UK specialists in design manufacture and fitting of interior window shutters

Shaftesburys London Stores

We skillfully fit high quality shutters at competitive prices and guarantee them for 3 years against fading, warping and fitting defects. There are no better made shutters in the UK.

FAQ

HERE ARE SOME OF THE ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS THAT ARE OFTEN ASKED BY CUSTOMERS SELECTING SHUTTERS.

What are solid shutters?

These are panels that have no louvers. They were originally installed in reveal boxes in pre-Edwardian houses and were used a couple of times a year only, when the owners decamped for the season. They were not designed to be opened and shut daily like our present designs and that is why so few remain today.

Solid Shutters

What are Plantation Shutters?

Plantation shutters are louvred panels fixed either inside or outside windows and doors. They originated in America and the West Indies and date back to before the American Civil War. The term Ante Bellum means pre-war and is used to describe a style of plantation shutters. The louvre shutters offered by Shaftesbury Shutters are Ante Bellum.

Back to home

Do you offer onsite measuring and installation services?

Yes, click here to book an appointment

Shaftesbury Shutters currently only operate in an arc around London and the South East, but have associations with experienced dealers in all areas (nearly) who use our shutters too. Call us for your nearest dealer if you are not self fitting.

If you opted for the full measure and fitting service then rest assured, as all our dealers have been selected because of their experience with designing and installing shutters. Our products are only as good as the installation!

If you are self fitting then please contact us on 0845 165 4103

How do I measure my windows and doors?

For a quick quote just measure the width and height of the opening.

Or take a look at the shutters measuring guide for more detail

Can I fit the shutters myself?

Of course you can. Some of our customers have fitted very complex tracked installations beautifully. If you know how to scribe, use a planer and possess a level plus a degree of practical common sense, then go for it. We are available on the phone should you get stuck to help you out. BUT if you are like me, a person who has to cut three times to get the right length, then definitely don't.

The shutters are delivered pre-hinged in the configuration ordered, ie: LLLRRR for 3 to the left and 3 to the right, so making mistakes on hinging up have been removed. We do not supply screws and rawlplugs etc for the wall fixing as we do not know what you are fitting into. We supply magnets to hold the shutters in position, but no catches or knobs.

When ordering you should always ask for header battens for this purpose. All products are guaranteed against warping and defects of workmanship for a minimum of 12 months.

See our Terms and Conditions.

Can shutters be installed on any window?

Shutters can be installed on virtually any window, French door or patio sliding doors. They can also be used effectively as room dividers fitted on tracks. If the window/door opens inwards they can always be mounted outside of the reveal. Bi-pass tracking allows for shutter to slide past each other and is used where there are overhangs preventing the panels from swinging out.

What should I check for before I have a shutter survey?

Before we can conduct a survey you will need to ensure that you have checked the following:

Your walls surrounding your windows do not require plastering after the survey has been completed and before the shutters will be installed (as this may render the measurements incorrect)

There is no BT or aerial points obstructing where the shutters would be fitted (as they may need to be reallocated prior to the survey)

Your windows will not be changed after the survey has been completed (as this may render the measurements incorrect)

What if my windows are not square?

There is virtually no such thing as a window that is perfectly square. If using battens the side battens are 25mm thick and can be scribed to square off the window. You have about 20mm of play with these. If the window slants, the shutters will emphasise this as they are square and we do not advise trimming them lengthwise as when opened will look very odd.

Frames are used a lot now and for reveal edge fixes and outside fixing, frames are the best way to go. Inside reveal fixes are possible as long as the window is reasonably square. The new L frames we use are great and are scribable should that be necessary

You will always find an optimum position however for the shutters that looks right. If they look right, they are right!

How many shutter panels do I need in my window opening?

Our smallest panel width is 200mm and widest is 750mm, although with larger louver panels we do sometimes go wider, but void warp warranty with your permission. Generally a window looks best with 4 panels, two opening as pairs either way. A 3 window bay, however, will usually have 2 panels on the smaller side windows and 4 in the centre. All panels will open away from the middle.

There are as many exceptions as there are norms. For instance, a long window with 3 panes of glass, i.e.; 1800mm wide and 1000mm high, would have 6 panels; three folding either way or if you are only going to open them to clean the windows you could easily have just 3 panels. The Americans never open the shutters, only the louvers so design with large panels.

A lot of the time you will have to consider where the panels are going to fold back to and if there is enough room for this to happen. This is also true where you are fitting inside the reveal next to the window and you will not want the shutters, when open, to protrude into the room too much.

We would not recommend hanging more than 3 panels from a single batten hinged together, unless they were not going to be opened apart from window cleaning and were resting on the sill or door step. As the maximum recommended width of our panels is 750mm, you may say that this equates to 4500mm maximum width, but it would be asking a lot of the batten to hold panels of this width and weight without sagging at a later date. So quite a lot of common sense is needed to achieve a good installation. Openings over 2200mm generally need a top track. Even if not using a top track at this width try to use a light panel such as Vancouver or Phoenix.

