Beautiful Shutters in Menifee,

Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Temecula, Winchester CA and the Surrounding Areas

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If Basswood is good for interior shutters, wouldn’t oak, maple, walnut (insert tree here) be better?
No, the other furniture-grade hardwoods all have non-uniform grain patterns. Fine interior wooden shutters depend upon the uniformity and integrity of their louvers to reduce structural variability. Louvers are relatively thin and unsupported and therefore particularly susceptible to swirling grains. We couldn’t extend the louvers or control the gaps between louvers as well with “fancier” woods.

I saw some great interior shutters made of poplar. Poplar is cheap. Why don’t you use poplar for your interior shutters?
Poplar would be an excellent material for interior shutters except for its inherent color variations. Unlike Basswood, which is uniformly tan, a single unit of Poplar stock comes in everything from white and dark green to light gray and near black. Covering these color differences requires layering the panels with a lot more paint solids. This means using either a thick, brittle undercoat (like Gesso or calcium carbonate) or layering the panels with additional top coats. In either case, the extra paint affects the gaps between moving parts and builds up a thick layer around the wood that tends to crack or shatter if struck. Fine interior shutters should be built with a minimum of gap variances and to withstand a lifetime of normal use.

Greatest Return On Investment

Well-made basswood shutters are known as the premium window coverings available. They typically increase resale values more than other window coverings, according to most real-estate estimators and brokers.

It is commonly accepted among real estate investors and professionals that, given a choice, buyers will choose to be surrounded by natural materials. As income levels and education rise, homebuyers increasingly invest in hardwood, bronze, marble and granite over laminated MDF (wood/glue slurry), plastic; Linoleum and Formica. According to most real estate experts, the relevant issue is not whether buyers are willing to spend more for natural materials over synthetics, but when and how much more they will invest.

Housing development builders are a proxy for this kind of decision-making both in terms of value and target audience. As a group, they spend millions in market research, focus groups and real world testing to isolate what customers value. Their collective goals are to determine the most important and cost-effective features to attract home buyers. This information is used to guide their investments to acquire those features. In Southern California today, shutters are the dominant window covering offered in the middle to upper middle class and upper class development market. Within this builder market for shutters, basswood shutters are the fastest growing segment. By proxy then, home builders are voting with their investment dollars that basswood shutters are the most attractive window covering investment in the upper half of the market today.

100% Whole Basswood Interior Shutters

Basswood shutters are a natural product built to bring warmth and character to fine homes. Like marble baths, granite countertops, oak floors and fine wool rugs, basswood shutters are deep and rich materials that create an authenticity and sense of permanence synthetic materials cannot duplicate.

Plastic shutters, like linoleum and Formica, have their uses. Where price is the primary concern, or where the panels will regularly be wetted (as in showers or saunas) plastic may be less expensive and waterproof. But homeowners who can choose consistently opt for the real thing. Here’s why basswood has become so popular:

Strongest, Lightest Material

Basswood has a greater strength-to-weight ratio in its natural form than any other shutter material ever developed. Greater strength enables more custom shapes including longer louvers and extensions not possible with plastic or lesser materials.

In the abstract, when it comes to blocking light; ensuring that shutters are attached properly to walls; or allowing for light control; there are few real differences between weak, heavy materials and stronger, light ones. But, as a function of aesthetics, design features and construction, the differences between materials are huge. Properly designed Basswood shutters don’t need the bulky support systems, chunky panels and extra framing pieces that lesser materials require. This results in an elegant look that is also stronger and more durable.

Strong, light, Basswood louvers can be extended further to create fewer, properly proportioned panels. These panels look better, weigh less and require less framing. Plastic and other, weak, heavy materials can only extend short lengths before drooping. To compensate, the designers must build smaller panels and more of them to cover the same space. Each small panel is heavy and comes with its own additional, oversized framing and support requirements. On particularly large openings, the panel frames, shutter frames and build outs needed to support weaker materials can make the openings resemble fortresses instead of windows.

How do you know the wood in your interior shutters has 8% or less moisture content?
Most Shutters wood comes from Basswood mills in the Great Lakes region and Canada. These mills guarantee the wood specifications and are required to keep current certificates on file attesting to kilning and moisture content. An inspector from the state or province must certify that the wood is kiln-dried to a given time and level. More importantly, Each piece is handled multiple times for cutting, shaping, sanding, assembly, etc. The only weight variable that exists in Basswood is moisture content. If wood came in that was wet, it would be too heavy, and we would send it back.