by Maneesha Srivastava

Created on: June 17, 2008   Last Updated: June 30, 2008

Solid wood shutters provide a superior level of quality and elegance that cannot be matched by synthetic or wood composite shutters. Below, we will explore the distinct advantages of real wood shutters and also discuss how to customize your wood shutters to provide superior durability and energy efficiency.

Wood Shutter Comparisons
Real wood shutters provide a noticeable level of elegance and charm that cannot be emulated by inferior imitation shutters. Estate Millwork's shutters are hand milled using quality old-world craftsmanship and highly durable, whole cut premium grade hardwoods. Most of our competitors offer two different types inferior products:

1) Vinyl Shutters - Vinyl shutters are constructed using plastic injection molding techniques to create a truly inferior product. Vinyl shutters dent, fade, bend and crack after just a few years of being exposed to the elements. As if that weren't enough, most vinyl shutters cannot even be painted, which limits your color options to the colors of plastic that the manufacturer has in stock and also forces you to throw out your shutters when they become damaged or worn.

2) Composited Wood Shutters - Many companies offer wood shutters, even claiming that the shutters are made of solid wood. However, many of these shutters are cut from mismatched wood stock, shoddily milled in to many small components that later have to be pieced together, and hollowed out wood that is stuffed with inferior filler woods. This limits the durability of the wood shutter, causes it to wear and deteriorate faster, and decreases the energy efficiency of the shutter.

Estate Millworks offers whole cut real wood shutters that are not only higher quality than competitors, but also are competitively priced. Additionally, our wood shutters are fully customizable, which means that you can have them custom milled to fit your windows perfectly and compliment your home in the exact way that you envision.

BENIFITS:

Wood Shutters & Energy Efficiency
As mentioned above, our wood shutters can be custom milled to fit your windows perfectly. This means that they will keep cool air inside in the summer and warm air inside in the winter. Most of our competitors only offer pre-fabricated shutters that come in one or two inch increments. This means that if you have a window that does not match the size of their shutters, you have to buy a shutter that doesn't fit your window. Aside from looking bad, this will cause air seeps that can reduce the energy efficiency benefits of having wood shutters.

Superior Durability
Shutters that are made of vinyl and other synthetics can easily crack, dent, fade and warp in just a few years, leaving you with little recourse other than to throw them away. The shutters can't be painted or fixed. Even before vinyl shutters begin to fall apart, they are visibly inferior, even from far away. Plastic looks like plastic and wood looks like wood, no matter which way you slice it.

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