For partitioning or for large windows where tracking is needed at the top to suspend the panels, you will really need an even number of panels or they will look odd and not hang from the track properly. Ideally 8 panels or 12 panels for very large openings is best, although quite often it is wise to hang even 6 panels from tracking if they are quite large. With the heavier Seattle shutter this is clearly an option to be considered. We do not charge for tracking, it comes in the square metre price for the opening.

In summary, the window will normally dictate the number of panels. If the window is split into two halves you would either have 2 or 4 panels and it follows that if it is three panes, then three or six panels will suffice. The vertical dividers of the windows are where the vertical stiles of the shutters should be ideally.

What are the panel size limitations?

Pheonix Panel size limitation:

Seattle Panel size limitation:

Vancouver Panel size limitation:

If panel size exceeds the limitation above, warranty will be waived automatically.

How much do shutters cost?

To get an exact price visit quick quote

That seems a lot, how do you justify this price?

If it's any help, they were double this 5 years ago on average however we do owe you an explanation:

A shutter panel may look like a door or kitchen unit panel but it has to live in a totally different environment. Normally a shutter panel fixed inside a window will have to endure some quite extreme variations in heat and humidity. Quite often it may have a radiator underneath it too, to add to the fun. In the UK the inside glass temperature reaches 55c in summer. Our shutters are tested in Arizona (69c).

The Vancouver range is made of Western Red Cedar. The timber is so durable and stable it can be left outside untreated due to its resin content. We don't have to laminate these shutters to prevent warping as Cedar has a relatively straight grain and is very stable. The Phoenix range is made from Phoenix timber, sometimes called Parasol. It is a very light hardwood and has a laminated core similar to the Seattle. The timber goes through many processes before it becomes a shutter. Our engineered Seattle Range is made from a composite of many materials and is totally maintenance free, whilst our Cedar shutters may need repainting in 10 to 15 years time. The Hollywood is made of ABS and stiffened with a Cedar core. ABS is the same material most “plastic” electric kettles are made of and is more expensive than premium timber, however it is very durable and heat resistant obviously or it would not be used for kettles!

All but the Vancouver are laminated in some way in construction, this is actually more expensive to make than solid timbers. We do this to make a better product. We can only sell Cedar for these prices because although the wood is relatively expensive it is also the cheapest to make in labour and machinery terms. (Cedar is considered the very best timber for shutters as it has some unique properties although with laminating technologies other materials can produce quite different looking shutters of similar quality.)

Old furniture has some of its appeal in the warped and split aged look but we don't think you would want your shutters to do this, especially after the guarantee has run out.

Apart from our Oiled Vancouver all the other finishes are carefully developed to be UV resistant and long lasting. They look almost too perfect when we install them but tone down very quickly and gain character. The Cedar finishes may darken slightly. We don't use regular domestic paint, if we did you would have to repaint/varnish your shutters every couple of years. These materials inevitably cost more. See colour ranges.

What louver size should I choose?

When making your louvre choice, consider the size of the window and the desired effect. Generally larger windows command a larger louvre size.

The larger the louvre the more light but the less privacy.

In the USA most shutters are made with 3.5 (89mm) louvres or (114.3) but here in Europe we tend to generally choose smaller louvres such as 47mm or 64mm 32mm (available in Cedar Vancouver only looks very good when painted white and used on café style installations in living room windows where the street maybe very close by.

If you have Georgian style windows with small windowpanes then we would definitely advise using the largest louver possible or the windows can look very busy. See louvre styles.

Why do you use two spellings for louver?

In America the spelling is louver and here louvre. We use both to get as many hits from search engines as possible and because Microsoft Word keeps changing our spelling.

What wood do you use and is it Eco friendly?

"The Vancouver Range" is made from Western Red Cedar. The timber is very durable and has a most interesting grain. It is very expensive timber but does not need to be laminated to retain stability.

We buy our Cedar from The Western Red Cedar Association in Canada. It is either replanted Cedar or taken from designated forest areas where it is a managed forest. Cedar is one of the most used timbers in the world, in the USA a lot of houses are built entirely of Cedar and it is used extensively for roofing shingles and decking because although a softwood, it is amazingly long lasting a resistant to wet and rot. As a result it is farmed in very well managed forests. (It is also the national tree of Lebanon and on their flag, however I don’t think they use it for shutters.

"The Phoenix" is made from a laminated constructed Phoenix wood, sometimes called Parasol. It grows in sub-tropical areas of the southern states of the USA, China and Japan. It is a very fast growing tree reaching full height in about 15 years. Ideal for farming.

It is a hardwood but very light. We treat it with a special secret process to make it that light but it still has a very hard skin. It weighs in at almost the same as Cedar, making it ideal for shutters where the lighter the better generally applies.

It has an interesting story in that it is written in ancient Chinese history, that the most famous musician of the time, lost his beautiful house in a terrible fire. In the ashes though was his harp-like instrument that had survived, although it lost it horns, and now the national instrument of China is the Zither, designed by fire 3000 years ago. It is said that the Phoenix bird only will nest in a Phoenix tree and eat the berries from it. This is because it is the slowest burning wood on the planet, it needs a secondary heat source to burn. In Japan it is believed that it has mystical properties.

