Plantation shutters are a popular window treatment that consists of hinged panels mounted onto a solid frame. They add an elegant touch to any space, and on the functionality side, they provide many benefits, including light and privacy control, temperature regulation, sun protection, and noise reduction.
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If you’re planning to invest in this type of window covering for your home, here are a few things you’ll need to consider to ensure you get the best out of your purchase:
Louvres are the slats that make up the panels of plantation shutters. They come in different sizes: small (about 2-1/2 inches), medium (3-1/2 inches) and large (4-1/2 inches). Generally, the larger the louvre size, the more light and view expanse you’ll have when they’re open; the opposite goes for smaller ones.
Aesthetically speaking, large louvres go better with bigger windows and rooms, and give off a more contemporary look. Smaller louvres, on the other hand, are best with tighter windows and traditional-style interiors.
The option you choose ultimately comes down to whichever size appeals to you most and complements your home’s overall aesthetic.
Plantation shutters are available in all sorts of materials like wood (basswood and poplar), PVC, composite materials, vinyl and aluminium (primarily used outdoors). While choosing between those materials, you can incorporate your preference and taste, but more importantly, you should think about the rooms in which those shutters will be installed.
For example, wood is often the top choice for many people because of its natural, warm feel, and sturdy construction.
However, it’s highly susceptible to moisture and humidity. So, you want to steer clear from it in areas where those elements are always around, like the bathroom, kitchen or garage, and instead opt for something like PVC.
Plantation shutters, ready-made or custom-crafted, offer a range of styles, the most popular being:
The main difference between these styles is the level of privacy and light control you want for each room. For instance, full-height shutters would work best in the bedroom or bathroom, where you need more privacy.
In contrast, café style or tier-on-tier shutters are a better fit for living, dining rooms or studies because they afford you plenty of natural light and outside views.
Tilt rods are the mechanisms that control the opening and closing of the louvres. There are two types of them:
Traditional plantation shutters have visible vertical rods installed on the front of the shutter panel and running down the middle of each louvre, allowing you to operate all of them together.
Visible tilt rods are usually a great fit for vintage and classic-styled interiors. However, they do somewhat obstruct the view through your window. Also, people tend to grab them to open the shutters all the way, which can cause them to break down or lose their alignment over time.
Hidden tilt rods have a modern, sleek design. Here, the mechanism is concealed within the shutter panel, so you can’t see it.
Homeowners with contemporary or minimalist interiors favour this type of tilt rod because it makes the shutters look cleaner and uncluttered. Since they’re not exposed, hidden tilt rods also offer a better view and less interference when opening and closing the panels. You can adjust the louvres by tilting one, and the rest will follow.
Attention to detail is everything when installing plantation shutters. The frames must be kept perfectly square to avoid pinched hinges, the louvres evenly spaced, the tilt rods aligned, and the painting or staining must be flawless.
To guarantee all that, you should have a professional install them to ensure they’re done according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. Better yet, when shopping for plantation shutters, prioritise companies that make, sell and install their own products and offer warranties on their work. This shows their confidence in the quality of their shutters and installation services, and you can usually trust their expertise.
Remember, unless you have outdoor blinds, your plantation shutters will be taking 100% of the sun’s impact and harsh weather conditions. So, they have to have been strongly built and properly installed to last long.
Buying plantation shutters for your home is a decision that will consistently add value to it.
Mind the above considerations before making your purchase, and you’ll have stunning, functional and durable window treatments that’ll serve you for years.
Mistakes: Exterior Shutters Today vs Historic Shutters –
Shutters are an important feature on a house. The goal of this website is to enable readers to make their house architecturally correct which would then be aesthetically pleasing. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of correct exterior window shutters.
Think of the windows as the eyes of the house and the window shutters as the eyebrows (although to the side) to understandthe impact. If the shutters are the wrong type or mounted incorrectly, they can ruin the appearance of the entire house.
Yes, the money you spent on restoring that new front door or painting with authentic Victorian colors will be wasted if your window shutters are incorrectly hung (mounted).
Most people look at exterior window shutters as a decorative feature with no further thought. The decorative shutters are installed and the mission is accomplished. How dreadfully wrong!
The following is what you need to look for and, once you see the difference, you will pick it out every time. There are a number of points you need to understand about exterior window shutters in order to make your house look great.
On historic louvered shutters (historically called Blinds), the louvers were either Fixed Louvers or Operable Louvers. Each type represents a different period in history and provides a slightly different look.
Fixed Louvered shutters are appropriate for buildings built prior to the Civil War. Operable louvered shutters grew popular quickly although fixed louvered shutters remained in builders catalogs into the early ’s.
