Dallas's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 35 years, we’ve heard every question about shutters you can think of from our customers in Dallas. And we’ve collected the top ten of them here. Maybe in these questions and answers you’ll find answers to questions of your own. If not, please don’t wait to contact Sunburst Shutters Dallas directly. We’re here to help you and happy to do so.

That depends on how you desire the shutters to mesh 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 match the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are an absolute 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 giving way and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. Not to mention, they might be troublesome 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. By simply pulling up the fabric of the shade, your full window is exposed and you can see out onto your Dallas neighborhood.

Draperies also are available in a wide array of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional option for a window treatment. Installing thick panels between the drapes and the window gives you light and temperature block-out capabilities. And unlike other window treatments, there’s no rush to clean draperies for five years.

If you want a window treatment that lasts more than 10 years, saves you real dollars on your energy bills, and looks exquisite on your windows, shutters are the choice for your home. Not only are shutters durable, but they’re also magnificent and energy efficient. Actually, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than a comparable wood shutter. That's energy savings you can't get 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 room a clean modern feel whether they’re closed or open.

An improperly installed window treatment can be tough to open and can get damaged easily. We have a skilled installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment exactly, making sure that each one moves flawlessly – and doesn’t get damaged when opened and closed.

But before we get to 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 without difficulty 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 recommend buying shutters with hidden tilt-rods or rear-mounted tilt rods. This gives your shutters a clean, contemporary appearance.

Our Polywood shutters last over 50 years – more than any other shutter in the US. 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 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 crafted to fit your windows just right. They become a permanent fixture of your home, adding to its resale value. It’s not possible to move these shutters from one house to another.

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

A half shutter gives you privacy on the bottom and leaves the top open for light and view. It’s called a café style shutter. But is it the ideal look for a plantation shutter?

Cafe Shutters Cafe Style Shutters With Divider

Ultimately, 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 are able to close the top louvers as well for privacy and security. It’s also convenient during the day when the sun is hindering 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 a lot of of a view to look through.

Piece of cake! Call us at 214-301-5066 or fill out the form below to schedule your free in-home consultation, and we’ll handle it from there. We come out to your home to measure the windows you want to cover with shutters and bring samples of all of our shutter products and their available options. This allows us to provide you with the most accurate shutter quote for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Absolutely! There’s a reason to take out or alter your existing window trim when installing new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and patented Polywood shutters can be customized with a variety of frame styles to fit seamlessly into your current window trim. If your windows have no trim, we also have frame styles available to install directly onto the wall around your window to secure your beautiful new shutters to your window opening.

Your Sunburst Shutters installation crew will measure each of your home’s windows during your free in-home consultation to ensure that your window trim is beautifully complemented by the frame of your new window treatment.

Sunburst Shutters Dallas is happy to provide a range of shutters made right here in the U.S.A. Polywood plantation shutters are not only America’s #1-selling shutter, but they’re 100% American-made. Not only does that mean saving you money on unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the perk of knowing you’re choosing an all-American shutter for your Dallas home.

And it’s not just Polywood that’s from America. Our stunning Reclaimed Wood shutters are built with lumber harvested from sources across the country, from homespun Southern barn doors to sturdy Texas ranch fences and more.

The main differentiator between paints and stains for shutters is how the shutter material interacts with the color. Paint lays on the top layer of the shutter, just coating the surface. Stains conversely, penetrate the shutter, becoming a part of the natural wood or faux wood material.

The two color options have their own unique benefits. There tend to be more color choices for painted shutters. With stained shutters, the color doesn’t lie over the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the random knots and bumps of the material without it being masked by a layer of paint.

When it comes time for your in-home shutter consultation, we’ll bring paint and stain samples directly to your home so you can easily match and complement colors with your current design.

The complete plantation shutter process, beginning with your in-home consultation through installation, usually takes around four to six weeks on average. The reason it takes this long is because we want to build shutters that are perfectly customized to every facet of your windows. To do that, we need to take exact measurements, make use of sophisticated software to design your shutters, assemble your brand-new shutters by hand, and get them to your home for installation. Wood shutters will usually take longer than Polywood because of the added steps of staining and finishing the wood.

