Elegance and Efficiency: Why Shutters Are a Summer Essential

George Christ never planned on working in the shutter industry. Instead, he was simply a lost 21-year-old who got pulled into a world he never expected. In other words, it was one of those “the rest was history” sort of stories.

Now, 30 years later, Christ shares about the passion he has discovered working as the store manager for Minnesota-based Sunburst Shutters and Window Fashions.

“I started when I was 21. I turned 51 this year, so it’s been 30 wonderful years,” Christ shares. “It’s one of those things; I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I was younger. My brother-in-law called me. I was working at Corporate Motorola, and he said, ‘Come work here.” And I said, ‘What’s a shutter?’ And he goes, ‘Don’t worry. We’ll train you.’ That’s it. I quit on a Friday, started here that next Monday, and never looked back.”

Far from the corporate role he had once worked in, which involved sitting behind a desk in a cramped cubicle, this new role involved going out and meeting people and advising them on the different options they had to modify their home with shutters.

Perhaps, when you think of shutters, the outdated colonial-style version may come to mind. However, shutters are far more than a simple, practical window covering. Although they may appear similar to blinds at first glance, shutters offer a more elegant, durable and versatile purpose than some may assume.

Similar to blinds, shutters provide options when it comes to light control. Unlike blinds, they offer a much more precise level of adjustment. Because shutters are custom-built for every home, they provide more flexible options for the level of privacy and light that one would like.

“We have to make it so that shutters fit as close as we can get to be perfect because they’re hanging doors on your windows, and any blind hung on your windows, you’ll notice about a half-inch gap or so on the sides,” Christ says. “Where, if I put a half-inch gap around your window on a shutter, people will literally want to string me up because the gap is unacceptable. I mean, an eighth of an inch is about what we use for a tolerance level. So we try to keep the gaps nice and tight.”

Because of this, Christ shares, homeowners who choose shutters have the ability to close out nearly all unwanted light. But, because shutters can be created to have multi-point control, they can be manipulated to allow for different levels of light to come through.

“We can tilt them differently, like for a lot of the louvers or for a lot of the options, people have separate louver control for the bottom half than they do the top half, and there’s quite a few different ways of doing that,” Christ says. “Now, some people might want to just close them all the way up, great, but you know it’s nice to have that flexibility, kind of like a top-down, bottom-up shade.”

With light control comes an additional feature that can help homeowners save money: energy efficiency. Because shutters excel at keeping a tight seal against unwanted light, they naturally provide insulation from unwanted heat or drafts, which can bring down costs in temperature control.

Further, Sunburst Shutters and Window Fashions carries a unique material called polywood that increases the strength of insulation compared to a typical wood shutter. Polywood, Christ says, is “a solid polymer” that is coated in an acrylic-based paint that protects against discoloration. This specific material is excellent at insulating, making it a great option for those looking to cut costs on energy.

Not only are shutters measured specifically for each individual window of the home, but there are a plethora of different designs and materials that add to the customizability and overall function of the shutters. As a result, homeowners can find shutters for windows of varying shapes and sizes, as well as make decisions about how they want the shutters developed.

“We can do inside, and we can do outside,” Christ says. “We come into situations where the kitchen sink may be in the way or … their garage door might be in the way of a window in the garage. And we do all sorts of applications where you can do them as pop-outs where they literally are held by magnets in the back, so the doors themselves just pop right off.”

In addition to the practical uses of shutters, they can also add value to a home through their aesthetic purposes. Contrary to other forms of window treatments, shutters are considered a long-term, durable product that is meant to be seen.

Christ puts it simply: “They’re not disappearing ever and … the main goal is they want to be a focal point, and the beauty of them is to have them there.”

Boasting both visual and functional benefits, shutters are a timeless option for homeowners to consider when investing in their property. For those interested, more information about setting up an appointment, pricing and other common questions regarding shutters can be accessed by visiting the website sunburstshuttersminneapolis.com.