Wooden Shutters | The Need To Maintain Your Wooden Window Shutters

The Need To Maintain Your Wooden Window Shutters

Window shutters made of wood, no matter how resilient they are against the elements and temperature changes, will need some repair and maintenance attention at some point in their service life. Good repair habits can lead to their longevity and long term usefulness thereby prolonging the need to totally change those shutters which, in turn, can save you some extra cash. However, doing these repairs need not be costly especially if you are the do-it-yourself type who wants to work around with tools.

The most common adversaries of most wood products are sunlight and water. Sunlight can be destructive to wood because, of course, it brings heat that may cause the wood material to warp and get deformed in some way. Furthermore, during rains, some rainwater might be able to seep through the pores of the wooden shutters which might cause them to rot from the inside. That being said, your shutters, especially if installed on the window exteriors are exposed to intense heat during the dry months and exposed to rain during the wet months. Fortunately, there are some solutions, aside from routine window cleaning, that can be applied that can, at least, give some extent of protection against the scorching sun and rain that might cause some damage to the overall structural integrity of the shutter. In addition, burrowing insects can also cause some damage to the shutter frame itself as they burrow deep inside the wood material. However, this can be addressed already as most lumber used for shutter construction are already treated.

One noted solution is to apply a protective coating to the shutters or reinforce the coating (if already coated) at regular intervals. Keep in mind that any applied protective coating to a wood product can get faded or worn out when exposed to direct sunlight and rain. This can lead to possible areas of penetration by the heat and rain. Hence, a yearly application of fresh protective coating can work in most cases. It would not cost much though. You won’t need large amounts of paint anyway. However, light colored coating is the better bet because dark colors of paint tend to absorb large amounts of heat from the sun. Furthermore, there are paints and lacquers that have glossy characteristics. It would probably be nice to use those. Their glossy surface will most likely result in the reflection of much of the sunlight thereby reducing the heat on the wood shutter surface.

Filed Under Shutter Repair, Window Shutter Maintenance Tips, Wood Shutters | Leave a Comment

Tagged With , , , , ,

Comments

Leave a Reply