Tampa's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 34 years, we’ve received every question about shutters you can imagine from our customers in Tampa. And we’ve collected 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 Tampa directly. We’re here to aid you and happy to do so.

That is based on how you would like 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 match 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 the most 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. Store-bought blinds tend to deteriorate over time, with its strings giving way and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. Additionally, they are difficult 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 assortment of colors, materials, and unique patterns, changing 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 Tampa neighborhood.

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

If you’re looking for a window treatment that lasts over 10 years, saves you money on your energy bills, and looks elegant 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 similar wood shutter. That's energy savings you can't get 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 tough to open and can get damaged easily. We have a professional installation crew that comes to your home and installs your window treatment exactly, ensuring that each one functions perfectly – and doesn’t get damaged in the process.

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

Your plantation shutter slats – or louvers – can be moved easily by adjusting them up or down. Most commonly, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters lets you adjust the louvers. If you want to move the louvers with your hand, we advise buying shutters with hidden tilt-rods or rear-mounted tilt rods. This gives your shutters a clean, contemporary appearance.

Our Polywood shutters last more than 50 years – more than any other shutter on the market. 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 easy to clean because they have large louvers and their tilt bars are either hidden or mounted on the rear. Just tilt them open and dust them like furniture – or wipe smudges with a wet cloth.

Plantation shutters are custom crafted to fit your windows perfectly. They become a permanent fixture of your home, adding to its resale value. These shutters cannot be moved from one house to another.

Plantation shutters are an investment that provides you with 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 boost the value of your residence. We’ve seen it first hand in Tampa!

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 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 fully finished look – and letting you 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. 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 room to look through.

Easy! 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 way we can provide you with the appropriate shutter estimate for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Yes! There’s almost never a need to remove or make alterations to 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 easily into your existing window trim. If your windows don’t have trim, we also have frame styles available to install directly onto the drywall around your window to fix your gorgeous new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installer will measure each of your house’s windows during your complimentary in-home consultation to ensure that your new shutters will fit perfectly with your window trim.

Sunburst Shutters Tampa is proud to offer a range of window coverings made right here in the U.S.A. Polywood plantation shutters are not only America’s #1-selling shutter, but they’re 100% made in America. Not only does that mean savings passed on to you from cutting unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the benefit of knowing you’re choosing an all-American shutter for your Tampa home.

And Polywood isn’t alone in hailing from the U.S. Our historic Reclaimed Wood shutters are built with lumber repurposed from sources across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to sturdy Texas ranch fences and more.

The primary differentiator between a shutter that’s stained or painted is the way the shutter material interacts with the color. Paint sits atop the shutter, just coating the surface. Stains conversely, permeate the shutter, bonding to the natural wood or Polywood material.

Each method comes with its unique benefits. There are usually more color options for paints. With stained shutters, the color won’t obscure the natural wood grain, so you’re able to see the natural knots and ridges of the material without it being masked by a layer of paint.

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

The entire plantation shutter process, beginning with your starting consultation through installing the shutters, usually takes about four to six weeks on average. The reason it takes this long is because our goal is to build 100% custom shutters for your windows. To do that, we need to take precise measurements, use advanced software to design them, assemble your custom shutters by hand, and get them to you prior to installation. Real wood shutters typically take longer than Polywood because of the staining and finishing process.

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

We sure do! We’d love to show you our showroom so you can see our entire collection of shutters and window treatments. The showroom is located at 30435 Commerce Dr. #104, so feel free to visit anytime during our regular business hours to take a look for yourself.

Sunburst Shutters Tampa offers a complete shop-at-home experience. We’ll send a representative to you to measure all your windows, walk you through your options, and give you a quote. The in-home consultation is absolutely free. That’s the easiest way to start a shutter project. If you only want a simple estimate, you can send us your window measurements through our contact form, or give us a call at 813-580-7288.

Whether or not to remove the trim depends on your personal taste. If you want to keep the trim you already have, we’re able to build custom shutters to complement your current trim. If you prefer our shutter frames, then removing trim is fine—but it’s not a necessity. If you’re trying to go trimless or replace your trim, your Sunburst installer can help you pick the right option to fit the vision you have in mind for your windows.

If you’re an experienced handyman, you’re probably familiar with what goes into a shutter installation. However, installing shutters yourself may be a little tricky for most Tampa residents. Our recommendation is to leave the installation to our certified and insured professionals, so you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, your windows, or anything else in your home.

Far and away our most in-demand shutter offerings are our classic white Polywood® plantation shutters, and Ovation® natural wood shutters.

Beyond that, the most common shutter configuration we sell is a 3.5” louver, smooth finish, with a Z-frame. If all that information is confusing, that’s ok. We’d be delighted to show you what all that means in person. Schedule a complimentary in-home consultation and we’ll show you what would look best in your home.

Smooth finish shutters tend to look more modern and sophisticated, while textured finish shutters look a bit more historic. But the perks to both types of plantation shutter finish go a little bit farther, and in the end come down to your own personal preference.

Perks of a smooth finish for shutters – A smooth finish to your shutters offer a solid, sleek, modern look. A smooth finish may be preferable if your home has few other 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 finish for shutters – A wood grain finish on your shutters offers a more natural, rustic look to your shutters. That’s perfect if your goal is to bring the beauty of nature inside, particularly if you want to complement the look of your hardwood flooring. A wood grain on your shutters may also make dust harder to see, which means you won’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 Tampa.

For the most part, the larger the window, the more shutter panels you’ll need. Our recommendation is to use one panel for windows up to 26” wide, two panels for windows up to 50” wide, and four for windows up to 98” wide.

Single wide panels aren’t as user-friendly as multiple panels. Often, wider panels won’t fit flush against the wall because of their size. Multiple smaller panels don’t have that same issue.

For windows that you’ll want to open or shut regularly, you’re usually better suited with multi-panel shutters, since they’re easier to open and have more support from the frame when you do operate them.

With Sunburst Shutters Tampa, all of your window measurements will be done by one of our installers for free as part of your in-home consultation. If you happen to have windows in a difficult to reach area of your home or you have windows with a unique shape, our shutter experts can get you an exact measurement so that the final product will line up just right with the windows.

During your free shutter consultation, your Sunburst Shutters installer can help you narrow down your options from our wide array of Tampa plantation shutters, featuring choices for louver size, stains, and custom mounts and frames.

So schedule your shutter consultation now by calling 813-580-7288 today.

Sunburst can help you pick the perfect shutter for your home, regardless of how small your frame. We will use an outside mount installation that affixes to the trim or wall outside the window cavity . Your shutters will still have the same functionality and energy efficiency, and will tie in perfectly with other window treatments.

If the louver is disconnected and hanging from the frame, you probably have a busted louver pin. To repair this you will want to remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with a pair of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is withdrawn, put the replacement pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then slide the louver onto the pin. To receive extra complementary louver pins, just call us at 813-580-7288.

Actual prices of plantation shutters hinges on the chosen product line and window measurements. While we can give you a projection over the phone, exact quotes are computed after our free in-person consultation. Call 813-580-7288 to ask for an appointment today.

First, remove the snapped staple away from the louver with a tool like of needle-nose pliers. Then apply some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to cover 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 treatments in Tampa. The durable, cordless design is perfect for pets and kids. The toxin-free and hypoallergenic paint, polymers, and materials will never chip or peel. And since Polywood is pest and moisture resistant, you’ll never have to worry about bugs, mold, or wood rot.