Southern California's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 29 years, we’ve received every question about shutters you can think of from our customers in Southern California. And we’ve put together the top ten of them here. Maybe in these questions and answers you’ll find answers to questions of your own. If not, please don’t hesitate to contact Sunburst Shutters Southern CA directly. We’re here to aid you and happy to do so.

That hinges on how you would like 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 perfect for you. Or are you looking to match the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are a better 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 giving way and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. And they might be troublesome 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 a variety of colors, materials, and unique patterns, turning your window into artwork. Just by pulling up the fabric of the shade, your entire window is exposed and you can see out onto your Southern California neighborhood.

Draperies also are available in a wide array of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional alternative for a window treatment. Installing thick panels between the drapes and the window provides you with 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 actual bucks on your energy bills, and looks elegant on your windows, shutters are the choice for your home. Not only are shutters durable, but they’re also elegant and energy efficient. As a matter of fact, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than a similar wood shutter. That's energy savings you will miss out on 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 house a clean modern feel whether they’re closed or open.

A poorly installed window treatment can be difficult to open and can get damaged easily. We have a skilled installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment exactly, making sure that each one moves smoothly – and doesn’t get damaged when opened and closed.

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

Your plantation shutter slats – or louvers – can be moved effortlessly by adjusting them up or down. Most commonly, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters gives you control over 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 feel.

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 raises your home’s resale value. Learn more about the durability of our shutters.

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

Plantation shutters are custom fashioned to fit your windows just right. They become a permanent fixture of your home, adding to its resale value. These shutters cannot be moved from one house to another.

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

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 ideal look for a plantation shutter?

Cafe Shutters Cafe Style Shutters With Divider

Ultimately, it’s a 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 polished 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. It’s also convenient during the day when the sun is stopping 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 a lot of room to look through.

Piece of cake! Call us at 888-611-2474 or fill out the form below to schedule your free in-home consultation, and we’ll take 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 appropriate shutter quote for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Yes! There’s a need to get rid of or make alterations to your current window trim when you buy new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and premier Polywood shutters are available in a variety of frame styles to fit seamlessly into your existing window trim. If your windows are trimless, we also have frame styles available to install directly onto the wall around your window to secure your stunning new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installer will measure each of your house’s windows during your complimentary in-home consultation to make sure that your window trim is perfectly complemented by the frame of your new window treatment.

Sunburst Shutters Southern CA is happy to provide a collection of shutters made right here in America. Our top-selling Polywood plantation shutters are 100% American-made, from the creation of our patented Polywood material to the construction of the shutters themselves. Not only does that mean saving you money on unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the perk of knowing you’ve chosen an all-American shutter for your Southern California home.

And it’s not just Polywood that’s from the U.S. Our naturally beautiful Reclaimed Wood shutters are built with lumber harvested from sources across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to sturdy Texas ranch fences and more.

The main difference between paints and stains for shutters is the way the color interacts with the shutter material. Paint lays atop the material it’s coloring, just coating the surface. Stains on the other hand seep into the shutter, becoming a part of the natural wood or Polywood material.

Both methods come with their individual benefits. There are usually more color choices for painted shutters. With stained shutters, the color doesn’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the natural knots and ridges of the material without it being masked by a layer of paint.

During your in-home shutter consultation, we’ll bring samples of our stain and paint options directly to your home so you can easily match and complement colors with your current design.

The entire plantation shutter process, from your starting consultation to installation, will take approximately four to six weeks. The reason it takes this long is because we want to build the perfect shutters for your windows. Doing that requires us to take precise measurements, utilize sophisticated software to design your shutters, assemble your brand-new shutters by hand, and deliver them to you prior to installation. Real wood shutters tend to take longer than Polywood due to the staining and finishing process.

It will take some time, but it’s a wait that’s definitely worth it.