After the Hiroshima Atom Bomb blast in 1945 the Phoenix trees that were only 1.3km away from the epicentre survived and the following year flowered and brought forth seeds. The Japanese saw this as a sign of re-birth and sent the seeds to world leaders as a gift and signal of their intentions to bring in new life from old.

I hope this isn’t too much information but we really like this timber and hope you will too.

"The Seattle Range" is our most eco-friendly product because no trees at all have been cut down to make this product. Made from a laminated veneered lumber core (Basswood or other strong frame materials strips that are off cuts not usable elsewhere, laminated together with epoxy making a light, strong core), LDF laid bulk and polymer sealed outer coating.

Some shutter companies websites whine on about MDF and the dangers of formaldehyde poisoning. However, these shutters are sealed with a polymer coating. The dust from MDF maybe dangerous if you work with the stuff all day long and don’t wear a mask however, MDF is used very extensively all over the world and is an extremely versatile material. However, we don’t recommend you eating your shutters, making sawdust of them and then breathing in large quantities over weeks, so please don’t as we won’t be held responsible!

"The Hollywood Range" is made of ABS and stiffened with Cedar strips left from our Vancouver program and then spray painted so it doesn’t look like plastic, which is what it is basically. We don’t know how eco-friendly it is so sorry, can’t answer that one however.

Does wood warp, shrink, change colour or age in any way?

Yes it does, all of those and so it should. If it doesn't, it ain't natural.

Cedar can warp in very rare occurrences, like any wood, but is less prone to do so than virtually any other timber we know of. We do give you a guarantee though against significant warping. (See our terms and conditions) To date though, we have had less than one in 2000 panels do this. Similarly, Cedar can shrink and does, but very little and we always advise fitting tight in the first instance. Shutters can quite easily be adjusted should this occur as it is never that much but it is probably better to leave them as they can just as easily swell again should the humidity increase.

Wood is a natural material and with its inconsistencies delivers pleasure. We do make perfect shutters because the market today expects perfect manufacture. Rustic looks as it does, because the products are made in rustic environments with basic tools and little technology, or badly/cheaply made or specifically finished to look that way. We think buying old Levis is OK if you don't want to wear them for long. If you want an aged look then you can add it later, order it specially or just wait until it happens naturally. In fact within a week or two they develop a more lived in look and your decor adds character by proxy too.

And finally on this subject: Valuable antique furniture looked new 100 years ago and our shutters will be valuable antiques too, in a 100 years. Your curtains won't be. The Seattle range is a different animal altogether. Although from 3 feet away you almost cannot tell the difference from white painted wood shutters. If you have young children still in their destructive period you should definitely consider this range. If you do break louvers or damage a panel seriously we can usually remake one exactly from our records or replace louvers in situ. We use ISO 9002 recorded process manufacture.

What colours and stains are available?

View the colours section of this site for a full list of colours and stains that are available for each shutter range.

What about maintenance?

Shutters are easily cleaned using a feather duster, damp sponge/soft cloth or run a vacuum cleaner over them. The finish shouldn't need repainting for many years, indeed the Seattle shutters are totally maintenance free and cannot be repainted anyway.

How long from order will it take to get my shutters?

Shutters are custom manufactured to fit individual openings and are ready for installation in 6 to 8 weeks from the date of the order and receipt of the deposit.

What are the benefits of shutters?

Shutters have long been the window treatment of choice because they are incredibly functional and can provide great kerb appeal. Shutters with adjustable louvers offer so much more in terms of privacy, insulation, ventilation and light control that most other solutions. What’s more they are low maintenance and unlike curtains wont harbour dust, so good for allergy sufferers too!

Shutter Jargon

Stiles are the structural right and left vertical parts of a shutter panel. They house the nylon bushing the louver rotates on.

Rails are the top and bottom horizontal bits. Its these bits we cut to get the height exactly right.

Divider (Mid) Rails provide additional strength to the shutter panel & allow separate operation of the louvers above & below the divider rail. These are placed approximately every 1100mm. You cannot use these beyond 1600mm or you will waive the warranty.

Louvers. Shutters offer choices of 32mm, 47mm, 64mm, 89mm and 114mm Louver sizes. The louvers rotate on a nylon pin in a nylon bush and are connected to a control rod by staples.

Control Rod co-ordinates the rotation of louvers for light, privacy and ventilation. The control rod is mounted on the centre of the louver on the face of the panel. For 3 panels across or more from one hinge point we offset these by 5mm so they don’t hit each other when open.

Standard Battens are provided with your shutters to mount and hinge the shutter to.

Café The shutters cover only the bottom section of the window, creating privacy at the lower level whilst permitting full daylight to enter through the top of the window.

Full Height
The shutter covers the window from top to bottom within the opening. Where the shutter exceeds 100mm in height a dividing rail will be added at the mid point. This allows moveable louvre sections above and below the dividing rail, which can operate independent of each other.

Tier on Tier
This option allows the top tier to swing open independent of the bottom tier offering the most versatile shutter solution.