I’m looking for exterior window shutters for a nantucket style, cedar shingled house. What I’ve found so far are really high end cedar shutters ($300/pr) or plastic cheapos for $15/pr. Is there any middle ground here? The shutters will be purely decorative, but I’d like to have something fairly nice. They will be painted. Anybody got a source for decent shutters?
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
There are a number of ways to achieve a level foundation and mudsill.
Featured Video
SawStop's Portable Tablesaw is Bigger and Better Than BeforeHighlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Don't discount the cheapos out of hand. We've got two pair on the front of our house (there for about 8 years) that have done pretty well. (Of course, it helps that this is a split-entry, so the shuttered windows are above eye level.)
It helps a lot if you take care mounting them, so they aren't just screwed to the siding through the face. Mount blocks on the house and fit the shutters over, then screw from the sides. And slot the bottom holes slightly to allow for expansion.
I know what you mean. The plastic one just look sooo plastic.
Seems like with all of these modern composite alternatives being introduced for other building materials that look at least as good as what they replaced, we should be able to get some decent looking shutters with some substance to them.
You might look at some of the $25 apiece shutters instead of the $15.
They have a few more options in size, and pattern. They can also be ordered near the trim color to save a little effort in painting.
Please, please, please, size the shutters to the windows. A three foot wide window with 12" shutters just looks dumb. Pleas mount them as if they were going to work, even if just screwed to the wall (that 12" wide shutter looks even dumber mounted outboard of the 3" window casing . . . )
"I'm looking for exterior window shutters for a nantucket style, cedar shingled house. What I've found so far are really high end cedar shutters ($300/pr) or plastic cheapos for $15/pr. Is there any middle ground here?"
Quickstep,
Yes there are. They are injection cast of [two-part] resin, or injection molded. Some are paintable, many are not. They can cost as much as $80 pair, which is still cheaper than wood. The really cheap "cheapos" are vacuumed formed from lightweight plastic. I've included some pics of the "better" ones I got for my house.
Jon
Edited 5/11/2004 4:15 pm ET by WorkshopJon
I've been looking for the same thing for my house. I seem to recall some synthetic shutters that were used on a "This Old House" project in New Orleans eight or ten years back. They looked great on TV and were operable just like the real thing. Well actually they were the real thing (opened, closed and the louvers moved) just that they were made out of non wood.
One of my pet peeves with the cheap vinyl (or maybe even expensive vinyl) shutters is that when they're mounted on the house, if they could close, which they can't, the louvers would be directing the rain against the house. Does this make sense or am I just being nitpicky? It's just that every time I see shutters like this, it's a dead giveaway that they're not the real thing.
The problem is, the shutters look better that way.