Seattle's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 13 years, we’ve been asked every question about shutters you can think of from our customers in Seattle. And we’ve collected the top ten of them here. Perhaps in these questions and answers you’ll find answers to questions of your own. If not, please don’t wait to contact Sunburst Shutters Washington directly. We’re here to assist you and happy to do so.

That depends on how you want the shutters to relate to your home’s décor. Do you want a shutter that contrasts your wall paint color and has clean lines? Polywood® plantation shutters are perfect for you. Or are you looking to copy the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are an absolute fit for you.

Plantation shutters are known for being energy efficient. And to get the most energy savings, our Polywood Shutter Insulation System is the only choice.

For the budget-conscious, blinds can be temporary window treatments to cover your windows. Store-bought blinds tend to deteriorate over time, with its strings giving way and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. Not to mention, they’re not easy to clean. Even if you're budget-conscious, Sunburst Shutters blinds have the durability and craftsmanship lacking in off-the-rack, store-bought, or online blinds.

Shades offer an assortment of colors, materials, and unique patterns, changing your window into artwork. By effortlessly pulling up the fabric of the shade, your entire window is exposed and you can see out onto your Seattle neighborhood.

Draperies also are available in a wide assortment of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional alternative for a window treatment. Adding thick panels between the drapes and the window gives you light and temperature block-out capabilities. And unlike other window treatments, there’s no need to clean draperies for five years.

If you are searching for a window treatment that lasts more than 10 years, saves you money on your energy bills, and looks exquisite on your windows, shutters are the choice for your home. Not only are shutters durable, but they’re also charming and energy efficient. Actually, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than a comparable wood shutter. That's energy savings you can't get with any other window treatment.

When it comes to control over privacy and light, plantation shutters are unmatched. And with their large louvers, Polywood plantation shutters give your room a clean contemporary feel whether they’re closed or open.

An improperly installed window treatment can be tough to open and can get damaged easily. We have a skilled installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment just right, making sure that each one operates seamlessly – and doesn’t get damaged throughout.

But before we get to installing your shutters, we bring shutter samples to your home so we can custom fashion your window treatment together. Learn more about our free in-home consultation.

Your plantation shutter slats – or louvers – can be moved simply by adjusting them up or down. Most commonly, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters allows you to adjust the louvers. If you want to move the louvers with your hand, we recommend buying shutters with hidden tilt-rods or rear-mounted tilt rods. This gives your shutters a clean, contemporary appearance.

Our Polywood shutters last over 50 years – more than any other shutter in the US. That’s why these plantation shutters are a permanent fixture that increases your home’s resale value. Learn more about the durability of our shutters.

Plantation shutters are easy to clean because they have large louvers and their tilt bars are either hidden or mounted on the rear. Gently tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a wet cloth.

Plantation shutters are custom built to fit your windows down to the last one eighth of an inch. They become a permanent fixture of your home, adding to its resale value. This means they can’t be moved from one house to another.

Plantation shutters are an investment that allows temperature control, energy efficiency, and privacy. They are custom manufactured and installed on your windows to become permanent fixtures. Not only are they charming and energy saving, but plantation shutters also add to the value of your house. We’ve seen it first hand in Seattle!

A half shutter gives you privacy on the bottom and leaves the top open for light and view. It’s called a café style shutter. But is it the right look for a plantation shutter?

Cafe Shutters Cafe Style Shutters With Divider

What it comes down to is style choice – whether you like the look of a half shutter or that of a plantation shutter with a divider rail.

A full length shutter with a divider rail “completes” your window, giving it a fully finished look – and giving you the option to close the bottom louvers for privacy while leaving the top louvers open for light. At night, you can close the top louvers as well for privacy and security. This also comes in handy during the day when the sun is preventing you from watching TV. And don’t worry about sacrificing any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you a lot of room to look through.

Easy! Call us at 360-464-2277 or fill out the form below to schedule your free in-home consultation, and we’ll handle it from there. We come out to your home to measure the windows you want to shutter and bring samples of all of our shutter products and their available options. Once you’ve selected a shutter that matches your style, we can provide you with the most accurate shutter price for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Absolutely! There’s seldom a need to take out or do work on your old window trim when you buy new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and premier Polywood shutters can be customized with an array of frame styles to fit easily into your existing window trim. If your windows don’t have trim, we also have frame styles available to install right onto the wall around your window to fix your gorgeous new shutters to your window opening.

Your installation team will measure each of your individual windows during your free design consultation to make sure that your window trim is perfectly complemented by the frame of your new shutters.

Sunburst Shutters Washington is happy to provide a range of window coverings made right here in the U.S.A. Not only are Polywood plantation shutters America’s #1-selling shutter, but they’re 100% made in America. Not only does that result in savings passed on to you from cutting unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the benefit of knowing you’ve chosen an all-American shutter for your Seattle house.

And Polywood isn’t the only shutter that’s from the U.S. Our historic Reclaimed Wood shutters are built using lumber harvested from places across the country, from homespun Southern barn doors to beautiful New England fences and more.

The main differentiator between a shutter that’s stained or painted is how the material of the shutter interacts with the color. Paint lays on top of the material it’s coloring, covering the surface. Stains conversely, penetrate the shutter, bonding to the natural wood or Polywood material.

