When it comes to enhancing the curb appeal of your home, few elements make a more significant impact than premium exterior wood flat panel shutters. These elegant and timeless additions not only protect your windows but also add a touch of sophistication and character to your property. In this guide, we'll delve into the world of premium exterior wood flat panel shutters and discover how they can transform your home into a true masterpiece.
Unmatched Elegance: Premium exterior wood flat panel shutters are the epitome of timeless elegance. Crafted from high-quality wood, they exude a warm and inviting atmosphere that can turn any house into a home. Whether your property boasts a traditional, colonial, or contemporary design, these shutters seamlessly blend with various architectural styles, offering unmatched versatility.
Durability That Lasts a Lifetime: Investing in premium wood shutters means investing in durability. Unlike their synthetic counterparts, wooden shutters are designed to stand the test of time. They can withstand harsh weather conditions, including rain, snow, and intense sunlight, without losing their charm or integrity. This longevity not only enhances your home's aesthetic but also reduces maintenance costs in the long run.
Customization Galore: One of the most significant advantages of premium wood shutters is their customizability. These shutters can be tailored to match your home's unique style and color scheme. Whether you prefer a natural wood finish, a striking paint color, or a specific size, the possibilities are virtually endless. This level of personalization allows you to create a truly one-of-a-kind look for your home.
Energy Efficiency: Wooden shutters offer more than just visual appeal. They also contribute to your home's energy efficiency. When closed, they act as an additional layer of insulation, helping to regulate the indoor temperature. This not only reduces your energy bills but also minimizes your carbon footprint.
Low Maintenance: Maintaining premium wood shutters is surprisingly easy. A simple regular cleaning routine is all that's needed to keep them looking their best. Occasional refinishing might be required to maintain their luster, but this is a small price to pay for their longevity and enduring beauty.
Increased Property Value: By enhancing the aesthetic appeal of your home and providing practical benefits, premium wood shutters can increase your property's value. Potential buyers often place a premium on homes with well-maintained, high-quality shutters, making them a wise investment for both short-term enjoyment and long-term resale value.
Flat Panel Outside Shutters
Estate Millwork's exterior shutters are built to withstand the extremes of your outdoor environment. Our Spanish Cedar is naturally resistant to moisture, fungus and insects, as are our Western Red and Mahogany shutters. With proper maintenance, which can begin with a factory finish, our hand crafted construction techniques will give you years, decades, of beautiful use.
We use only the top grades of lumber, and hand select each board for quality and yield. Unlike many of our competitors, we are a complete vertical operation -- we control our own timberland, operate a green sawmill, dry kilns and have our own finish mill, CNC department, and hand assembly craftsmen. This tight vertical integration gives us the upper hand on quality of material, price, and yield. What it means to you is the best outside shutter at an affordable price.
Shutters Built to withstand the weather outside
We still hand joint every board in every shutter. This costly, time consuming process allows us to build solid wooden shutters, without lamination, staves or finger joints, while still preventing stress related quality problems in the field. Hand jointing relieves the stress placed in wood as it is dried, even if it is carefully dried as we do in our dry kilns.
After hand jointing, our lumber is processed in our highly automated finish mill, that is literally programmed by you, our customer, by virtue of placing an order on our website. Our finish mill can quickly and automatically set up to saw rough lumber into the dimensions needed for your custom order. This means that we can provide you with a complete custom outdside shutter, at the lowest possible cost, because many customizations are automatic for us.
Fully Customizeable
We still hand joint every board in every shutter. This costly, time consuming process allows us to build solid wooden shutters, without lamination, staves or finger joints, while still preventing stress related quality problems in the field. Hand jointing relieves the stress placed in wood as it is dried, even if it is carefully dried as we do in our dry kilns.
After hand jointing, our lumber is processed in our highly automated finish mill, that is literally programmed by you, our customer, by virtue of placing an order on our website. Our finish mill can quickly and automatically set up to saw rough lumber into the dimensions needed for your custom order. This means that we can provide you with a complete custom outdside shutter, at the lowest possible cost, because many customizations are automatic for us.
Solid Wood Mortise and Tenons
True Tenons
Our premium quality shutters are carefully constructed using a time consuming and precise operation. Whereas other lower quality shutters are made using screws, nails, dowels or biscuit joints, each of our exterior wooden shutters has a minimum of 4 hardwood tenons. The end of each rail is painstakingly machined to have a 1/2" X 1 7/8" tenon by a custom built tenoning machine that Estate Millwork developed so that we could continue to provide the best quality joinery in the industry, at an attractive price. We gave up the cost, but not the quality.
Deep Pocket Mortises
Each stile is precision machined with a minimum of two deep pocket mortises, and these mortises perfectly fit the associated tenon. Again, Estate Millwork has used precision automation to preserve the quality of our products, while reducing the cost. We have software that connects our website directly to the machines in the plant, and when a customer places an order with us, all of the precision programs for machining the mortises into the stiles are sent to the plant for automatic execution. The mortise tenon joint, is the strongest joint in millwork, and adds tremendous strength, even without the use of glue.
Hardwood Dowels
Once the tenon and mortise have been machined, the parts are put together and a hole is drilled through the mortise and the tenon. A slightly oversized hardwood dowel is driven into the hole, locking the tenon into the mortise for the life of the shutter. Even though glue is not required, Estate Millwork takes the added step of gluing the tenon into the mortise, and gluing the hardwood dowel into the stile.
