Great Resource for Replating Brass and Chrome
(Escutcheon plates before and after restoration)
One of the many challenges I’ve had in restoring the house has been the door hardware. While refinishing the doors is messy and time-consuming its easy enough to do. Metalwork, on the other hand, is a little beyond my skill set.
While solid metal items are straight forward to strip and refinish, most of the metal hinges and escutcheon plates in my home are plated, not solid, and the plating has failed. They do not polish and the only inexpensive option is to paint them with gold paint. Needless to say, this option is not overly satisfying or attractive.
Metro Plating & Polishing is located at 4110 Howard Ave. in Kensington, MD
Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and explore the possibility of having the escutcheon plates replated. After asking around for recommendations, the name that came up again and again was Metro Plating & Polishing in Kensington, MD. So, I gave them a try.
All in all, I’m pleased with the results … but it isn’t necessarily cheap. The cost for escutcheon plates similar to the ones above is around $40 per plate. Still, if you are thinking of going down this road no one else in Washington will be able to beat the price. Other options are to find new but similar door hardware to use if you aren’t hung up on preserving the original.
Two historically sympathetic resources to try if you don’t want to replate older hardware are House of Antique Hardware or Rejuvenation.
Tags: restoration & renovation
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Park View, D.C. 
May 18, 2010 at 9:53 am
Wow – what a great find. Thanks for sharing. Do you think they’d be able to help with cast iron bath tub feet?
May 18, 2010 at 10:28 am
I do, but I don’t know if they need the feet removed from the tub or not. I’d give them a call. It looks like they do plating for parts coming from cars, boats, houses, etc.
May 18, 2010 at 11:15 am
Have you tried the Brass Knob in Adams Morgan? They have always had replacement hardware for my house from glass knobs to keyhole plates. Also their Backdoor Warehouse has everything, thousands of old doors, tubs, sinks, whatever you may need.
I went to Smoot Lumber in Virginia to ask how much it would cost to have a door built to match my existing doors, it was $2,500! Went to the backdoor wherehouse, gave them the demensions I was looking for, and we found a match easily. The price was $45. All I had to do was strip and stain it.
Smoot lumber is a great place to find new molding that matches the original, however.
May 18, 2010 at 11:29 am
I’m very familiar with the Brass Knob, Smoot Lumber, Community Forklift and even Second Chance in Baltimore. All very good places to start. Like you, I’ve had good luck getting doors and other odds and ends and I do tent to try them first … however, for these escutcheon plates I wasn’t able to find any exact matches, or any plates that were in any better condition that what I already had. The win for me was learning that there is one more option to try when all else fails.
June 3, 2010 at 1:56 pm
[…] Park View – Looking for a place to get brass and chrome replated? These guys found a spot. [Park View DC] […]
February 20, 2012 at 9:02 pm
Hello
I have a set of fake brass fireplace tools. The finish is wearing off. Can I have them refinished, & how much will it cost?
Thank You
Darrell
February 21, 2012 at 10:34 pm
If it’s a plating issue, I’m sure they can replate the fireplace tools. You’d want to call them for some idea of cost to determine if you want to replate or replace the tools.