There is an important aesthetic benefit with louvered window shutters. The louvers create shadow lines which provide texture and interest. Shadow lines are most important on a house for they create the character that bring buildings to life.
Purchasing a Fixed Louvered shutter with flat closed louvers (10 degrees) as sold in home improvement stores results in a flat artificial appearance due to the lack of shadows.
A historic operable louver shutter with louvers completely closed would never display the flatness fake plastic shutters have. Unfortunately this is the type of shutter you see on all houses today, no matter what the period architecture.
Some shutter companies manufacture quality wood window shutters with louver’s that resemble plastic shutters. Be careful! While the shutters may be well made with quality wood the design is wrong and you will be wasting your money.
Operable Louvered Shutters were first used around -. Operable louvered shutters can be adjusted by a Tilt Rod to regulate air-flow and light. Shutters with operable louvers and a tilt rod create a shadow pattern providing the best depth, contrast, and character.
If your goal is decorative window shutters they must still appear as if they are operable. A “fake” plastic shutter from a home improvement store has louvers that are fixed in a tightly closed position than they normally would be if they were to actually operate. The amount of space opened would not need to be as great as 50 percent as Fixed Louvered shutters (as explained above), but should NOT be totally flat either in order to look real.
If your house was constructed after the Civil War, there should be a tilt rod on your window shutters. This is an important feature that is always overlooked and greatly affects its appearance. In this case a false Tilt Rod should be attached to fixed shutters to appear operable. Failure to achieve this look will greatly sacrifice the appearance of the house.
When historic shutters are in the closed position, the louvers should be angled pointing downward and away from the house to shed water away from the window it is covering.
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When shutters are in an open position, the louvers will be angled pointing downwards toward the house. Water will be shed to the back of the shutter towards the house; but, no need to worry, there will be air space from the hinge offset for runoff and drying.
If shutters are closed the louvers direct the rain-water out and away from the window. While this may sound wrong, it is beneficial because it deters critters: bats, bees, etc. from nesting there because it exposes this hiding place to the elements.
This is the correct way install shutters decorative or functional. If you prefer the opposite – incorrect way, I promise I will not yell at you so don’t be frightened! The most important thing about the louvers is the shadow line you get from louvers that are NOT flat.
Probably the most prevalent mistake made is improper shutter installation. This makes a beautiful house look cheap, ugly, and bland. Sadly almost all shutters are mounted this way and the public has evolved to accept this look. There are two parts to this error.
The first part of the mistake is that shutters mounted directly on the facade/siding of the house, appear banished off to the side of the window as if the window wants no part of the shutter. Visually, it MUST appear as if the shutters are mounted directly ON TOP OF the window casing, next to the window opening. Failure to do this looks ridiculous and drastically changes the appearance of the entire house. You are confusing your subconscious mind as it tries to interpret patterns and make associations. What is this rectangular shape doing all by itself out there?
Another common mistake is mounting the shutters flat against the house. Here you lose your shadow lines which result in a bland, uninteresting house. When shutters are mounted directly to the face of a house, there is no room for ventilation between the shutter and the house. This results in heat build up from the sun that can cause damage to siding and painted finishes behind the shutter. A correctly mounted shutter should APPEAR to be attached to a hinge, protruding from the house.
There are a few technicalities in properly mounting shutters depending on your window and the type of hinge used. However, the shutters should still have the same appearance as in the examples of GOOD Shutters on this page. When open, shutters should be located tight to the window covering all or part of the window casing and projecting outward at the window edge.
Architecturally, it is not necessary for a feature to actually be functional; however, it must always appear functional. Please understand, I think it is wonderful to have historic, functioning shutters, but the goal here is appearance. That said, you may not need or want your shutters to open and close, but they MUST appear as if they do. This is explained more in the next section on Exterior Shutter Hinges.
Historic shutters were mounted on hinges. There are two parts to a shutter hinge. One part is attached to the house and the other part is attached to the shutter. The part of the shutter hinge that is attached to the house contains a Pintle – a pivot point for the shutter hinge to rest on. This part of the hinge can either be mounted to the house on the face of the window casing OR on the inside edge (jamb) of the window. Each of the two mounting types provides a different appearance.
There are many types and sizes of shutter hinges you can use. A lot depends on your window and how much space you have to mount the hinge. These details and customizations you should discuss with the shutter manufacturer. Here, on OldHouseGuy.com, you will learn what you need to know to get the proper look.
