Aluminum interior shutters

What we’re making

• An aluminum frame, panels and louvers in place of solid wood.
• Louvers that tilt, like a plantation shutter, so you set the light and the privacy.
• A wood-look finish. A finish chosen to stand up to sun and humidity, on a shutter designed for the inside.
• 3 moulding levels, the same as our wood shutters: Level 1 (flat), Level 2, Level 3 (moulded).
• Made to your measurements, for the inside of the window.

An interior decorative shutter. It isn’t a storm, hurricane or impact-protection product.

Why aluminum, and for which rooms

Wood takes on moisture from humid air and gives it back as the air dries: it swells as it gains moisture and shrinks as it loses it (USDA Wood Handbook). Painted poplar copes well with a ventilated bathroom. It copes less well with a room that stays damp, or a window that gets splashed again and again. Aluminum doesn’t absorb moisture, so it won’t swell and shrink with the humidity the way wood does.

Aluminum doesn’t rust the way steel does. A thin oxide film forms on its surface and reseals itself if it’s scratched. (ASM International). That film is why aluminum is used for windows and doors. Salt air is harder on it, which is why the finish and the hardware matter in a coastal home: steel screws and hinges touching aluminum in damp air can corrode it, so they have to be kept apart (Hydro).

The rooms we have in mind:

• Bathrooms. Including the humid ones without much ventilation. Direct shower spray waits on our test results; until then, outside the spray. Shutters for humid rooms
• Laundry rooms and the window over the kitchen sink, where steam and splashes are part of the day.
• Basements, where the air stays damper than upstairs. Basement window shutters
• Coastal homes, where humid, salty air reaches inside. Shutters for coastal homes
• Sunrooms, with big swings in heat and humidity. West windows and sunrooms