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What Makes a Faux Wood Shutter?

December 18, 2017

“Faux wood” is a term that gets thrown around with regards to interior design, from furniture to flooring to window coverings. Really, all faux wood means is “not wood, but resembles it.” Other than that, you might not know what you have. So if you’re looking for faux wood shutters, faux wood blinds, or any other sort of faux wood window treatment in Raleigh, what are you actually buying for your windows?

Raleigh faux wood shutters

Sunburst Shutters Raleigh will help you separate the quality faux wood shutters from the less great shutters. This is what you need to know.

Faux Wood Quality Can Vary From Excellent To Shoddy

Faux wood is typically advertised as a more inexpensive version of hardwood, but a large number of faux wood products are more like a “cheap” version of hardwood. The vast majority of faux wood is actually just composite wood, which is a combination of wood chips, plastic, and adhesive, occasionally coated in vinyl. Almost all of these types of engineered materials aren’t durable, can’t really block sound or energy loss, and will most likely fade and lose their color after prolonged exposure to UV rays.

What’s worse, many faux wood shutters are hollow, making them weaker, prone to chipping or breaking, and less effective at blocking heat loss through your windows.

Though you may think you’re staying under budget by choosing faux wood window treatments, are you really getting much benefit from shutters you’ll likely need to replace after a short while? Is there much benefit to a window treatment that doesn’t help keep your house more comfortable or your energy bills lower?

Lucky for homeowners, not every faux wood shutter is made the same.

living room Raleigh faux wood shutters 

What To Look For In a Great Faux Wood Shutter

There are typically 3 qualities you should look for in a faux wood shutter:

  • Durable, moisture-proof material

  • No wrapped material on a wood chip base

  • A lifetime warranty

Sunburst’s Polywood® plantation shutters were designed to succeed where most faux wood falls short. Unlike cheaply made shutters made of wood pulp and vinyl, Polywood shutters are built from our trademarked Polywood extruded material, built to withstand the harshest elements and take punishment that most shutters aren’t able to.

Polywood shutters are also completely solid all the way through, so they’re not only more durable and immune to cracking or chipping, but also better insulators to keep your house at a comfortable temperature.

White shutters in Raleigh bedroom.

And unlike many faux wood shutter products, Polywood shutters are backed by an extensive Lifetime Warranty.

Some salespeople may try to market their faux wood shutters as some sort of “poly” compound, but remember that there’s only one Polywood®.

Get Raleigh’s Best Faux Wood Shutters

If you’re ready to graduate from hardware store faux wood shutters that don’t deliver, send a line to Sunburst Raleigh today. Get a no-strings-attached consultation using the form below or call us at 919-887-9198.