How to Guide: Selecting a Material
One of the first decisions in selecting shutters for your home is choosing a material. Shutters are available in both natural wood and a variety of synthetic materials, all of which have advantages and disadvantages depending on your window environment. Before you select, it is important to understand the options.
NATURAL MATERIAL
Wood
Wood shutters are available in several different varieties and construction grade levels. When the right quality is chosen, wood is often the best choice for most applications, especially in larger openings.
In addition to superior aesthetics, wood is, by far, the strongest material available for shutters, and the only material recommended when panel size exceeds 29 inches in width. It is this wider panel width that most people associate with the “plantation style”, a more desirable look that can really open up the architecture in a room and add the most amount of light.
Because wood properties vary by individual type, no single wood is a perfect choice for the very different requirements between louvers and panel frame construction, so better lines are often constructed using multiple wood species in same panel to take advantage of individual wood qualities. This type of construction is ideal for large or sunny openings.
Despite common misnomer, wood is actually one of the most resilient and easiest materials to keep clean and dust free. This, when combined with one of the more enduring finishes now available, makes wood still the most maintenance free and child durable choice for most windows, including high sun applications.
Pros: Wood is considered the most attractive and strongest shutter material, and is virtually maintenance free providing that the construction and finish grades are appropriate for the environment. Wood is almost always the best choice in larger or warmer openings.
Cons: Wood is not the best choice in damp environments.
SYNTHETIC MATERIALS
Vinyl (PVC)
PVC vinyl was the first synthetic developed as a cheaper alternative to wood. Though not as “wood like” in appearance as newer type synthetics, vinyl can still be a good choice when aesthetics are not the primary concern, such as laundry room or garage windows.
Vinyl is available in both hollow and reinforced core types, with the latter recommended for panel sizes over 24” in width.
Since vinyl shutters can not be painted, the raw PVC vinyl material is exposed in the same way as inexpensive PVC lawn furniture. This can result in surface oxidization or “chalking” in windows exposed to sunlight.
Hollow vinyl shutters are also available with their tilt bars hidden inside of the panel, instead of the normal center position. While center mounted tilt bars look very nice in most windows, hidden tilt bars can help unclutter unusually small openings, but the mechanisms can be fragile and difficult to repair.
One quality peculiar to vinyl is its tendency to build up a static charge causing it to attract dust and pollen out of the air. This particulate matter tends to cling, making vinyl sometimes difficult to keep clean. But for greasy environments, vinyl is capable of standing up to a good scrubbing with a household cleaner.
Pros: Vinyl is often the least expensive option for damp or utilitarian environments and can be a perfect choice for a bathroom or cellar window.
Cons: Vinyl is considered among the least attractive materials, making it less suitable for more visible or higher end applications. Connector components can be fragile and difficult to service, so care must be taken when operating.
Poly-Core
Poly-Core shutters are much more “wood-like” in appearance than vinyl, but, like most synthetics, has limitations because of sagging issues in wider openings and panel sizes. Manufacturers attempt to compensate by limiting their products to narrow panels, but retailers do not always follow their advice and push the maximum because narrow panels tend to compromises the “plantation Shutter” look most people prefer.
Some manufacturers now offer aluminum reinforced louvers to help control the material’s tendency to flex. While non reinforced panels should be limited to 24 inches in width, reinforced louvers can go a bit wider, but are still prone to “bowing” in wider openings.
Poly shutters have a solid core, which can be very useful in wet locations like shower windows, but this causes them to be much heavier than most other materials, making them not recommended for doors or openings requiring multiple panels hinged together.
Unlike vinyl, Poly is available in a wide range of colors, but the material itself is very malleable and easily scratched or dented.
A new type of poly/aluminum fusion material is on the horizon promising a stiffer, more resilient product. This new “Celuka” hardening process may help make poly a more versatile choice, but will most likely be limited in availability for several years.
Pros: Poly is an attractive upgrade from vinyl and is ideally suited for small, wet environments.
Cons: The nature of the material makes it soft and easily damaged, so it is probably not the best choice in homes with children. Panel size limits and weight restrict its uses.
Composite M.D.F.
Composite materials such as M.D.F. (Medium Density Fiberboard) have been more commonly available through some of the foreign importers over the last couple of years and are very inexpensive. The material looks remarkably like wood, but has very little of wood’s natural tensile strength or resilience, so their role in the market has the same limitations as Poly-Core products.
Like poly, M.D.F. composites can be used effectively in small windows, but it exhibits the same tendency to sag in larger openings. M.D.F. has been successfully used for years in moldings and similar non-exposed applications, but those products are neither structural, nor exposed to direct sunlight, so they do not share in the challenges associated M.D.F. use in shutters.
Like most products made of wood byproducts, M.D.F. is very soft and prone to damage which is very difficult to repair, but they can be utilized well in seldom used windows as long as care is taken when opening.
Controversy also exists around the use of certain potentially toxic materials used in M.D.F. manufacturing. Most M.D.F. uses resins in its production capable of formaldehyde off-gassing, which, according to the FDA, doubles in level for every 10°F increase in temperature.
While the jury is still out on M.D.F. and similar composite’s use in shutters, most furniture manufactures have shied away except at the very lowest end of the market.
Pros: By far, the least expensive shutter material available.
Cons: MDF is easily damaged and can have sagging issues. Chemical off-gassing can be a concern, especially in warm windows.
– From the San Francisco Chronicle, June 23, 2007