Vent covers can be an innocuous part of your room. Unfortunately, vents can be an ugly piece of metal grating sat in your floor, wall or ceiling, compromising your decor. While vent covers may appear to be trivial, they can severely impact the overall aesthetics of your interior design. While vent covers are an essential component of any HVAC system, this does not mean that you are forced to have an ugly grate in your room. By familiarizing yourself with your options, you can choose a vent cover to blend seamlessly into the room.
Why You Need Vent Covers:
The primary function of vent covers is to redirect airflow to where is needed from the ventilation system. Low traffic areas can have closed vent covers while high traffic rooms should have the vents left open at all times. With modern HVAC systems, most vents will need to remain open, so it is important that you choose the right vent covers. This will not only improve your comfort level, but will also be more aesthetically appealing.
Basic Covers:
Basic covers tend to be used in modern office buildings, apartments or townhouses. They are a simple metal grate which sits over the vent. The cover redirects air from the vent and encourages airflow into the room. Typically, these covers are painted to match the floor or wall they are mounted in, but even this can fail to properly camouflage the vent.
The main advantage of basic covers is that they are generally inexpensive. Unfortunately, they tend not to offer a tight seal on the vent, which means that air pressure can be reduced as air escapes. This inferior seal means that you may experience less efficient cooling in summer if the vent is floor mounted and less effective heating in winter when the vent is ceiling mounted since cold air sinks and hot air rises.
Magnetic Covers:
Magnetic vent covers tend to offer a far more airtight seal and can usually be fitted directly over the basic cover. Adding a magnetic cover could reduce the load of your overtaxed HVAC system as air pressure is more effectively maintained. The magnetic seal means that fitting these covers is relatively simple, and since they are fairly inexpensive, they can offer a good solution for many homeowners. Research suggests that the cost of magnetic covers could be recouped in only a few months from the energy savings alone. The covers can usually be painted to match your decor, but you will need to check that your basic cover is magnetic before you buy a new cover.
Decorative Covers:
If you are looking for a more aesthetic rather than a practical solution for your vents, decorative covers could be a good idea. There is a wide variety of different designs and styles available to complement any taste in decor. Decorative covers are available in various materials and grille patterns. It may even be possible to have your decorative covers custom designed. While this type of cover will be more expensive, it is not necessarily cost prohibitive. If you are considering complementing your new decor, you may find that decorative covers provide a nice finishing touch.