Honolulu's Frequently Asked Questions About Shutters

For more than 28 years, we’ve heard every question about shutters you can imagine from our customers in Honolulu. And we’ve gathered the top ten of them here. There’s a good chance that in these questions and answers you’ll find answers to questions of your own. If not, please don’t wait to contact Sunburst Shutters Honolulu directly. We’re here to aid you and happy to do so.

That is based on how you want 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 right 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 celebrated 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 are a temporary window treatment to cover your windows. They tend to deteriorate over time with the strings snapping and the loops that hold the slats in place falling apart. In addition, they’re not easy to clean.

Shades offer an assortment of colors and unique patterns, transforming your window into artwork. Just by pulling up the fabric of the shade, your entire window is exposed and you can see out onto your Honolulu neighborhood.

Draperies also come in a wide variety of color, fabric, and patterns. They are a traditional option for a window treatment. Adding thick panels between the drapes and the window gives you light and temperature block-out capabilities. And unlike other window treatments, it’s not necessary to clean draperies for five years.

If you want a window treatment that lasts beyond 10 years, saves you actual bucks 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 lovely and energy efficient. In fact, Polywood shutters insulate up to 70% better than an equivalent wood shutter. That’s energy savings you will miss out on with any other window treatment.

No other window treatment gives you control over privacy and light as plantation shutters do. And with their large louvers, Polywood plantation shutters give your room a clean in vogue feel whether they’re closed or open.

An inappropriately installed window treatment can be a hassle 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, making sure that each one functions flawlessly – and doesn’t get damaged in the process.

But before we begin 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 simply by pushing them up or down. Usually, a tilt rod mounted on the front of the shutters allows you to 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 look.

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 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 moist cloth.

Plantation shutters are custom built to fit your windows just right. 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 gives you temperature control, energy efficiency, and privacy. They are custom designed and installed on your windows to become permanent fixtures. Not only are they elegant and energy saving, but plantation shutters also increase the value of your house. We’ve seen it first hand in Honolulu!

A half shutter lets you have 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

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 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 preventing you from watching TV. And don’t worry about forfeiting any of your view. A 3.5" or 4.5" louver will almost disappear when opened flat and gives you more than enough room to look through.

Simple! Call us at 808-797-2004 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 shutter and bring samples of all of our shutter products and their available options. This way we can provide you with the most accurate shutter price for your project. Schedule your in-home consultation today!

Absolutely! There’s almost never a reason to remove or do work on your current window trim when putting in new plantation shutters. Natural Ovation wood shutters and patented 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 offer frame styles to install right onto the drywall around your window to fix your beautiful new shutters to your window opening.

Your shutter installer will measure each of your individual windows during your complimentary design consultation to ensure that your new shutters will fit gorgeously with your window trim.

Sunburst Shutters Honolulu is committed to offering a collection of window treatments 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 savings passed on to you from cutting unnecessary shipping and handling costs, it also gives you the perk of knowing you’re choosing an all-American window treatment for your Honolulu house.

And Polywood isn’t the only shutter that’s from the U.S. Our stunning Reclaimed Wood shutters are constructed with lumber gathered from places across the country, from rustic Midwest barn doors to beautiful New England fences and more.

The primary divide between painted and stained shutters is how the shutter material interacts with the color. Paint lays atop the shutter, covering the surface. Stains conversely, seep into the shutter, bonding to the natural wood or Polywood material.

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

When it comes time for your in-home shutter consultation, our team will bring paint and stain samples straight to you so you can easily color match with your existing interior design.

The complete plantation shutter process, beginning with your initial consultation through finishing your shutter installation, usually takes around four to six weeks on average. The reason it takes this long is because our goal is to build the perfect shutters for your windows. To do that, we need to take precise measurements, use advanced software to design them, assemble your custom shutters manually, and deliver them to you prior to installation. Shutters made from real wood will usually take longer because of the extra steps needed to stain and treat the wood.

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

Yes, we do have a showroom. We’d love to walk you through our showroom to see our entire collection of shutters and window treatments. Our office is at 1806 Homerule Street, so feel free to visit anytime during our regular business hours to shop around.

