San Jose's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 28 years, we’ve been asked every question about shutters you can imagine from our customers in San Jose. 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 be reluctant to contact Sunburst Shutters San Jose directly. We’re here to help 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 perfect for you. Or are you looking to copy the wood in your home as closely as possible? Ovation® wood shutters are an absolute fit for you.

Plantation shutters are recognized 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. Chances are, store-bought blinds will deteriorate over time, with its strings snapping and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. Additionally, 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 effortlessly pulling up the fabric of the shade, your full window is exposed and you can see out onto your San Jose neighborhood.

Draperies also are available in a wide array of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional alternative for a window treatment. Placing 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 over 10 years, saves you actual bucks on your energy bills, and looks charming on your windows, shutters are the choice for your home. Not only are shutters durable, but they’re also lovely and energy efficient. Actually, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than a comparable 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 house a clean modern feel whether they’re closed or open.

An inappropriately installed window treatment can be difficult to open and can get damaged easily. We have a professional installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment with great accuracy, ensuring that each one moves smoothly – and doesn’t get damaged throughout.

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

Your plantation shutter slats – or louvers – can be moved effortlessly by pushing them up or down. Generally, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters gives you control over 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 feel.

Our Polywood shutters last over 50 years – more than any other shutter in the industry. 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 simple 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 designed to fit your windows perfectly. They become a permanent fixture of your home, boosting its resale value. These shutters cannot be moved 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 magnificent and energy saving, but plantation shutters also add to the value of your house. We’ve seen it first hand in San Jose!

A half shutter allows 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 well-rounded look – and giving you the option to close the bottom louvers for privacy while leaving the top louvers open for light. At night, you can close the top louvers as well for privacy and security. That’s also helpful during the day when the sun is preventing you from watching TV. And don’t worry about losing any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you abundant of a view to look through.

Piece of cake! Call us at 916-542-1305 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 shutter 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 appropriate shutter quote for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Yes! There’s a reason to remove or alter your current window trim when you buy new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and deluxe Polywood shutters can be customized with a variety of frame styles to fit seamlessly into your current window trim. If your windows are trimless, we offer frame styles to install directly onto the drywall around your window to secure your beautiful new shutters to your window opening.

Your installation crew will measure each of your home’s windows during your free design consultation to make sure that your new shutters will fit gorgeously with your window trim.

Sunburst Shutters San Jose is happy to provide a collection of shutters made right here in the U.S. Our marquee Polywood plantation shutters are 100% made in America, 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’re choosing an all-American window treatment for your San Jose home.

And it’s not just Polywood that’s from the U.S. Our stunning Reclaimed Wood shutters are constructed with lumber harvested from sources across the country, from homespun Southern barn doors to beautiful New England fences and more.

The primary differentiator between paints and stains for shutters is the way the shutter material interacts with the color. Paint sits atop the shutter, covering the surface. Stains on the other hand permeate the shutter, becoming a part of the natural wood or faux wood material.

Both methods come with their individual benefits. There are often more color options for painted shutters. With stained shutters, the color won’t interfere with the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the random knots and bumps of the material without a layer of paint hiding it.

For your in-home window design consultation, our team will bring samples of all our color options straight to you so you can perfectly color match with your current design.

The complete plantation shutter process, beginning with your in-home consultation through installation, usually takes about four to six weeks. The reason it takes this long is because we want to build shutters that are completely customized to your windows. To do that, we need to take precise measurements, use advanced software to design your shutters, assemble your custom shutters manually, and get them to your home for installation. Wood shutters tend to take longer than faux wood due to the extra steps needed to stain and treat the wood.

It will take a little time, but it’s definitely worth the wait.

We offer a start to finish shop-at-home experience. We typically send a representative to you to take precise measurements of your windows, walk you through your options, and give you a quote. The design consultation is totally free. That’s the easiest way to start a shutter project. If you’re just looking for a simple estimate, you can submit your window measurements through our contact form, or give us a call at 916-542-1305.

The answer will depend on your personal taste. If you want to keep your trim in place, we’re able to build your shutters to fit with your current trim. If you like our shutter frames better, 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 fit what you have in mind for your space.

If you’re a seasoned DIYer, you might be familiar with some of the process involved in installing shutters. However, DIY shutters might be a little complex for most San Jose residents. Our recommendation is to leave the installation to our certified and insured professionals, that way you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, your windows, or injuring yourself.

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

Beyond that, the most common shutter configuration features includes a 3 ½” louver, smooth finish, with a Z-frame. If none of that makes any sense, that’s ok. We’ll be delighted to demonstrate what all those things mean in person. Set up a free in-home consultation and we’ll show you what would work best on your windows.

Shutters with a smooth finish tend to look more modern and suave, while shutters with a textured finish look more natural and historic. However the perks to each style of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and ultimately it comes down to your own personal preference.

Benefits of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters offer a solid, sleek, fashion-forward look. A smooth finish may be what you want if your home doesn’t have much in the way of wood textured surfaces or furniture. A smooth finish makes dust easier to see, compared to a textured finish. We usually recommend a smooth finish for faux wood shutters like Polywood.

Benefits of shutters with a wood grain finish – A textured finish on your shutters gives you a more natural, wood-like look to your shutters. That’s fantastic if your goal is to bring the beauty of nature indoors, especially if you want to accentuate the look of your hardwood furniture. A wood grain on your shutters may also make dust harder to see, which means you don’t have to dust them as often as you would if they had a smooth finish. A wood-grain finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in San Jose.

Typically, the larger the window, the more shutter panels you’ll want on it. The optimal design is to use a single 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 aren’t as room-friendly as multiple separate panels. Often, wider panels can’t fit flush against the wall due to their size. Two smaller panels don’t have that problem.

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

With Sunburst Shutters San Jose, any and all measurements for shutters will be done by one of our installers for free as part of your in-home consultation. Even if your window is in a difficult to reach area of your house or has a unique shape, our installers can get you an accurate measurement so that the shutters you get will fit your windows seamlessly.

During your complimentary shutter consultation, your Sunburst Shutters pro will help you pick from our wide array of San Jose plantation shutters, such as choices for panel width, stain colors, and custom framing options.

So schedule your shutter consultation today by calling 916-542-1305 today.

Sunburst can assist you in picking the best shutter for your rooms, regardless of how thin your frame. We will utilize an outside mount installation that attaches to the trim or wall outside the window pane . Your shutters will still have identical functionality and energy efficiency, and will tie in perfectly with other window treatments.

If the louver is detached and jutting from the frame, you likely have a broken louver pin. To repair this you should remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with a set of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the damaged pin is withdrawn, stick the undamaged pin base into the same hole in the shutter stile, then guide the louver onto the pin. To receive additional complementary louver pins, just call us at 916-542-1305.

Actual prices of plantation shutters hinges on the chosen product line and window dimensions. While we can offer you a basic quote over the phone, exact prices are computed after our no cost in-person consultation. Call 916-542-1305 to schedule an appointment today.

Locate and clear away the broken staple out of the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to coat the legs of a new staple. weave the staple through the loop on the louver and direct its legs into the existing staple holes on the tilt rod. For new shutter staples, call us at 916-542-1305.

Polywood shutters are some of the safest window treatments in San Jose. The cord-free, durable design is safe 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 bugs, mold, or wood rot.