If you own a vintage home, especially one built during the height of the craftsman era from about 1900 to 1925, then you may very well be the proud owner of an eggcrate style cold air return. For years we have made custom reproduction eggcrate style return air grilles, which you can either see here or at ColdAirReturns.com (new window). Now, by popular demand we are making a complete line of heat registers in the classic eggcrate style, and custom sizes can be had!
Your friends will want to know where you found registers to complement your wood floors! The joinery is solid and built to last. Plus, many are available with or without an airflow regulator. If you have an existing oak floor you'll probably find it is made of red oak, which is the most popular wood used for hardwood flooring. This is our standard wood, but we also offer about a hundred additional types of wood all the way from alder to zebrawood. Usually customers want a surface mount register for use with an existing floor, however if you are laying a new wood floor you may very well want a flush mount register complete with frame. It is an elegant look and is worth the extra installation effort if you are going for a high class job. Just remember, these are made to order so order them ahead of time! The most important aspect of purchasing an eggcrate register, or any other register for that matter, is to accurately measure the duct opening. when ordering multiple units, do not assume that all the floor vent openings are the same dimensions. You would be surprised at how often the duct openings vary greatly in size. Let's minimize problems and take an extra minute to get things configured correctly.
Most heat registers are located under windows or in low traffic areas. This minimizes the possibility of damage and/or wear to the register. If you are in the unfortunate situation of having registers within the traffic pattern then it is a good idea to try to avoid stepping on them or rolling a grand piano across the top. Plus, you may want to consider getting an extra register just in case you need to replace one somewhere on down the road. But hopefully you are not in the situation where you have one in the traffic pattern. Usually this happens when a house has been added on to, often multiple times...so sometimes outside walls become interior walls and the ductwork never gets moved.
There seems to be a wide variety of quality in the mechanisms used to open and close the louvers or dampers. Our dampers are quality built and made to be trouble free, a small but important consideration. If you check out the closeup pictures we are sure that you'll agree with this assessment. Furthermore, the operating lever does not stick up excessively above the surface of the surrounding wood. This bodes well for minimizing damage from shoes and vacuum cleaners.