Washington DC's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 1 year, we’ve heard every question about shutters thinkable from our customers in Washington DC. 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 DC directly. We’re here to assist you and happy to do so.

That is based on how you want the shutters to interact with your home’s décor. Do you want a shutter that contrasts your wall paint color and has clean lines? Polywood® plantation shutters are right for you. Or are you looking to copy the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are the ultimate fit for you.

Plantation shutters are celebrated for being energy efficient. And to get maximum 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. Chances are, store-bought blinds will deteriorate over time, with its strings breaking and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. And they are difficult 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, turning your window into artwork. Just by pulling up the fabric of the shade, your full window is exposed and you can see out onto your Washington DC neighborhood.

Draperies also offer a wide variety of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional alternative for a window treatment. Placing thick panels between the drapes and the window gives you light and temperature block-out capabilities. And unlike other window treatments, you won’t have to clean draperies for five years.

If you are searching for a window treatment that lasts over 10 years, saves you real dollars 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 exquisite and energy efficient. Actually, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than an equivalent wood shutter. That's energy savings you will miss out on with any other window treatment.

No other window treatment gives you control over privacy and light as plantation shutters do. And with their large louvers, Polywood plantation shutters give your house a clean contemporary feel whether they’re closed or open.

A poorly installed window treatment can be challenging 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 flawlessly – and doesn’t get damaged in the process.

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

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

Our Polywood shutters last more than 50 years – more than any other shutter around. 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 a breeze to clean because they have large louvers and their tilt bars are either hidden or mounted on the rear. Just tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a wet cloth.

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

Plantation shutters are an investment that gives you 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 boost the value of your residence. We’ve seen it first hand in Washington DC!

A half shutter lets you have 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 allowing you to close the bottom louvers for privacy while leaving the top louvers open for light. At night, you have the option of closing the top louvers as well for privacy and security. That’s also helpful during the day when the sun is hindering you from watching TV. And don’t worry about forfeiting any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you more than enough space to look through.

Easy! Call us at 240-339-2588 or fill out the form below to schedule your free in-home consultation, and we’ll guide you from there. We come out to your home to measure the windows you want to add shutters to and bring samples of all of our shutter products and their available options. This allows us to provide you with the most accurate shutter price for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Yes! There’s almost never a reason to remove or do work on your current window trim when putting in new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and deluxe Polywood shutters are offered in a variety of frame styles to fit seamlessly into your current window trim. If your windows are trimless, you can choose a specific frame style to install right onto the wall around your window to fix your stunning new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installation crew will measure each of your house’s windows during your complimentary in-home consultation to ensure that your new shutters will fit seamlessly with your window trim.

Sunburst Shutters DC is happy to provide a range of window coverings made right here in the U.S.A. Our marquee Polywood plantation shutters are 100% American-made, from the manufacturing of our patented Polywood material to the building of the shutters themselves. Not only does that mean saving you money on unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the benefit of knowing you’re choosing an all-American product for your Washington DC house.

And Polywood isn’t alone in hailing from the U.S. Our naturally beautiful Reclaimed Wood shutters are constructed with lumber repurposed from sources across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to sturdy Texas ranch fences and more.

The primary differentiator between a shutter that’s stained or painted is the way the color interacts with the material of the shutter. Paint lays atop the material it’s coloring, covering the surface. Stains on the other hand seep into the shutter, bonding to the natural wood or faux wood material.

Both methods come with their individual benefits. There are often a larger number of color choices for paints. With stained shutters, the color doesn’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the random knots and ridges of the material without a layer of paint masking it.

During your in-home shutter consultation, our team will bring paint and stain samples right to your door so you can easily match and complement colors with your existing interior design.

The entire plantation shutter process, from your initial consultation to putting your shutters in, will take about four to six weeks. The reason it takes this long is because we want to build shutters that are perfectly customized to every facet of your windows. To do that, we need to take precise measurements, utilize sophisticated software to design them, assemble your brand-new shutters manually, and get them to your home for installation. Real wood shutters tend to take longer than faux wood because of the added steps of staining and finishing the wood.

It will take some time, but it’s an investment that’s well worth it.

Sunburst Shutters DC offers a complete in-home shopping experience. We’ll send shutter expert to you to get window measurements, discuss your options, and give you a quote. The design consultation is 100% free. That’s the best way to start your shutter project. If you only want a quick estimate, you can give us the measurements of your windows either by phone or through our contact form.

That’s up to 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 removing trim is fine—but it’s not a necessity. If you want to go without trim or replace your trim, we can help you find the right shutter to fit the vision you have in mind for your windows.

If you’re an experienced handyperson, you might be familiar with some of the process involved in installing shutters. However, DIY shutters may be a tad tricky for most Washington DC homeowners. We recommend leaving the installation to professionals that are certified and insured, so you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, your windows, or anything else in your home.

Far and away our most in-demand shutter options are our classic white Polywood® faux wood plantation shutters, and Ovation® natural wood shutters.

To get more specific, the most common shutter configuration features includes a 3 ½” louver, non-textured finish, with an interior-mount Z-frame. If none of that makes any sense, that’s ok. We’d be delighted to show you what all those things mean in person. Schedule a free home consultation and we’ll help you find what will work best on your windows.

Smooth finish shutters have a more chic look, whereas textured finish shutters look a little more natural. However the perks to each style of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and in the end come down to your own taste.

Benefits of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters give you a solid, chic, sophisticated look. If you don’t have many other wood surfaces like hardwood floors or exposed beams, you may not want a smooth finish. A smooth finish is easier to see when it needs dusting, compared to a textured finish. We usually recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Benefits of shutters with a textured or wood grain finish – Shutters with a textured finish give you a more natural look in your home. That’s ideal if you want to bring the beauty of nature indoors, particularly if you want to complement the look of your hardwood floors. A textured finish on your shutter louvers can also make dust more difficult to see, which means you can wait a little longer between regular cleanings. A textured finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Washington DC.

For the most part, the larger the window, the more shutter panels you’ll need. The most ideal layout 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. Often, wide panel shutters can’t fit flush against the wall due to their width. Multiple smaller panels solve that problem.

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

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

At your complimentary shutter consultation, your Sunburst Shutters installer will help you narrow down your options from our wide variety of Washington DC plantation shutters, such as choices for panel width, stain colors, and custom mounts and frames.

So schedule your shutter consultation now by calling 240-339-2588 today.

Sunburst can help you find 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 cavity . Your window treatments will still have equivalent functionality and energy efficiency, and will blend perfectly with your established decor.

If the louver is detached and hanging from the frame, you likely have a damaged louver pin. To mend this you will want to remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with some needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is removed, put the replacement pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then guide the louver onto the pin. To get replacement louver pins for free, just call us at 240-339-2588.

Pricing on plantation shutters revolves on the desired product line and window area. While we can present you a projection over the phone, complete prices are offered after our no cost in-person consultation. Call 240-339-2588 to ask for an appointment today.

To start, pull out the broken staple out of the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to spread all over the legs of a new staple. Thread the staple into the loop on the louver and slide its legs into the existing staple holes on the tilt rod. For extra shutter staples, call us at 240-339-2588.

Polywood shutters are some of the safest window treatments in Washington DC. The cordless, durable craftsmanship is safe for pets and kids. The toxin-free and hypoallergenic paint, polymers, and materials will never peel or chip. And since Polywood is moisture and pest resistant, you will not have to check for bugs, mold, or wood rot.