Hand Assembly
In our commitment to preserving the best of quality millwork traditions in each wood shutter, we have automated much of the drudgery of some of the operations, but assembling a shutter is still something very much in the realm of craftsmanship. After all the parts of each wooden shutter are manufactured, one of our skilled craftsmen fits them together in a specialized jig for dry fitting and final assembly. We do not use pneumatic or hydraulic clamps as they can damage or over-stress the wood. The craftsman uses his innate feel for the materials to set the appropriate clamping pressure prior to drilling and doweling. Each wooden shutter receives the individual attention of craftsmen all along the way, but the final assembly is where the shutter comes together the first time, ready for years of service on your home.
Shutter Options
Thickness, Width, Height
The "slab dimensions" are the size of the actual exterior shutter from top to bottom, left to right, and the thickness. Our default standard thickness is 1 5/16", but that can be varied from 7/8" to 2 1/4" to match existing exterior shutters. The length and height can be specified to the nearest 1/16" inch. Depending upon the style of the shutter, we have made widths up to 20 feet wide, and heights up 30 feet.
Shutter Frame Dimensions
Because all of our exterior wooden shutters are custom built from true rail and stile construction, we have the ability to replicate any component dimension on existing shutters, including rail height, placement, width, thickness, and stile width and thickness. Typically, the bottom rail of our custom shutters is 4. high, and all other rails are 2 1/2" inches. Stile widths are usually 2 1/2" but we have the ability to make them of virtually any width, including different widths for left and right stiles -- sometimes used for pairs of shutters.
Custom Sticking
Out standard products are S4S, or square shoulder sticking, but we have the capability to mould any feasible profile to the inner or outer frame fields. Common choices are ogee, cove and bead, bevel, cove etc. In addition to our stock sticking profiles, we can also custom grind tooling to achieve any desired profile to either match historical wood shutters, or to meet an architects or home owner.s specifications and preferences.
Shiplapping and Beading
For operable shutters, or for decoration, our wood shutters can be machined with a bead on one face of the inside edge of the shutter, and with a ship lap on the other, allowing the shutters to overlap by 3/8" when they are in the closed position - permitting a tighter fit. The left and right shutters are machined as pairs so that in the closed position, each face of the pair has a decorative bead visible.
Panel Profiles
Our raised panel shutters can be raised with our standard scoop profile, but we offer bevels, coves, ogeees and other profiles as well. Additionally, for the extremely discriminating home owner or architect we can create new tooling to match existing historical panel profiles, or to meet with a unique custom requirement.
Louver Styles
Our louvered shutters can be fitted with either our standard bullnose louvers in 3 sizes, or with a chevron or bevel profile as options. And because we are a custom shutter maker, we can also accommodate any special profiles that are specified by the customer.
Cut Outs
Raised Panel and Flat Panel Shutters can have a limitless variety of decorative cut outs machined into the center of the panels. Common shapes are moons, anchors, trees, hearts and we have a large number of stock cut outs which we offer, as well as the ability to match custom patterns that are provided by the customer
Finishes
Estate Millwork can ship our custom wooden shutters in natural, primed, painted or stained finishes. We can match national brand color numbers, pre-tint primers for light or dark finishes, and apply hand rubbed stain finished, even to the time consuming louvered shutters.
Cherry a Rich and Beautiful Hardwood
The Appalachian region of the United States produces beautiful Cherry wood, it is a domestic hardwood lumber is known for its beautiful, rich color and good working properties. Cherry is chosen for its fine uniform texture, has straight grain and is reddish-brown in color with the occasional appearance of gum spots. The heartwood is particularly durable and has good resistance to decay. The warm tones and subtle grain pattern of Cherry wood make it an excellent interior wood for doors, windows, mouldings, and, especially, furniture. The predictable movement of properly dried Cherry lumber and the ease with which it can be worked have made the species a staple material in many projects.
Many people love Cherry wood for its color, but rough sawn Cherry lumber is a much lighter pink than what most expect. Today, many Cherry finishes are much deeper browns and reds, and this can cause some confusion, but over time with UV exposure and oxidation, the color to deepens into a beautiful brownish-red. Some people choose to expose their Cherry lumber to the sun to speed up this process, while others rely upon dye and/or stains to achieve the deep red color. This "break in" period is something of which everyone should be aware, especially when doing restoration work to match existing trim or furniture.
Cherry hardwood is a timeless and luxurious choice for woodworking and interior design projects, prized for its remarkable beauty and versatility. Our cherry hardwood is carefully sourced and meticulously crafted to ensure exceptional quality. Cherry wood is renowned for its rich, reddish-brown tones and distinctive grain patterns, which deepen and mellow over time, adding character and warmth to any setting. Whether you're crafting custom cabinetry, elegant furniture, or breathtaking flooring, cherry hardwood provides a touch of sophistication that never goes out of style. One of the unique qualities of cherry hardwood is its ability to develop a stunning patina as it ages, making it a truly heirloom-worthy material. Its natural beauty is further enhanced when finished with our premium stains and finishes, allowing you to achieve the exact aesthetic you desire. Cherry hardwood is not only about aesthetics; it's also known for its durability and strength.
Handcrafted with Sustainably Harvested Lumber
At Estate Millwork we air dry much of our lumber, and after air drying we finish drying in low wattage dehumidification kilns.
Every piece of wood we purchase is used to the fullest on products, at Estate Millwork we have a very high yield ratio of 94 percent due to the use of automated saws and optimizing software. The remainimg 6 percent which is mostly sawdust and chips are either burned to heat our plant or send to local cattle farmers for bedding and composting.
Nothing is wasted. Some of Appalachian lumber we use comes from Amish farmers in our county who harvest with horses instead of mechanized equipment, and do our rough sawing on 1920s sawmills that are also extremely low input compared to larger commercial sawmills of today. All of our imported lumber is plantation grown, and not harvested from natural forests.
To learn more about our sustainability practices click here
