If you want to make a statement with your home, you might want to add exterior house shutters. Exterior house shutters are no longer used for to protect a home from intruders. In modern times, exterior shutters are mostly purchased for decorative purposes. There are many different shutter styles you may choose from today and any of them will make a home seem much more substantial.
You could opt for vinyl or wood shutters. Wood shutters normally cost less, but must be painted and maintained. Vinyl shutters are normally a better value in the long run. Vinyl shutters come in a variety of colors and styles which can improve the appearance of your house.
Should you decide on wood exterior house shutters, you should purchase shutters made of cedar. Cedar easily handles wind, rain and sun and needs little attention. Oak is another wood product used for exterior shutters. You will have to be able to maintain these shutters routinely by either staining or painting them. Most of the wooden shutters have neither been stained nor painted and must be prepared prior to installation.
You need to set up a dry clean place for painting or staining your shutters. When painting them, you need to prime them first, otherwise the paint will not go on evenly. Use an exterior paint on the shutters because interior paints are water soluble. Once the paint is dry, make sure that you seal the paint with a waterproof sealant to extend the life of your shutters.
If instead you stain the shutters, you will need to stain them with a wood stain that is made for outdoor use. There are products that will stain and seal at the same time which will save you time. Staining does not give an opaque appearance, but allows the grain to show through the stain while adding some color. Whether you decide to stain or paint the wood shutters is purely a matter of taste.
An effective way to decide what design of house shutters that you like is to drive around and search out other homes with exterior shutters. Seeing these shutters actually on different styles of homes makes a big difference and can provide you with a more educated opinion of how the shutters will look on your home.
Installing exterior shutters is not difficult, though it would help to have some basic carpentry skills to help you complete this task. Perhaps you might hire a carpenter to install the shutters if you are uncomfortable with this process. Please consider that your new shutters are on the exterior of the building and anyone passing will see them, and therefore you want to do a professional job of hanging them. Normally, shutters are packaged with the hardware to be used for installation and the process is relatively simple.
Exterior shutters are an inexpensive way to give a finished look to the exterior of a house and help it to look more established than the rest of the homes. Most of today’s homes do not have shutters. By hanging an exterior house shutter, you can upgrade your home and your curb appeal.
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Tags: Home, Home Improvement, home;accessory, home;improvement, house, house shutter
