Wood cold air return grilles

Cold air return covers with Victorian, Arts and Crafts, Art Deco and decorative modern grilles in sizes that range from narrow toe kick grilles to large floor grates. Choose from air return covers constructed in cast iron, aluminum, bronze, brass, and wood.

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Choosing Cold Air Returns

A cold air return cover is a decorative grille that covers air return ducts. Unlike a register, air return grilles do not have louvers attached to them. Normally, air flow is controlled on the supply side so dampers aren't necessary for air returns.

The term "cold air return" originates from the early days of residential heating. Warm air passed through registers so they became known as heat registers. Chilled air circulated back to the furnace through air returns so they were called cold air return covers. When economical central air conditioning came along, air returns served a dual purpose of returning warm air to the air conditioner in summer months and returning cold air to the furnace in winter months. Although the term "cold air return" is still used frequently today, "air return grille" is becoming increasingly more popular.

Modern homes usually have air return grilles in nearly every room. In older homes, it is common to have fewer but much larger air return grates. Vintage homes formerly heated by coal or wood burning gravity furnaces often featured a single oversized air return grate positioned centrally in the home. Shop 4 Classics air return vent covers are available in sizes ranging from toekick vent covers to large air return grates.

Although they lack the louvers that must drop into the duct, duct size is still the critical determinant for choosing air return vent covers. Most air return covers have a base on the backside that is slightly smaller than the duct the grille was designed to fit. Some air return grilles feature a perforated screen on the backside to help hide ductwork behind the grille. The air return's base (or screen) must fit into the duct so measuring the duct opening remains essential to ensure a proper fit.

Shop 4 Classics offers air return grilles in a large variety of architectural grille patterns. Each pattern is offered in many different sizes. Often, the same pattern can be found in many different colors, depending on the base material from which it is constructed.