Floor registers and grilles
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Once you have your new hardwood floors or refinished your old hardwood floors, one of the first things you’ll notice are those old, dirty and unattractive floor registers on the floor. Not to worry as it’s easy to make a change – either add Wood Floor Registers or metal ones.
Wood and metal floor registers
Note: these are sometimes called registers, grilles or vent covers. They are all the same thing.
When you’re installing new unfinished hardwood floors, it’s easy enough to add matching flush registers. Flush means that they are the same height (vs. an overlap one is will rest on top). Then, these can be sanded and refinished to match the floor. However, if you already have hardwood floors in place and/or are doing pre-finished wood, it’s generally easier to get overlap registers that fit on top of the wood. That way, you don’t need to worry about cutting and fitting it in with the wood that’s already in place. (Yes, if you are doing unfinished wood, you can do this…it will just take some extra labor).
You can either do wood registers or metal, pending your preference.
For wood registers, you want to make sure you have the matching species. Most wood registers come in red oak and white oak, so choose carefully. If you have another species or a pre-finished wood with a stain color, you will have more difficulty matching (and you may be be better off with metal ones.
You’ll want to measure the size of your registers (most are 4″ x 12″). Some are also available in 6″ x 12″, 4″ x 10″ and 2″ x 12″. These are the total length of width of the register (the opening is generally a bit smaller).
Here are some options you can purchase on Amazon. Wood and Metal Floor Registers
Here are some unfinished wood flush registers
Unfinished red oak flush register 4″ x 12″
Unfinished White Oak Flush Register 4″ x 12″
Here are some overmount/pre-finished wood options
Click on the pictures for more info (and you can buy directly on Amazon).
You can search for others on Amazon. Wood registers on Amazon
Here are some metal registers
Most come in black, silver, rubbed bronze, or brushed nickel. You can click on the pictures for more info or to buy them directly on Amazon and have them shipped to your home.
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You can search for other metal registers at Amazon Here: Metal registers from Decor Grates
You can also find some on Wayfair.com.
Download my free ebook – The Top 10 Flooring Mistakes Home Owners Make:
Wood and metal registers and grilles for hardwood floors | Vent covers for the floors
This is a wonderful post Debbie. You have thrown caution in the wind by adding matching species. I believe you have to match the colour when you are installing a new hardwood flooring. Because that’s the point I missed during my re-installation. And believe me that really looked pale.
Hi James. Thanks for your comment. If you are refinishing the wood, you just need the species match. When you stain the floor everything will look consistent. If you are doing prefinished wood, then you need to match the color or alternatively choose metal.
Hi debbie! I just refinished my wood flooring. And the colour doesn’t match. Just saw you post. I had to ask before investing in species match. Does it do a perfect job to hide the patches? If not, do you think we can use metal in refinished wood?
Hi Sheryl. I’m not sure that I fully understand your question. But, if you are refinishing your floors, yes, you want to have a species match. Alternatively, metal will work fine – on either site finished or prefinished floors. It’s often a safer (and less expensive) option anyway.
Hi Debbie,
I need your opinion. We are getting conflicting opinions on register covers. We are getting new wood floors and want wood register covers. We had originally said we wanted the flush mount but one flooring company suggested we do not waste the money on the flush mount and go with the overlap registers. Do you have an opinion? We want the finished product to be nice and higher end thinking about resell down the line. I’ve been searching online but there is not an abundance of opinions on floor registers! Thanks!
That is indeed an odd response. It may be that they don’t have easy access to these registers. But, generally, what I recommend is that if you are doing NEW hardwood floors, by all means do flush registers. This looks MUCH nicer. There is no comparison. Overmount wood ones look sloppy and cheap and they will be more challenging for later if you need to refinish. When someone already has hardwood floors, I would recommend overmount metal registers. If someone already has hardwood and is refinishing, this depends on budget. Flush registers will look nicer, but they are substantially more expensive to add them at this time, and some installers can’t do the clean cuts. So, if it fits in budget, go for flush; if it’s too expensive go for metal. And, metal overmount looks way more premium than wood overmount.
looking for wooden floor vent covers 4 x 10 to match brown hickory flooring
Pamela – If you’re looking for the species Hickory, that will be a challenge. You may need to get custom ones. I doubt that most online stores will have those available, but perhaps you can find a specialty store. I doubt that you’ll find one locally. But perhaps a local flooring store could call into a specialty store to find some for you.
Alternatively, you may want to go for some metal ones or black ones as they are easy to find.
I’m having prefinished solid oak gunstock Matt finish flooring installed .. can you recommend what wood register I should choose please
I would do a metal one since you’ll never find one that matches and looks good in wood. The metal registers will lie flatter, so that will look more upscale. The wood register will look cheap and won’t match exactly. I’d probably do brushed nickel or black.