San Antonio's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 28 years, we’ve heard every question about shutters thinkable from our customers in San Antonio. And we’ve collected the top ten of them here. Perhaps in these questions and answers you’ll find answers to questions of your own. If not, please don’t hesitate to contact Sunburst Shutters San Antonio directly. We’re here to assist you and happy to do so.

That is based on how you desire 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 right for you. Or are you looking to copy the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are the ultimate fit for you.

Plantation shutters are recognized for being energy efficient. And to get the greatest 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. Cheaper store-bought blinds are susceptible to deteriorating over time, with its strings giving way and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. And they’re not easy 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, transforming 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 San Antonio neighborhood.

Draperies also come in a wide array of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional choice 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, it’s not necessary to clean draperies for five years.

If you’re looking for a window treatment that lasts beyond 10 years, saves you real dollars 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 magnificent and energy efficient. In 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 space a clean contemporary feel whether they’re closed or open.

A poorly installed window treatment can be challenging to open and can get damaged easily. We have an expert installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment with great accuracy, ensuring that each one functions perfectly – and doesn’t get damaged in the process.

But before we start installing your shutters, we bring shutter samples to your home so we can custom craft 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. Generally, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters lets you 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 appearance.

Our Polywood shutters last 50+ years – more than any other shutter you can find. 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 breeze to clean because they have large louvers and their tilt bars are either hidden or mounted on the rear. Gently tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a damp cloth.

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

Plantation shutters are an investment that gives you temperature control, energy efficiency, and privacy. They are custom manufactured and installed on your windows to become permanent fixtures. Not only are they charming and energy saving, but plantation shutters also increase the value of your house. We’ve seen it first hand in San Antonio!

A half shutter lets you have 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

In the end, 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 letting you close the bottom louvers for privacy while leaving the top louvers open for light. At night, you are able to close the top louvers as well for privacy and security. That’s also helpful during the day when the sun is stopping 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 210-876-0377 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 add shutters to 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 best shutter estimate for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Absolutely! There’s rarely a reason to remove or alter your current window trim when putting in new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and premier Polywood shutters are offered in an array of frame styles to fit naturally into your existing window trim. If your windows have no trim, we also have frame styles available to install right onto the wall around your window to secure your beautiful new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installation team will measure each of your house’s windows during your complimentary in-home consultation to ensure that your new shutters will fit perfectly with your window trim.

Sunburst Shutters San Antonio is committed to offering a range of window coverings made right here in America. Not only are Polywood plantation shutters America’s #1-selling shutter, but they’re 100% American-made. Not only does that result in a lower final price without unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the benefit of knowing you’ve chosen an all-American shutter for your San Antonio house.

And Polywood isn’t the only shutter that’s from America. Our stunning Reclaimed Wood shutters are constructed using lumber gathered from sources across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to sturdy Texas ranch fences and more.

The primary differentiator between a shutter that’s stained or painted is how the color interacts with the material of the shutter. Paint lays atop the material it’s coloring, covering the surface. Stains conversely, permeate the shutter, bonding to the natural wood or Polywood material.

The two color options have their own unique benefits. There are usually a larger number of color choices for painted shutters. With stained shutters, the color won’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you can see the random knots and ridges of the material without a layer of paint masking it.

For your in-home shutter consultation, our team will bring paint and stain samples directly to your home so you can easily match and complement colors with your existing interior design.

The complete plantation shutter process, from your in-home consultation to installing the shutters, will take approximately four to six weeks on average. The process takes this long because we strive to build 100% custom shutters for your windows. Doing that requires us to take precise measurements, utilize sophisticated software to design your shutters, assemble your custom shutters manually, and get them to your home for installation. Real wood shutters typically take longer than Polywood because of the staining and finishing process.

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

Sunburst Shutters San Antonio offers a total in-home shopping experience. So we send a representative to you to measure all your windows, show you your options, and give you an accurate quote. The design consultation is 100% free. That’s the simplest way to start a window treatment project. If you only want a rough estimate, you can give us your window measurements through our contact form, or give us a call at 210-876-0377.

