Clearwater's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 33 years, we’ve been asked every question about shutters you can think of from our customers in Clearwater. And we’ve gathered 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 wait to contact Sunburst Shutters Clearwater directly. We’re here to aid you and happy to do so.

That hinges 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 ideal for you. Or are you looking to copy the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are a better 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. Cheaper store-bought blinds are susceptible to deteriorating over time, with its strings snapping and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. Not to mention, 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 an array 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 Clearwater neighborhood.

Draperies also come in a wide variety of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional option 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’re looking for a window treatment that lasts beyond 10 years, saves you money on your energy bills, and looks lovely 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 an equivalent wood shutter. That's energy savings you will miss out on with any other window treatment.

Plantation shutters are unparalleled when it comes to control over privacy and light. And with their large louvers, Polywood plantation shutters give your room a clean in vogue feel whether they’re closed or open.

A poorly installed window treatment can be difficult to open and can get damaged easily. We have a skilled installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment with great accuracy, making sure that each one operates seamlessly – and doesn’t get damaged when opened and closed.

But before we begin installing your shutters, we bring shutter samples to your home so we can custom design your window treatment together. Learn more about our free in-home consultation.

Your plantation shutter slats – or louvers – can be moved simply by tilting them up or down. Usually, 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 propose 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 in the US. That’s why these plantation shutters are a permanent fixture that increases 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. Merely tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a damp cloth.

Plantation shutters are custom designed to fit your windows exactly. They become a permanent fixture of your home, boosting its resale value. This means they can’t be moved from one house to another.

Plantation shutters are an investment that allows temperature control, energy efficiency, and privacy. They are custom made and installed on your windows to become permanent fixtures. Not only are they beautiful and energy saving, but plantation shutters also increase the value of your residence. We’ve seen it first hand in Clearwater!

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 appropriate 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 allowing you to close the bottom louvers for privacy while leaving the top louvers open for light. At night, you have the option of closing 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 sacrificing any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you more than enough of a view to look through.

Simple! Call us at 813-580-7288 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 most accurate shutter price for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Yes! There’s seldom a need to get rid of or alter your current window trim when installing new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and premier Polywood shutters are available in a variety of frame styles to fit seamlessly into your existing window trim. If your windows have no trim, we offer frame styles to install directly onto the wall around your window to secure your stunning new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installer will measure each of your individual windows during your free design consultation to make sure that your new shutters will fit perfectly with your window trim.

Sunburst Shutters Clearwater is happy to provide a collection of window coverings made right here in the U.S.A. Our top-selling Polywood plantation shutters are 100% American-made, from the creation of our exclusive Polywood material to the building of the shutters themselves. Not only does that mean saving you money on unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the bonus of knowing you’ve chosen an all-American window treatment for your Clearwater home.

And Polywood isn’t the only shutter that’s from the U.S. Our naturally beautiful Reclaimed Wood shutters are built using lumber gathered from places across the country, from homespun Southern barn doors to beautiful New England fences and more.

The main divide between a shutter that’s stained or painted is the way the material of the shutter interacts with the color. Paint lays atop the shutter, covering the surface. Stains on the other hand penetrate the shutter, becoming a part of the natural wood or Polywood material.

The two color options have their own unique benefits. There are often more color choices for painted shutters. With stained shutters, the color won’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you can see the natural grooves and bumps of the material without a layer of paint hiding it.

For your in-home shutter consultation, our team will bring samples of all our color options directly to your home so you can easily match and complement colors with your current design.

The whole plantation shutter process, beginning with your in-home consultation through installing the shutters, usually takes approximately four to six weeks. The reason it takes this long is because we want to build 100% custom shutters for your windows. Doing that requires us to take precise measurements, make use of sophisticated software to design your shutters, assemble your custom shutters by hand, and get them to you prior to installation. Shutters made from real wood will usually take longer due to the staining and finishing process.

It does take some time, but it’s an investment that’s well worth it.

Yes, we do. We’d love to walk you through our showroom to see our entire collection of shutters and window treatments. We’re located at Clearwater, so feel free to visit anytime during our normal business hours to talk about what you need.

