you have to be careful, I would think. I know that if you set a hot pot or pan on a corian counter top, you might as well replace the counter...it will leave a burn mark

I suppose you could adhere the corian to an insulative material, so the heat isnt as strong, but this would also reduce how effective the radiator was

...or maybe someone who hasn't done it can just guess.

thats useful.

i think in the long run it will crack, since there are extreme temperature differences on both sides.

besides, its poor heating to have cover on top of radiator...

i think is the temperature differences... bottoms surface expanding faster than top surface for a prolong period of time... is best u read the specification and consult with the sales if warranty cover such unusual conditions or try it out urself and let us know. :-)

You might want to enter it in a Dwell Magazine Competition...

Actually if you contact the people at Dupont, they can give you some good answers....regarding thermal expansion and how well their adhesive will hold up. They have a very good techno department.

You might find it a bit expensive for a radiator cover, cause the stuff is not cheap!

kinda late but here goes.

I work with a very respectable solid surface fabricator and it isnt uncommon to do radiator covers - in fact we have a really fancy looking one in our show room in nyc. - all of them have cut out for ventilation...

if you are worried about discoloration... it is possible and frequently happens... especially with white... it yellows.... but its all relative

i can't help but wonder what putting a thin, preferably shiny, aluminum heat shield separated by a very thin spacer on the underside/inside would do ---

as long as the redirected heat has somewhere to go, i.e., ventilation cut-outs, i think it would reduce the corian temperature a good bit

alternatively, you could build to passivhaus standards and supply all heating needs through HRV, towel warmers or a small ethanol fireplace...

then, no unsightly radiators to cover.

You could probably do a quartzite material like Silestone or Caesarstone. I know you can put a hot pot down on them without damaging the surface.

That's how I'd do it!

Metal tube fram with laser cut corian insets. Although not prictured, this cover has an open air back with metal cross bracing.

In addition, it has an access door on the top of the unit to access the valves.

Lastly, a light installed in the underside glows orange when the surface temperature of the cover exceeds a certain temperature. It does this as a connection to the perception of fire as warmth and also as a warning that any heat sensitive items should be moved (candles, chocolates, things containing alcohol).

Aren't we talking about $100/sf here. That's reason enough not to use it.

I guess I'm retailing my radiator cover for $3400-3600 then.

some dude in this months dwell designed a perforated MDF radiator cover...

First of all I said $100 not $110.

I guess I still need to qualify my post $100/sf/ installed.

Please tell me how far off I am.

If you fudge around with the price estimator to get square feet, you'll find that most Corian should cost between $55-83 a square foot.

I'm assuming the price estimator uses DuPont's MSRP.

Corian, as well as many other surfaces, are tricky to sell retail wise because most retailers do not keep it in stock. It would be fundamentally retarded to do so.

So, They're essentially a front end to DuPont, who as a chemical manufacturer probably has zero interest in dealing with individual retail customerr, with their own specialized order forms with their own significant markups above and beyond the MSRP.

This is because retailers have to be trained in multiple aspects of selling it-- basic color theory, measuring, durability (including shrinkage) and installing it.

What makes specialty surfaces like this different from say stone or wood (laminated, formica, butcher block) is that those materials have obvious other uses.

I think I would probably balk at someone who use corian as a wall or floor covering. It is really just too expensive-- stone is price competitive!

So, building suppliers realize that bigger chains like Home Depot inflate the price by offering all of those "free" services (classes, color matching, explaining care, installation) to hyperinflate the price... so, naturally they raise the price as well.

And before you know it, everyone is selling at 166% of the original retail.

Unless you get a wholesalers license, you won't really know what the "real" price is!

(And many wholesalers and retailers don't want you to necessarily know how cheap their products really are at wholesale... because it exposes their business as the fraud it really is!

That is that 90% of them fill out forms you could fill out!)

I did this one, but the client's guests sat or stood on it at a party and it cracked... its kind of a bitch to fix....