The answer will depend on your personal style. If you want to keep the trim you already have, we can build custom 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 requirement. If you want to go without trim or replace your trim, we can help you find the right shutter to match what you have in mind for your space.

If you’re a seasoned handyperson, you’re probably familiar with what goes into installing shutters. However, DIY shutters may be a tad tricky for most San Antonio residents. We recommend leaving the installation to our certified and insured professionals, that way you won’t risk damage to your shutters, your windows, or anything else in your house.

Far and away our most popular shutter offerings are our classic white Polywood® plantation shutters, and Ovation® wood shutters.

Beyond that, the most common shutter configuration we sell is a 3.5” louver, smooth finish, with a Z-frame. If all that information is confusing, that’s ok. We’d be happy to demonstrate what all that means in person. Schedule a free home consultation and we’ll show you what will work best in your home.

Smooth finish shutters have a more chic look, whereas shutters with a textured finish look more natural and historic. However the benefits to each style of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and in the end come down to your own style.

Benefits of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters give you a solid, sleek, modern look. A smooth finish might be perfect for you if your home doesn’t have much in the way of wood grain accessories or furniture. A smooth finish is easier to see when it needs dusting, in comparison with a wood grain finish. We typically recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Benefits of shutters with a textured or wood grain finish – Shutters with a textured finish give you a more natural look in your home. That’s fantastic if your goal is to bring the beauty of nature indoors, especially if you want to complement the look of your hardwood flooring. A textured finish on your shutter louvers may also make dust harder to see, meaning you won’t need to dust them as often as you would if they had a smooth finish. A textured finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in San Antonio.

For the most part, the larger the surface area of your window, the more shutter panels you’ll need. The optimal design is to use one panel for windows up to 26” wide, two panels for windows up to 50” wide, and four for windows up to 98” wide.

Single wide panels are not as user-friendly as two separate panels. Sometimes, wide panel shutters won’t fit flush against the wall due to their size. Multiple smaller panels don’t have that problem.

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

With Sunburst Shutters San Antonio, all of your shutter measurements will be done for free by our team as part of your in-home consultation. If you happen to have windows in a hard to reach place in your house or you have windows with a distinct shape, our shutter pros can get you an exact measurement so that your shutters will line up just right with the windows.

During your complimentary in-home consultation, your Sunburst Shutters expert can help you choose from our wide array of San Antonio plantation shutters, including choices for finish, stains, and custom framing options.

So schedule your in-home consultation today by calling 210-876-0377 today.

Sunburst can help you find the best shutter for your windows, regardless of how small your frame. We will work with an outside mount installation that connects to the trim or wall outside the window pane . Your window treatments will still have identical functionality and energy efficiency, and will blend seamlessly with your established decor.

If the louver is separated and hanging from the frame, you could have a busted louver pin. To mend this you need to take out the pin from both the louver and the stile with a set of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is extracted, insert the replacement pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then slide the louver onto the pin. To acquire extra complementary louver pins, just call us at 210-876-0377.

The cost of plantation shutters revolves on the chosen product line and window measurements. While we can offer you a projection over the phone, exact prices are computed after our no cost in-person consultation. Call 210-876-0377 to schedule an appointment today.

To start, remove the broken staple out of the louver with a tool like of needle-nose pliers. Then dab on some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to cover the legs of a replacement staple. weave the staple through the loop on the louver and direct its legs into the same staple holes on the tilt rod. For extra shutter staples, call us at 210-876-0377.

Polywood shutters are seen as some of the safest window coverings in San Antonio. The durable, cordless craftsmanship is great for pets and kids. The toxin-free and hypoallergenic materials and paint will never chip, splinter, or peel. And since Polywood is pest and water resistant, you won’t have to wonder about mold, termites, or wood rot.