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

We absolutely do! We’d be happy to walk you through our showroom to see our entire collection of shutters and window treatments. We’re located at 10990 Petal St Suite 100, so feel free to visit anytime during our standard business hours to shop around.

Sunburst Shutters Dallas offers a total in-home shopping experience. We typically send shutter expert to you to take precise measurements of your windows, show you your options, and provide a quote. The shutter consultation is absolutely free. That’s the easiest way to start a window treatment project. If you’re just looking for a rough estimate, you can submit the measurements of your windows through our contact form, or by calling us at 214-301-5066.

That’s up to your own taste. If you want to keep your trim in place, we can build your shutters to complement your current trim. If you prefer our shutter frames, then you can remove the trim—but it’s not a requirement. If you’re trying to go trimless or replace your trim, we’ll help you find the right shutter to fit your perfect vision.

If you’re an experienced DIYer, you might be familiar with some of the process involved in a shutter installation. However, installing shutters yourself can be a tad complicated for most Dallas residents. Our suggestion is to leave the installation to professionals that are certified and insured, so you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, windows, or anything else in your house.

By far our most popular shutter options are our classic white Polywood® faux wood plantation shutters, and Ovation® natural wood shutters.

More specifically, the most common shutter configuration features includes a 3 ½” louver, smooth finish, with an interior-mount Z-frame. If all that information is confusing, that’s ok. We’d be happy to demonstrate what all those things mean in person. Schedule a complimentary in-home consultation and we’ll help you find what would look best in your house.

Shutters with a smooth finish tend to look more modern and sophisticated, whereas shutters with a textured finish look more natural and historic. But the perks to each style of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and ultimately come down to your own taste.

Perks of a smooth finish for shutters – A smooth finish to your shutters give you a clean, chic, modern look. A smooth finish may be what you want if your home doesn’t have much in the way of wood textured 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.

Perks of a textured or wood grain finish for shutters – Shutters with a wood grain finish add a more natural look to your windows. That’s ideal if you want to bring the beauty of nature inside, especially if you want to match the look of your hardwood flooring. A textured finish on your shutters will also make it harder to see dust, which means you don’t need to dust them as frequently as you would if they were smooth. A textured finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Dallas.

Typically, the bigger your window is, the more shutter panels you’ll want. The most ideal layout is to use one panel for windows up to 26 in. wide, two panels for windows up to 50 in. wide, and four for windows up to 98 in. wide.

Single wide panels are not as room-friendly as multiple panels. Sometimes, wide panel shutters can’t fit flush against the wall because of their width. Multiple smaller panels solve that problem.

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

With Sunburst Shutters Dallas, all of your shutter measurements will be done for free by one of our installers as part of your in-home consultation. If you happen to have windows in a hard to reach area of your house or you have windows with a distinct shape, our installers can get you an accurate measurement so that your shutters will perfectly match up with your windows.

During your free in-home consultation, your Sunburst Shutters installer will help you pick from our extensive variety of Dallas plantation shutters, including choices for finish, stain colors, and custom mounts and frames.

So schedule your free consultation now by calling 214-301-5066 today.

Sunburst can help you find the ideal shutter for your rooms, regardless of how thin your frame. We will use an outside mount installation that attaches to the trim or wall outside the window pane . Your shutters will still have identical capabilities and energy efficiency, and will integrate superbly with other window treatments.

If the louver is detached and drooping from the frame, you could have a busted louver pin. To fix this you should take out the pin from both the louver and the stile with a set of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once everything is withdrawn, stick the undamaged pin base into the same hole in the shutter stile, then slide the louver onto the pin. To get replacement louver pins at no cost, just call us at 214-301-5066.

Pricing on plantation shutters hinges on the desired product line and window dimensions. While we can offer you an estimate over the phone, complete costs are computed after our complimentary in-person consultation. Call 214-301-5066 to make an appointment today.

To start, remove the snapped staple from the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to coat the legs of a replacement staple. weave the staple through the loop on the louver and direct its legs into the previous staple holes on the tilt rod. For replacement shutter staples, call us at 214-301-5066.

Polywood shutters are some of the safest window treatments in Dallas. The durable, cordless design is safe for pets and kids. The non-toxic and hypoallergenic materials and paint will never peel or chip. And since Polywood is water and pest resistant, you will not have to check for bugs, mold, or wood rot.