rust and bare metal. Vaillant says "a good coat of anti-corrosive primer is essential" where rust has started.
- Leave it off while it dries. Hammerite lists a drying time of 1–2 hours for its radiator aerosol. Vaillant says to leave a radiator painted with oil-based gloss off for up to 24 hours.
- Protect the room. Vaillant suggests paper or a dust sheet under the radiator, masking tape on pipes and fittings if you spray, and an open window. The aerosol is labelled extremely flammable.
Doing it yourself? MyJobQuote puts DIY materials at £15–£80 per radiator. When you pay a decorator, you are mostly paying for time.
Does painting a radiator reduce its heat output?
Not noticeably, and the colour barely matters. Metallic paint is what cuts the heat a radiator gives off as radiation.
How well a surface gives off heat as radiation is its emissivity, on a scale from 0 to 1. Engineering ToolBox's reference table lists oil paints of all colours at 0.92–0.96 and aluminium paint at 0.27–0.67. A white radiator and a black one radiate about the same; a silver-painted one radiates less. The table's values are for room temperature, so treat them as a guide rather than an exact figure for a hot radiator.
Vaillant puts it the same way. Painting a radiator "will reduce its heat output", it says, but by so little that it will not affect efficiency "in any noticeable way", while metallic paint "can make it less efficient". It also says chrome or stainless-steel radiators can put out 15% less heat than the same model with a painted finish, without saying how that was measured.
Is there a free way to price a room, radiators included, without handing over your details?
Yes. Quote-matching sites such as MyJobQuote, Checkatrade and Bark pass your details to tradespeople. The paintingquotation.com calculator gives you a figure instantly, with no form, email or postcode. Price the walls, ceiling and woodwork there, then add each radiator by size: £15–£40 small, £30–£70 medium, £50–£100 large (MyJobQuote).
Price your room in two minutes.
The free calculator needs no sign-up. For whole-room prices, see the bedroom guide or the living room guide. Painting the woodwork too? The window frames guide covers sash and casement prices.
Related questions
- How much does it cost to paint a radiator in the UK? About £15–£100 per radiator painted in place, by size (MyJobQuote, September 2026), and £80–£180 for cast-iron or column radiators.
- Is it cheaper to paint or replace a radiator? Painting in place is cheapest. Replacing like-for-like is about £150–£250 fitted, and taking a radiator off for spraying costs £50–£120 before any paint (MyJobQuote).
- Can you paint a radiator with normal emulsion? It is best avoided: Vaillant warns it can crack and discolour from the heat. Use radiator enamel on a cold radiator.
- Does painting a radiator reduce its heat output? Not noticeably, and colour barely matters (oil paints of all colours: emissivity 0.92–0.96, Engineering ToolBox). Metallic paint is the exception.
- How much does it cost to restore a cast-iron radiator? From about £150 for a small radiator at £30 per section including VAT (Radrestore), or from £350 small and £600 large or complex (The Old Radiator Company).
- Do you need to turn the heating off to paint a radiator? Yes. Paint it cold (Hammerite) and leave it off while it dries: Hammerite lists 1–2 hours' drying for its aerosol, Vaillant up to 24 hours for oil-based gloss.
Sources: MyJobQuote, radiator painting cost guide (updated 22 September 2026) and radiator removal and replacement cost guide (updated 10 September 2026); Checkatrade painter and decorator prices (unverified: page not reachable for checking); HaMuch UK painter day rate; Radrestore and The Old Radiator Company published prices (accessed 13 October 2026); Hammerite Radiator Enamel product page (Dulux Trade Paint Expert); Vaillant, "Can you paint radiators?"; Engineering ToolBox, emissivity coefficients; HSE information sheet CIS79 "Old lead paint"; HMRC VAT registration threshold. Prices are typical UK figures for 2026 and are not a quotation.