Cleveland's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 20 years, we’ve been asked every question about shutters imaginable from our customers in Cleveland. 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 Cleveland directly. We’re here to help you and happy to do so.

That hinges 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 ideal for you. Or are you looking to duplicate 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 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. Additionally, 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 a variety 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 Cleveland neighborhood.

Draperies also are available in a wide assortment of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional choice for a window treatment. Adding thick panels between the drapes and the window allows for 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 beyond 10 years, saves you money on your energy bills, and looks beautiful on your windows, shutters are the choice for your home. Not only are shutters durable, but they’re also lovely 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 space a clean contemporary feel whether they’re closed or open.

An inappropriately installed window treatment can be tough to open and can get damaged easily. We have a professional 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 in the process.

But before we begin 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 pushing them up or down. Most commonly, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters allows you to adjust the louvers. If you would like to move the louvers with your hand, we suggest buying shutters with hidden tilt-rods or rear-mounted tilt rods. This gives your shutters a clean, contemporary look.

Our Polywood shutters last more than 50 years – more than any other shutter you can find. That’s why these plantation shutters are a permanent fixture that adds to 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. Simply tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a moist cloth.

Plantation shutters are custom fashioned to fit your windows exactly. They become a permanent fixture of your home, increasing its resale value. It’s not possible to move these shutters 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 add to the value of your residence. We’ve seen it first hand in Cleveland!

A half shutter allows 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 polished look – and allowing you 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. It’s also convenient during the day when the sun is hindering you from watching TV. And don’t worry about forgoing any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you a lot of of a view to look through.

Easy! Call us at 440-561-6787 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 best shutter price for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Yes! There’s almost never a reason to get rid of or do work on your old window trim when installing new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and patented Polywood shutters can be customized with 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 drywall around your window to secure your stunning new shutters to your window opening.

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

Sunburst Shutters Cleveland is committed to offering a collection of shutters made right here in America. Polywood plantation shutters are not only America’s #1-selling shutter, but they’re 100% American-made. Not only does that mean saving you money on unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the benefit of knowing you’ve chosen an all-American shutter for your Cleveland home.

And Polywood isn’t alone in hailing from America. Our naturally beautiful Reclaimed Wood shutters are constructed with lumber harvested from places across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to beautiful New England fences and more.

The main difference between paints and stains for shutters is the way the color interacts with the material of the shutter. Paint lays on top of the shutter, covering the surface. Stains conversely, penetrate the shutter, becoming a part of the natural wood or Polywood material.

Both methods come with their individual benefits. There are typically more color options for painted shutters. With stained shutters, the color doesn’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the random grooves and ridges of the material without a layer of paint hiding it.

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

The entire plantation shutter process, from your initial consultation to finishing your shutter installation, usually takes around four to six weeks on average. The reason it takes this long is because we want to build the perfect shutters for your windows. Doing that requires us to take exact measurements, use advanced software to design your shutters, assemble your brand-new shutters manually, and get them to your home for installation. Shutters made from real wood typically take longer due to the staining and finishing process.

It will take a little time, but it’s a wait that’s well worth it.

We sure do! We’d be delighted to walk you through our showroom to see our entire collection of shutters and window treatments. Our office is at 204 Depot Street, so you’re welcome to stop in anytime during our standard business hours to take a look for yourself.

Sunburst Shutters Cleveland offers a start to finish shop-at-home experience. We’ll send a representative to your home to measure all your windows, discuss your options, and give you a quote. The in-home consultation is 100% free. That’s the simplest way to start a window treatment project. If you’re only looking for a quick estimate, you can give us the measurements of your windows through our contact form, or give us a call at 440-561-6787.

That’s up to your personal style. If you want to keep your existing trim, we can build your shutters to fit with your current trim. If you like our shutter frames better, then you can remove the trim—but it’s not a necessity. If you’re trying to go trimless or replace your trim, your Sunburst installer can help you find the best option to fit the vision you have in mind for your windows.

If you’re an experienced handyperson, you’re probably familiar with some of the process involved in a shutter installation. However, installing shutters yourself can be a bit complicated for most Cleveland homeowners. Our recommendation is to leave the installation to our certified and insured professionals, that way you won’t risk damage to your shutters, your windows, or any other part of your home.

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

More specifically, the most common shutter configuration features includes a 3 ½” louver, non-textured finish, with an interior-mount Z-frame. If all that information is confusing, that’s ok. We’ll be delighted to demonstrate what all those things mean in person. Set up a complimentary home consultation and we’ll help you find what will work best in your space.

Shutters with a smooth finish tend to look more fashionable and sophisticated, while shutters with a textured finish look a little more natural. However the perks to each style of plantation shutter finish are a little deeper, and in the end it comes down to your own personal preference.

Benefits of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters offer a clean, sleek, fashion-forward look. A smooth finish might be perfect for you if your home doesn’t have much in the way of wood textured surfaces or furniture. A smooth finish makes dust easier to see, in comparison with a textured finish. We usually recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Benefits of a wood grain finish for shutters – A wood grain finish on your shutters offers a more natural, wood-like look to your shutters. That’s awesome if your goal is to bring the look of nature inside, particularly if you want to accentuate the look of your hardwood flooring. A wood grain on your shutters will also make it harder to see dust, meaning you don’t have to dust them as frequently as you would if they had a smooth finish. A wood-grain finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Cleveland.

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 are not as room-friendly as multiple separate panels. Oftentime, wider panels won’t fit flush against the wall because of their width. Two smaller panels resolve that.

For those windows that you’ll open or shut often, you’re usually better off with multi-panel shutters, since they’re easier to open and have more support from the frame when you do open and close them.

With Sunburst Shutters Cleveland, any and all 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 an exact measurement so that the shutters you get will fit your windows seamlessly.

At your complimentary shutter consultation, your Sunburst Shutters expert will help you pick from our wide variety of Cleveland plantation shutters, including choices for finish, stains, and custom mounts and frames.

So set up your in-home consultation now by calling 440-561-6787 today.

Sunburst can assist you in picking the perfect shutter for your windows, no matter how thin your frame. We will work with an outside mount installation that attaches to the trim or wall outside the window cavity . Your window treatments will still have equivalent performance and energy efficiency, and will integrate superbly with other window treatments.

If the louver is detached and hanging from the frame, you likely have a busted louver pin. To repair this you will want to take out 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 new pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then direct the louver onto the pin. To receive extra louver pins for free, just call us at 440-561-6787.

Actual prices of plantation shutters depends on the desired product line and window dimensions. While we can give you a projection over the phone, detailed prices are offered after our no cost in-person consultation. Call 440-561-6787 to ask for an appointment today.

To start, clear away the broken staple from the louver with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to spread all over the legs of a replacement staple. weave the staple into the loop on the louver and slide its legs into the same staple holes on the tilt rod. For new shutter staples, call us at 440-561-6787.

Polywood shutters are seen as some of the safest window treatments in Cleveland. The cordless, durable construction is safe for pets and kids. The non-toxic and hypoallergenic paint and materials will never chip, splinter, or peel. And since Polywood is water and pest resistant, you won’t have to check for bugs, mold, or wood rot.