Each method comes with its unique benefits. There are typically a larger number of color choices for paints. With stained shutters, the color doesn’t interfere with the natural wood grain, so you can see the random grooves and bumps of the material without it being hidden by a layer of paint.

During your in-home window design consultation, we’ll bring paint and stain samples straight to you so you can perfectly color match with your existing interior design.

The complete plantation shutter process, beginning with your initial consultation through putting your shutters in, will take approximately four to six weeks on average. The process takes this long because our goal is to build 100% custom shutters for your windows. Doing that requires us to take exact measurements, make use of sophisticated software to design them, assemble your brand-new shutters by hand, and deliver them to your home for installation. Shutters made from real wood tend to take longer due to the extra steps needed to stain and treat the wood.

It will take a little time, but it’s absolutely worth the wait.

We absolutely do! We’d be delighted to show you our showroom so you can see our entire collection of shutters and window treatments. The showroom is located at , so you’re welcome to stop by anytime during our normal business hours to talk about what you need.

We offer a total shop-at-home experience. We typically send a representative to you to take precise measurements of your windows, show you your options, and give you an accurate quote. The in-home consultation is absolutely free. That’s the simplest way to start a shutter project. If you’re just looking for a rough estimate, you can give us the measurements of your windows through our contact form, or by calling us at 360-464-2277.

The answer will depend on your own taste. If you want to keep your existing trim, we’re able to build custom shutters to fit with your current trim. If you prefer our shutter frames, then you can take out the existing trim—but it’s not a requirement. If you want to go without trim or replace your trim, your Sunburst installer can help you choose the best option to match the vision you have in mind for your windows.

If you’re an experienced handyperson, you might be familiar with what goes into a shutter installation. However, taking on DIY shutters might be a little complex for most Seattle homeowners. Our recommendation is to leave the installation to professionals that are certified and insured, that way you won’t risk damage to your shutters, your windows, or any other part of your home.

By far our most popular shutter products are our classic white Polywood® faux wood plantation shutters, and Ovation® hardwood shutters.

More specifically, the most popular shutter configuration features includes a 3 ½” louver, smooth finish, and a Z-frame. If those words don’t mean anything to you, that’s ok. We’ll be delighted to show you what all that means in person. Schedule a complimentary home consultation and we’ll help you figure out what would work best in your house.

Smooth finish shutters have a more chic look, whereas textured finish shutters look a bit more historic. But the benefits to each style of plantation shutter finish are a little deeper, and ultimately it comes down to your own taste.

Perks of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters offer a clean, chic, fashion-forward look. If your home doesn’t have any other wood surfaces like hardwood floors or furniture, you may not want a smooth finish. A smooth finish makes dust easier to see, in comparison with a wood grain finish. We usually recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Perks of a textured or wood grain finish for shutters – A textured finish on your shutters gives you a more natural, somewhat historic look to your shutters. That’s awesome if your goal is to bring the beauty of nature inside, especially if you want to accentuate the look of your hardwood floors. A textured finish on your shutters can also make dust harder to see, which means you don’t need to wipe them down as frequently as you would if they were smooth. A textured finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Seattle.

For the most part, the bigger your window is, the more shutter panels you’ll want on it. The optimal design is to use one panel for windows up to 26 inches wide, two panels for windows up to 50 inches wide, and four for windows up to 98 inches wide.

Single wide panels aren’t as user-friendly as multiple separate panels. Oftentime, wider panels can’t fit flush against the wall due to their width. Two smaller panels resolve that.

For any windows that you’ll open or shut regularly, you’ll be better suited with multi-panel shutters, since it’s easier to open them and they get better support from the frame when you do open and close them.

With Sunburst Shutters Washington, any and all window measurements will be done by one of our installers for free as part of your in-home consultation. Even if your window is in a hard to reach place in your home or has a unique shape, our shutter experts can get you a precise measurement so that your shutters will line up just right with the windows.

During your complimentary shutter consultation, your Sunburst Shutters installer will help you pick from our extensive array of Seattle plantation shutters, such as choices for louver size, stain colors, and custom framing options.

So schedule your free consultation today by calling 360-464-2277 today.

Sunburst can assist you in picking the perfect shutter for your rooms, regardless of how small your frame. We will use an outside mount installation that connects to the trim or wall outside the window pane . Your shutters will still have equivalent performance and energy efficiency, and will tie in seamlessly with other window treatments.

If the louver is disconnected and hanging from the frame, you probably have a busted louver pin. To fix this you need to remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with a pair of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the damaged pin is extracted, stick the new pin base into the same hole in the shutter stile, then direct the louver onto the pin. To get additional louver pins for free, just call us at 360-464-2277.

Pricing on plantation shutters revolves on the desired product line and window area. While we can present you a basic quote over the phone, complete costs are offered after our free in-person consultation. Call 360-464-2277 to ask for an appointment today.

To start, clear away the damaged staple out of the louver with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to coat the legs of a replacement staple. guide the staple through the loop on the louver and direct its legs into the previous staple holes on the tilt rod. For replacement shutter staples, call us at 360-464-2277.

Polywood shutters are seen as some of the safest window treatments in Seattle. The cordless, durable design is perfect for kids and pets. The non-toxic and hypoallergenic paint, polymers, and materials will never peel or chip. And because Polywood is pest and water resistant, you won’t have to wonder about mold, termites, or wood rot.