Denver area homeowners should know that all plantation shutters are not created equally

From doing so many shutter repairs over the years I gained an insider’s knowledge of which manufacturer’s plantation shutters were always breaking, what was breaking, and why they were breaking.

It quickly taught me that not all plantation shutters are created equally.

When I started offering sales of plantation shutters to my customers, I used this inside knowledge to offer the best shutters in the Denver market.

The build quality, extra options, and features mean plantation shutters you purchase from me will look and work as good today as they will 20 years from now.

Solid Wood

A stained wood shutter is a great choice if you want a product to compliment your home’s stained wood interior trim.

My solid wood shutters are made from 100% North American hardwood in a range of custom styles, all manufactured with a three-step drying process and using the straightest possible wood components with vibrant stains and environmentally friendly water-based paint finishes.

Composite Plantation Shutters

The exact same beauty, look and feel as solid wood, but without any of the disadvantages of wood in the Colorado climate.

When you want a white shutter I don’t recommend a wood-painted shutter, instead, our solid resin composite shutters will never warp or crack and there is no peeling paint to ever worry about.

They are perfect for the whole house and are especially ideal for any higher moisture areas like kitchens, laundry rooms, or, bathrooms.

A Better Made Composite Plantation Shutter

Solid Resin Composite

Unlike our competitors, our composite shutters have no wood cores, they are a solid resin, through body color composite shutter, the best you can buy.

• Solid color, the color runs all the way through the material
• Solid construction, not hollow like vinyl
• Not faux-wood, they are not veneered over an MDF (pressed sawdust) interior susceptible to moisture and delamination
• You can feel the substantial difference in the weight of our composite plantation shutters, they feel, they are heavier than wood, more solid
• Impervious to moisture
• A more robust product = better sound deadening, better R-value, and longer life
• Lifetime warranty because they are built so well, guaranteed not to warp, or crack, and will not flake

Solid Resin, no wood core

Through body color all the way through the material

The picture below is a Norman composite plantation shutter.  This is a plastic coating over an MDF interior (pressed sawdust). This is not a frame we cut to show you the interior, but the actual frame mitered end as it comes from the factory, it is not even encapsulated so moisture can freely move into the product and cause expansion and contraction.

Norman and/or Hunter Douglas NewStyle Hybrid – MDF (pressed sawdust) plantation shutter

Larger Hinges

Our hinges are 50% larger than the competition. Hinge size translates into stability and longevity. The industry standard is a 2-inch hinge, mine are 3 inches. 

More Hinges than the competition

Where everybody else uses 3 hinges we have 4 hinges. Everything looks good and works well when it is brand new, but over time how will it perform in 5, 10 or 20 years from now? 

More hinges remove the sagging that other plantation shutters are known for and ensure years of maintenance-free enjoyment.

Serviceable Hidden Louver Control Rods

My plantation Shutters with “hidden” louver control rods have metal rods not plastic, they are attached to the louvers with metal screws, not plastic nibs. 

If there would ever be a problem in the future and there rarely is because this system is so robust, simple, and foolproof, but if there is, it’s just a replacement of a simple screw and they are as good as new again.

If you buy shutters with plastic rods or plastic nibs, it is not a matter of will they break but when will they break, these are the ones I always get calls to repair, the older they get the more brittle the plastic becomes, and it’s only a matter of time.

Norman shutters use a gimmicky hidden louver control rod that is inside the panel, it’s actually plastic cams and gears. This is all for marketing hype as whether it’s inside of the panel or behind the panel, it’s still hidden from view. 

The problem with the inside the panel design is they are plastic parts and they do wear out over time and repairing them means removing and sending the panels back to the factory.

Serviceable metal hidden louver controls

Four-Sided Frames

We don’t cut corners with 3-sided frames, our frames are 4-sided with a bottom sill plate. For our composite shutters, the bottom sill plate is composite so there is zero maintenance.

This picture shows why we don’t use a 3-sided frame, the normal opening and closing of the panels will eventually scrape the paint and damage the painted window sills.

No maintenance with a 4-side frame

Serialized / Numbered Parts

All of your new plantation shutters have individual ID numbers tagged or embedded in the individual parts and are recorded at the factory.

If for instance, you were to damage a shutter panel 5 years from now, all we need is the ID number off the bottom of the part to get an exact replacement made and installed for you, and you’re good as new with a perfectly fitting replacement.

Smart Magnetic Catches

My shutters don’t use the inexpensive plastic magnetic catches the rest of the industry uses. Those plastic parts get brittle due to the UVs over time and end up breaking.

Instead, we use Neodymium or (deep earth) magnetics which are the most powerful available, and they are recessed and screwed firmly into the shutter panel…

… Those magnets closes against a metal strike plate mounted on the frame. This is a simple and foolproof design that will last a lifetime.

Two Louver Close Options

Are you an ‘uppy’ or a ‘downy’? Typically manufacturers only allow you to close your louvers in the upward position, my shutters are built so you can close the louvers upwards or downwards, the choice of how you like to close your shutters is up to you.

Louver Tensioning Ports

We call them “lazy louvers”, you call them other names because nobody likes it when their louvers don’t want to stay in the place you adjust them to because they have loosened up over time. Our panels come with a built-in tensioning port.

All you do is insert a screwdriver into it and tighten or loosen the tension on the panel, giving your shutters a quick and easy tune-up if they need them.  Your louvers will always be nice and tight just like the day they were installed.

Proper Installations

Installation is a very important factor in a customer’s user experience and enjoyment of their new shutters. Our installations are all done with factory-supplied screws and follow certified factory installation procedures.

Unfortunately, there is a growing trend for installers in Denver to use nail guns in order to save time and cut costs during installation. The extra profit the salesman and the installer make today by short-cutting the manufacturer’s installation requirements comes back out of the pocket of the customer tomorrow.

When the homeowner decides to replace any windows in the future the plantation shutters will need to be removed and the homeowner will pay dearly for the installers’ short-cuts.

Removal of a properly installed shutter that used the manufacturer’s supplied screws is a straightforward process, compared to trying to dig out or drill out headless nail gun nails buried throughout the frame, with the damage to the frames being extreme and the labor cost required being considerable.

Below is a plantation shutter frame that was installed with a nail gun, to remove it for a window replacement the headless nails had to be drilled out, instead of simply backing out screws. — Do not let anyone install your plantation shutters with nail guns.

This is the removal process for plantation shutters that have been installed with a nail gun