|
| |
Home Staging Tips
Home staging is a technique used to dress or stage a home so that buyers can really see it at its best. In essence what you must do is make your home appeal to the broadest range of people.Decide on the best features of your property and work to highlight ...
Ten Convenience Built-Ins That'll Save Your Busy Household Hundreds Of Hours Each Year
Planning to remodel, repair or build a new home? Looking for some terrific features to include that can save you tons of time in shortcuts, efficiencies and saved steps? We can help! We started collecting over 1,000 uncommon, affordable convenience ...
Wood Panels and Humidity
Coping with wood movement All wood workers need to be aware of wood movement when building furniture projects. Failure to consider this important factor can cause wood panels to crack or split. My high school biology teacher compared the structure of a ...
|
|
|
|
| |
Basswood Shutters
(Tilia Americana Linnaeus, or the American Linden)
Basswood is absolutely the best wood for building window shutters. The Basswood tree can be found from Quebec south to Delaware and the Atlantic coast west to Eastern Kentucky with an average height of 65 feet. Basswood is a renewable resource and careful forest management ensures tree harvesting is done responsibly, balancing growth with removal. Each year the United States grows about twice as much hardwood as it harvests.
Basswood shutters are very straight and has a fine uniform texture with an indistinct grain. Basswood machines well and is easy to work, and screws and glues well and can be sanded and stained to a smooth finish. It dries fairly rapidly with little distortion. Basswood has fairly high shrinkage but good dimensional stability when dry.
Popular uses for basswood include drafting tables, broom handles, carvings, turnings, furniture, moldings, millwork, musical instruments, woodenware, food containers, and surfboards.
General Basswood shutter characteristics:
Does not warp
Lightweight yet very strong
Uniform grain for a beautiful stain finish
Low in resin and tannin which may bleed through finish
Renewable resource which is replenished as it is harvested
Superior gluing and finishing properties.
Oak Shutters
Oak shutters are very heavy. Oak shutters add much weight to window jambs and screws require pre-drilling. Oak shutters are not suitable for painting. Oak shutter louvers tend to warp.
Maple Shutters
Maple shutters are very heavy. Maple shutters add much weight to window jambs and screws require pre-drilling. Maple louvers are hard to tension uniformly.
Poplar Shutters
Poplar shutters mill and paints well.
Mineral streaks and a green color make poplar unsuitable for staining. Poplar is moderately heavy for shutters. Poplar is widely available, but less costly. Poplar is best used for millwork and trim that is nailed in place. Popular produces a lesser quality shutter.
Cedar Shutters
Cedar shutters mill and finish nicely. However, color varies greatly for staining. Cedar is soft and can dent and scratch easily. Tilt bar staples do not hold well.
Cedar shutters work wonderfully for exterior shutters. The outstanding durability and resistance to decay of incense cedar makes it ideal for exterior use where moisture is present. This wood gives long service with little maintenance in such as mud sills, window sashes, sheathing under stucco or brick veneer construction, greenhouse benches, fencing, poles, trellises, and shutters. Incense cedar is also used extensively for exterior siding because it is dimensionally stable and holds paint well, in addition to being durable. Oh, yes, and bugs hate it!
Alder Shutters
Alder is our second choice for shutters. Alder is a smaller tree so only shorter lengths are available, thus tall shutters require finger joints.
Pine Shutters
Pine is a softwood. Many different species and grades of pine is available, so quality tends to be inconsistent.
Synthetics, Plastics, Vinyl, Fauxwood, and Poly
Many synthetics incorporate "wood" in their name, but most contain no wood - usually called faux wood or poly shutters. Made from stock size components with few, if any, custom options. Come in limited white colors, and cannot be stained. Look, feel, and sound like plastic. Relatively new product so limited customer satisfaction experience. Synthetics are less costly to manufacture. Heavy and tend to sag. All synthetics are manufactured from nonrenewable resources.
Visit All About Window Shutters
Visit Horizon Interior Shutters
About the Author
Brian manages All About Shutters, an online buyer’s guide for interior and exterior shutters, discussing a variety of topics with informative articles. www.allaboutshutters.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