If you think your house originally had shutters, you can check to see where the original hinges were mounted by looking for “ghost marks”. Even after years of painting, you should still be able to see these marks. You may even see them in both places (edge and face) – this means your shutters and/or hinges were replaced. Most likely, old face-mounted strap hinges were replaced in the late 19th century with newer hinges mounted on the inside edge.
One of the most important things to understand when ordering shutter hinges is a term called “THROW”. This is the space between the pivot point of the hinge and the inside edge of the shutter when the shutter is open.
This is very important because if there is a large THROW, or large swing, there will be more space between the shutter and the hinge pivot point. In other words, the shutter will be farther to the side, away from the window opening, exposing more of the window casing. This large THROW will make your wonderful historic shutters appear just like all the fake plastic shutters you see mounted off to the side of the window.
As I stated earlier, each window is different and there does need to be some THROW for your shutter to work. Do not get a hinge with a larger throw merely for the purpose of being able to see the wood casing. Sadly, this is becoming the standard of the best quality shutter manufacturers. And why? Because the consumer is accustomed to the wrong look and that is what they want to buy.
Below are examples of shutter throw and the type of shutter hinge used to get the right look.
Here the shutter is tight to the window because a Jamb hinge (Butt hinge) is used. This look is correct for a house built to present. It is also correct for shutters using surface hinges after . Surface hinges can also be attached tight to the window.
This shutter is off to the side because the hinge is mounted on the surface of the window casing. This look is correct for a house built before . It is also correct for a shutter with surface hinges after .
NEVER mount a shutter this way on any house. This is where homeowners, builders, and architects fail today.
Exterior shutter hinge offset and stand off is the distance a shutter projects from facade and angle of shutter
I think it is wonderful to have operable shutters but there are technicalities specific to your windows that you should discuss with the shutter manufacturer. My objective on OldHouseGuy.com is to educate you on how your home can have the best appearance. Once this is understood, and if you prefer operable shutters instead of merely decorative, the next step of mechanics can be addressed with the manufacturer.
This information is important even if your shutters are strictly decorative. The next thing you need to understand is the term hinge OFFSET. OFFSET and STANDOFF are important terms in assuring your shutters will not only look good, but also open and close properly. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably.
The Offset and Standoff of the hinge pertains to the part of the hinge that is attached to the house. This part of the hinge has a point or Pintle – a pivot point where the shutter is connected.
The Offset we will discuss here is the distance the hinge extends your shutters AWAY from the window casing. An OFFSET of about 1/2 to 1.5 inches is usually recommended, although each window casing is different.
The Offset is important because the space provides necessary ventilation behind the shutter and creates additional shadow lines which make your house come alive with interest. Shutters you see today are flat against both the window casement and the facade, without shadows, making the house look bland.
The outer edge – opposite edge of the shutter, away from the Offset hinge, should rest closer to the facade of the house. The fully opened shutter can be secured with a Tie-Back attached to this outer edge (without this Tie-Back your shutters will flap in the breeze). The final result will be a shutter that is angled in appearance.
There is a difference when mounting a shutter on a wood sided house compared to that of a house sided with Brick or Stone. The window is constructed the same but instead of being surrounded by a wide casing, the window is surrounded by a brick molding which is narrower than a casing.
On a WOOD sided house, the siding does not project beyond the face of the window casing. Surface Mounted or Edge Mounted hinges can be used and the offset needed is minimal.
On a BRICK or STONE sided house, the brick or stone projects beyond the face of the window casing. The window and casing are recessed. Here, a surface Mounted hinge MUST be used and, depending on how deep the casing is recessed, a greater OFFSET will be required. This will allow the shutter to clear the brick/stone siding when swung open (if operable) or fixed in an open position.
Again, please do not mount the shutter dog to the side of the shutter. This is ridiculous! These dogs are weighted and if mounted to the size you will not only be advertising your stupidity but the shutter will not be held in place. Those that like this side-mount seem to gravitate towards a more tacky house in favor of doing “something different”.
This latch was screwed into the back of the shutter and would clip on to the catch (shown in white) that was attached to the house.
While this type of a latch was very popular, it is difficult to find today. Of course your first option should always be to restore the hardware. If you do need replacement there is a manufacturer to purchase this from.
Click here to order this shutter latch kit at Ricca’s.
There is a large selection of shutter hardware to choose from as you will see on the recommended shutter sites. There are locks, bolts, pulls, tie-backs, etc. These items will add additional visual interest to your shutters and house.
Strap hinges are only seen when the shutters are closed. If you are looking for hardware to be seen on your shutters when open, consider Zimmerman Fasteners if your house was built after .
Check out info on Shutter Dogs here.
And more info on Shutter Hardware here.
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