Plantation Shutter Help

[TonyRad]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Tony and I’m new here from Wake Forest, NC. I have a new 3 car garage I’ll share with you all soon but right now I have a question about plantation shutters. We want to have them installed in all the windows on the front of our home. All inside direct mount, 3.5” with the hidden tilt feature.

I’ve been given a high quote for Norman shutters, and 2 much lower quotes by elegant shutters and classic window coverings. I’ve been shown how Norman shutters are constructed and the joints and everything look very tough and the consensus is that they are probably the best. But are they $2k better? I can’t seem to find any details or reviews on the other manufacturers.

If you have any experience with them let me know. Thanks!

 

[rlitman]

I've installed two different types of plantation shutters from blinds.com and have been extraordinarily happy with them. They look fantastic, but cost nothing like how they look.

Inside mount can be a little difficult though. It's not very forgiving of mistakes made by your plasterers. Hopefully you haven't painted yet, or don't mind doing some touchup after installation.

But if everything is nicely square, they're a breeze for self installation.

 

[TonyRad]

Yeah the windows all seem to be very square which is great.

 

[rlitman]

Yeah the windows all seem to be very square which is great.

Any amount that they're out of square in any direction will either prevent the custom shutters from fitting, or show up as a gap that needs to be filled.

The sides need to be plumb, the top and bottom need to be level, but also for an inside fit, the return needs to be square to the wall.

That last one is usually a gotcha for plasterers. On most windows I see, the sheetrock is cut at the end (so it is full thickness, and not using the tapered edge), and then has the metal corner bead added over it before mudding it up. The result is that the corner of the wall will be less than 90 degrees. That's actually ok, as the gap from that error will be on the window side of the shutter frame, but I'm just saying that doors, windows and shutters all need to be put into very square openings to operate. With doors and windows, they're simply shimmed into the rough opening, but with inset shutters, shims will be visible, so the squareness needs to be as good as you can accept a caulk line. Basically 1/16" tolerances are the most you can get away with before things start to snowball.

Of course, if you choose to flush or inset mount them, you could still always hide any issues with a thin trim finished to match.

All those scary words aside, the one wall of windows I did with an inset fit worked out so well, no caulk was even required to hide any gaps. The other set of shutters I've done were z-frame, because an inset mount wouldn't have left room for the in-swing window to open. Z-frame is ludicrously forgiving of plastering sins (and doesn't require any work to make trim match up), so after you've taken all your measurements, there's always a way to make things work.

 

[kaiser715]

We built a house 2 years ago in central NC. We used a place called The Shutter Production. http://www.shutterproduction.com/ very, very happy with the results. They come measure, back to install. Shutters made in their plant in Rose Hill.

Will definitely use them again.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[GCS]

I had Norman Plantation Shutters installed on my front window about 12 years ago. Love them! No problems at all. I was worried because the window faces west, and here in Oklahoma the summer sun is EXTREMELY HOT. No warpage or color fade.

Last fall I had them installed in all my living room and dining room windows.
Expensive? Yes!
Worth it? In my opinion yes!
I’m normally a comparison shopper, but with the shutters I didn’t even bother.
I was so satisfied with the product, I knew what I wanted.

The guy that sold them to me also installed them. Did a great job! He also installed my previous shutters 12 years earlier. Was an installer at the time, working for others. Went out on his own.

I was talking to him after the install and asked about other brands. He said after installing shutters for years, and seeing all the differences, it’s the only shutter he now deals with. If there’s ever a problem, the company stands behind them with very rarely ever a problem.

I would highly recommend NORMAN Shutters.

 

[My Old Tools]

All of mine are Blinds.com composite shutters, inside mount. Get the best blinds.com shutters, not the cheap ones. Joints don't really matter on inside mount. The window opening provides all the support.

 

[yeldogt]

I have used local companies -- with the popularity in the Carolinas there must be someone.

There is a lot of "you get what you pay for" with shutters. I have done both wood and composite ... The choice had everything to do with the color and the surrounding room. We have a very nice condo on the coast of SC .. the space is all white -- we wanted white shutters. IMO -- there is no point in not using a composite with wanting white in that situation. It's a nice condo w/ higher than typical finishes ... but --- it did not require the absolute best shutters. And I did not want to deal with wood .. same with our place at the Jersey shore. It's all Andersen 400's in white .. we used rather basic composite -- they look great .. they match the quality of the windows

I just helped my sister with a new house in FL -- it's a development .. but a nice one. She upgraded the windows and trim -- she wanted shutters. The composite products just did not cut it for the space ... they were also going to be used a lot and visually close ... we went with a local wood company. It really does depends on what quality they are around.

 

[TonyRad]

OK excellent. I’ll give Norman a try after receiving a cheaper quote for them. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[texas123]

One of my Norman shutters fell out of my daughters bedroom window. This thing is big and heavy (5'6"). When she opened the shutter, the weight pulled the frame out of the sheetrock. I noticed it was installed with just a few finishing nails, which doesn't seem very sturdy. Can somebody advise me on how to fix this. I have very limited experience in carpentry, especially this kind.

 

[rlitman]

Replace the finishing nails with trim head screws that reach into the framing. They shouldn't be visible with the shutters closed anyway.

 

[cvairwerks]

Sean: The OP hasn't been on the site in 5 years now...