We offer a complete in-home shopping experience. We’ll send shutter expert to you to get window measurements, walk you through your options, and give you a quote. The design consultation is absolutely free. That’s the most effective way to start a shutter project. If you only want a rough estimate, you can send us your window measurements through our contact form, or give us a call at 808-797-2004.

Whether or not to remove the trim depends on your own taste. If you want to keep your existing trim, we’re able to build custom shutters to match your current trim. If you like our shutter frames better, then removing trim is fine—but it’s not a requirement. If you want to go without trim or replace your trim, we can help you choose the right shutter to match the vision you have in mind for your windows.

If you’re an experienced handyman, you’re probably familiar with some of the process involved in a shutter installation. However, taking on DIY shutters can be a bit complex for most Honolulu homeowners. We would suggest leaving the installation to professionals that are certified and insured, so you won’t be at risk of damaging your shutters, windows, or any other part of your house.

Far and away our most popular shutter offerings are our classic white Polywood® faux wood plantation shutters, and Ovation® hardwood shutters.

To get more specific, the most popular shutter configuration features includes a 3.5” louver, smooth finish, and an interior-mount Z-frame. If those words don’t mean anything to you, that’s ok. We’ll be happy to demonstrate what all that means in person. Schedule your complimentary home consultation and we’ll help you figure out what would work best in your home.

Smooth finish shutters have a more fashionable look, while textured finish shutters look more natural and historic. However the perks to both types of plantation shutter finish are a little deeper, and in the end it comes down to your own taste.

Benefits of shutters with a smooth finish – A smooth finish to your shutters give you a solid, chic, fashion-forward look. A smooth finish might be preferable if your home doesn’t have much in the way of wood grain 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.

Benefits of a wood grain finish for shutters – Shutters with a textured finish give you 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 complement the look of your hardwood flooring. A textured finish on your shutter louvers may also make dust harder to see, which means you won’t need to wipe them down as often as you would if they had a smooth finish. A textured finish looks especially great on real wood shutters in Honolulu.

Usually, the bigger your window is, the more shutter panels you’ll want on it. Our recommendation is to use a single panel for windows up to 26 inches wide, two panels for windows up to 50 inches wide, and four for windows up to 98 inches wide.

Single wide panels aren’t as user-friendly as two separate panels. Sometimes, wider panels won’t fit flush against the wall due to their width. Two smaller panels don’t have that problem.

For those windows that you’ll want to open or shut often, you’ll be better suited with multi-panel shutters, since they’re easier to open and have additional support from the frame when you do open and close them.

With Sunburst Shutters Honolulu, any and all shutter measurements 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 home or has a distinct shape, our installers can get you a precise measurement so that the shutters you get will line up just right with the windows.

At your free in-home consultation, your Sunburst Shutters pro can help you pick from our wide array of Honolulu plantation shutters, including choices for louver size, stain colors, and custom framing options.

So set up your free consultation today by calling 808-797-2004 today.

Sunburst can help you find the perfect shutter for your windows, despite how narrow your frame. We will use an outside mount installation that affixes to the trim or wall outside the window pane . Your shutters will still have equivalent functionality and energy efficiency, and will blend superbly with other window treatments.

If the louver is disconnected and drooping from the frame, you probably have a broken louver pin. To repair this you need to remove the pin from both the louver and the stile with a set of needle-nose pliers or a utility knife. Once the pin is withdrawn, insert the new pin base into the old hole in the shutter stile, then direct the louver onto the pin. To get additional louver pins at no cost, just call us at 808-797-2004.

Actual prices of plantation shutters hinges on the desired product line and window measurements. While we can offer you a projection over the phone, detailed costs are computed after our no cost in-person consultation. Call 808-797-2004 to make an appointment today.

To start, clear away the snapped staple from the louver with some of needle-nose pliers. Then dab on some adhesive (like wood glue or epoxy) to spread all over the legs of a new staple. guide the staple through the loop on the louver and slide its legs into the previous staple holes on the tilt rod. For new shutter staples, call us at 808-797-2004.

Polywood shutters are some of the safest window treatments in Honolulu. The cord-free, durable design is safe for children and pets. The toxin-free and hypoallergenic materials and paint will never peel or chip. And since Polywood is water and pest resistant, you will not have to worry about termites, mold or wood rot.