Registers & Grilles

Decorative Vent Covers and Floor Vents

Regulate Airflow and Temperature in Your Home With Vents

Keep air circulating properly in your home and conceal duct openings with vents, grilles and registers. Find decorative and basic vent covers that help keep every room in your home at a comfortable temperature.

Grilles and Vents

The difference between a vent or register and a grille is that registers often have dampers, or louvers, that allow you to control the airflow by opening or closing the vent. Grilles don’t come in these louvered styles and are typically used in homes with central heating and cooling units for removing air and returning it to a heating, ventilating and air conditioning system. A return air vent also extracts air from a room and recycles it, rather than pushing it out into the space. These are typically installed in hallways or ceilings and don’t have a damper.

Floor Vents

Floor vents or registers are ideal if you live in a climate where heating your home is your primary concern. Since warm air rises, the heat that comes out of your floor vents will warm your room as it ascends. These types of vents are typically placed near windows so the warm air from the ducts and the cooler air coming from the window can mix.

You’ll want to ensure that your floor vents aren’t obstructed so as not to interrupt the airflow, so consider choosing decorative vent covers that’ll complement the décor of your room. Consider vents in scroll or wicker patterns that are both visually appealing and functional. If you want your vents to truly blend in with wood floors or paneling, filter a search by wood vent covers on Lowes.com.

Sidewall and Ceiling Registers

Ceiling registers are ideal for warm climates, where you’re more focused on cooling your home. The placement of sidewall and ceiling registers helps to circulate air, as the register will draw warm air up to it. The grilles or vent covers used on these types of registers are typically thinner, as they don’t need to withstand foot traffic like floor vents do, and registers on ceilings and sidewalls will generally be more visible in a room. Depending on the size and shape of your room and the placement of the vent itself, you may need either a two-way or a three-way register that sends air out in several directions at once.

Diffusers

If you’re looking for a way to push air into all parts of a room, a baseboard diffuser or ceiling diffuser may be more useful than a register. Though you can open and close registers with louvers, the direction in which a register will distribute air is fixed to one, two or three directions. A diffuser sends air out into your room in all directions, helping to heat or cool it more uniformly.

Boosters

If your vents alone aren’t heating or cooling your home as efficiently as you’d like, consider the addition of a register booster. Also called an in-floor booster or register fan, this option consists of a small fan that sits in or on registers in rooms where the airflow is suboptimal.