Sunburst Shutters Clearwater offers a complete shop-at-home experience. So we send shutter expert to your home to take precise measurements of your windows, discuss your options, and provide an accurate quote. The design consultation is totally free. That’s the easiest way to start a shutter project. If you only need a ballpark estimate, you can send us your window measurements through our contact form, or by calling us at 813-580-7288.

That’s up to your own taste. If you want to keep your existing trim, we can build custom shutters to match your current trim. If you prefer our shutter frames, then you can remove the trim—but it is not a requirement for shutters. If you’re trying to go trimless or replace your trim, we can help you choose the right shutter to match your perfect vision.

If you’re an experienced handyman, you might be familiar with what goes into a shutter installation. However, installing shutters yourself can be a little complex for most Clearwater homeowners. Our recommendation is to leave the installation to our certified and insured professionals, so you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, windows, or any other part of your home.

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

To get more specific, the most common shutter configuration we sell is a 3.5” louver, smooth finish, with an interior-mount Z-frame. If all that information is confusing, that’s ok. We’ll be happy to show you what all that means in person. Schedule a complimentary in-home consultation and we’ll help you figure out what would work best on your windows.

Shutters with a smooth finish tend to look more fashionable and suave, whereas shutters with a textured finish look a little more natural. But the benefits to both types of plantation shutter finish are a little deeper, and ultimately it comes down to your own personal preference.

Benefits of a smooth finish for shutters – A smooth finish to your shutters give you a solid, chic, modern look. A smooth finish might be preferable if your home doesn’t have much in the way of wood textured accessories or furniture. A smooth finish makes dust easier to see, in comparison with a textured finish. We typically recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Benefits of a wood grain finish for shutters – A textured finish on your shutters offers a more natural, rustic look to your shutters. That’s ideal if you want to bring the beauty of nature inside, especially if you want to match the look of your hardwood floors. A wood grain on your shutters can also make it more difficult to see dust, which means you won’t need to dust them as often as you would if they were smooth. A wood-grain finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Clearwater.

Usually, the larger the window, the more shutter panels you’ll need. The most ideal layout is to use a single 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 user-friendly as two separate panels. Oftentime, wide panel shutters can’t fit flush against the wall because of their size. Multiple small panels solve that problem.

For any windows that you may want to open or shut regularly, you’re usually better suited with multi-panel shutters, since it’s easier to open them and they get better support from the frame when you do open and shut them.

With Sunburst Shutters Clearwater, any and all window measurements will be done by our team for free as part of your in-home consultation. Even if your window is in a hard to reach place in your home or has a unique shape, our shutter experts can get you a precise measurement so that the final product will line up just right with the windows.

During your free in-home consultation, your Sunburst Shutters pro will help you narrow down your options from our wide array of Clearwater plantation shutters, including options for panel width, stain colors, and custom mounts and frames.

So set up your in-home consultation now by calling 813-580-7288 today.

Sunburst can assist you in picking the ideal shutter for your rooms, despite how small your frame. We will use an outside mount installation that affixes to the trim or wall outside the window opening . Your shutters will still have identical functionality and energy efficiency, and will integrate seamlessly into your design scheme.

If the louver is detached and jutting from the frame, you could have a broken louver pin. To fix this you need to remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with some needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is extracted, insert the new pin base into the same hole in the shutter stile, then direct the louver onto the pin. To receive extra complementary louver pins, just call us at 813-580-7288.

Pricing on plantation shutters hinges on the desired product line and window area. While we can present you an estimate over the phone, detailed prices are computed after our complimentary in-person consultation. Call 813-580-7288 to make an appointment today.

Locate and remove the snapped staple away from the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then dab on some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to spread all over the legs of a replacement staple. weave the staple through the loop on the louver and guide its legs into the previous staple holes on the tilt rod. For extra shutter staples, call us at 813-580-7288.

Polywood shutters are known as some of the safest window coverings in Clearwater. The durable, cord-free design is great for pets and kids. The non-toxic and hypoallergenic paint, polymers, and materials will never peel or chip. And since Polywood is water and pest resistant, you won’t have to check for mold, termites, or wood rot.