Did you know that wood used today for building is different than wood used in many historical buildings? The same goes for shutters. Old growth wood is denser and more stable than new growth wood. It’s also more resistant to moisture, making it ideal for long term durability. When people think of historical, functional shutters on houses, they think of wood shutters. Why? Because, well, that’s what people used to use. It was reliable and long lasting. Today, you’d be hard pressed not only to find old growth wood, but to find someone willing to invest in it for shutters. As a result, many shutters are made out of new growth wood with the top choice being cedar shutters.
Cedar Shutters
Cedar shutters can be beautiful, especially when stained. Often times, however, people want to have a specific color shutter and therefore get them painted. While there isn’t anything wrong with painting, if you are going to paint your shutters, why not use a material that is more durable and requires less maintenance? With cedar shutters, you’ll need to keep an eye on them and strip and paint or stain them every 3 to 5 years. Over time, weather causes sealants to break down. When that happens, your wood shutters will be vulnerable to moisture, which leads to rot. Here’s a picture of some wood shutters that we took off a house. Look at this picture below. There were multiple layers of paint, yet, as you can see, they still rotted. Do you wish you could find maintenance free shutters? See below!
Lower Maintenance Alternatives
What’s a low maintenance alternative? We have two options. The first is the most durable of all: aluminum. Not only is the material itself made to stand the test of time, you can also choose a powder coat option. Powder coat is more resistant to chipping, scratching and other wear because of the thermal bonding it undergoes during curing. Our shutters are so pretty, that from 6 feet away you would probably think they are wood! They are practically maintenance free shutters. The second option is our Everwood shutters. It is a wood fiber polymer infused material which is rot, bug, and moisture resistant. We can match almost any color paint for our Everwood shutters or aluminum shutters, if you decide to do a color match instead of powder coat. Our shutters are so pretty, that from 6 feet away you would probably think they are wood!
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