Sunburst Shutters Southern CA offers a total in-home shopping experience. We’ll send shutter expert to your home to get window measurements, discuss your options, and provide a quote. The in-home consultation is absolutely free. That’s the best way to start a window treatment project. If you only need a quick estimate, you can submit the measurements of your windows through our contact form, or by calling us at 888-611-2474.

The answer will depend on your personal taste. If you want to keep your trim in place, we can build your shutters to match your current trim. If you prefer our shutter frames, then you can take out the existing trim—but it’s not a necessity. If you want to go without trim or replace your trim, we’ll help you find the right shutter to match your perfect vision.

If you’re a seasoned handyperson, you’re probably familiar with what goes into installing shutters. However, taking on DIY shutters may be a tad tricky for most Southern California homeowners. We recommend leaving the installation to our certified and insured professionals, that way you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, windows, or injuring yourself.

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

As far as shutter options, the most common shutter configuration we sell is a 3.5” louver, smooth finish, with a Z-frame. If none of that makes any sense, that’s ok. We’ll be happy to demonstrate what all that means in person. Set up a free in-home consultation and we’ll help you find what would look best on your windows.

Shutters with a smooth finish tend to look more fashionable and sophisticated, whereas shutters with a textured finish look a little more natural. But the perks to both types of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and in the end come down to your own style.

Perks of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters give you a clean, sleek, modern look. A smooth finish may be what you want if your home has few other wood textured accessories or furniture. A smooth finish makes dust easier to see, in comparison with a wood grain finish. We typically recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Perks of a textured or wood grain finish for shutters – Shutters with a wood grain finish offer a more natural look in your home. That’s awesome if you want to bring the beauty of nature inside, especially if you want to match the look of your hardwood floors. A textured finish on your shutters may also make it harder to see dust, which means you won’t have to wipe them down as frequently as you would if they were smooth. A textured finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Southern California.

Typically, the larger the surface area of your window, the more shutter panels you’ll want on it. The optimal design is to use a single panel for windows up to 26 in. wide, two panels for windows up to 50 in. wide, and four for windows up to 98 in. wide.

Single wide panels are not as room-friendly as two separate panels. Often, wider panels can’t fit flush against the wall due to their width. Multiple small panels don’t have that problem.

For windows that you may open or shut often, you’ll be better suited with multiple panels, since they’re easier to open and have more support from the shutter frame when you do operate them.

With Sunburst Shutters Southern CA, all of your measurements for shutters will be done for free by our team as part of your in-home consultation. Even if your window is in a difficult to reach area of your home or has a unique shape, our installers can get you an exact measurement so that the shutters you get will perfectly match up with your windows.

At your complimentary in-home consultation, your Sunburst Shutters installer will help you pick from our extensive array of Southern California plantation shutters, featuring options for louver size, stain colors, and custom mounts and frames.

So set up your shutter consultation now by calling 888-611-2474 today.

Sunburst can help you pick the ideal shutter for your rooms, no matter how thin your frame. We will work with an outside mount installation that affixes to the trim or wall outside the window cavity . Your window treatments will still have the same functionality and energy efficiency, and will tie in seamlessly into your design scheme.

If the louver is detached and drooping from the frame, you likely have a busted louver pin. To mend this you should remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with some needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is removed, stick the replacement pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then slide the louver onto the pin. To acquire extra louver pins for free, just call us at 888-611-2474.

Pricing on plantation shutters revolves on the desired product line and window dimensions. While we can present you an estimate over the phone, complete costs are determined after our free in-person consultation. Call 888-611-2474 to ask for an appointment today.

First, remove the damaged staple away from the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then use some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to cover the legs of a replacement staple. guide the staple through the loop on the louver and direct its legs into the existing staple holes on the tilt rod. For extra shutter staples, call us at 888-611-2474.

Polywood shutters are some of the safest window treatments in Southern California. The cordless, durable craftsmanship is great for children and pets. The toxin-free and hypoallergenic paint and materials will never peel or chip. And since Polywood is moisture and pest resistant, you’ll never have to wonder about bugs, mold, or wood rot.