Shutter BoysCalifornia shutters in Victoria
Homes in Victoria
Apartments outnumber houses in Victoria: 79% of its 49,225 occupied homes are in buildings of two or more units, 22% of all homes in buildings of five or more storeys. Detached houses make up 14% and semi-detached and row houses 7%.
The biggest building period was 1961 to 1980, which accounts for 33% of homes standing today; 18% are from 2001 or later. Most homes are rented: owners live in only 40%.
Of the 33 British Columbia cities we have census figures for, Victoria has the highest share of older homes and the third-highest share of apartments. In Saanich, 3 km away, 43% of homes are apartments, fewer than here. Nationally, Victoria's homes are older than those in 89% of the 167 Canadian cities we have census figures for.
Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population. Period of construction and tenure come from the 25% sample; counts are randomly rounded.
Plaster walls and deep casings
31% of homes date from 1960 or earlier, when walls were plaster on lath and windows sat in deep wood casings. Plaster cracks if you drive screws carelessly: drill a pilot hole, use fixings made for plaster, and fix into the casing or the framing behind it. A deep casing is good news for an inside mount; measure its depth before you choose a louver size.
Condo towers
22% of homes are in buildings of five storeys or more, where floor-to-ceiling window walls are common. Tier-on-tier panels let you open the top for light and keep the bottom closed for privacy, and a mounting frame gives the panels a square edge on glass that runs wall to wall. Many buildings ask you to book the elevator for deliveries and keep to set work hours, so check with management before install day.
Out-of-square openings
With 64% of homes built in 1980 or earlier, many openings have had decades to settle. Measure each one's width at the top, middle and bottom, and both diagonals. If the diagonals differ by more than about 6 mm, add a mounting frame in the designer, or choose an outside mount so the shutter covers the uneven edges.
Renting?
60% of homes are rented. Shutters screw into the window frame or casing, so ask your landlord before you install; taking them down later leaves only screw holes to fill.
A whole house in Victoria
The most common home in Victoria has one bedroom: 39% of homes. Small homes are a big part of the mix: 44% have one bedroom or none. Homes average 4.3 rooms.
Apartments are the most common kind of home here. No Canadian survey counts windows by type of home; in the US, the middle apartment in a building of five or more units has 3 to 5 (EIA, 2020). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $1,300 to $2,900 CAD. For scale, that's about 0.3% of the median home value here, $750,000 CAD (owners’ estimates, 2021).
Homes here are smaller than in any other of the 167 Canadian cities we have figures for: many orders are a few rooms, not a whole house.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (bedrooms, rooms and value from the 25% sample; counts randomly rounded); U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, Table HC2.1 (apartment windows). EIA RECS 2020, Table HC2.1
A typical home3–5 windows
All of them shuttered$1,300 to $2,900 CAD
Every window priced as a 36 × 48 in opening in our basic build (flat moulding, paint stage 1, 3½ in louvers), before tax and shipping. Your windows will differ; the designer prices each one.
Price your own windowsWorking from home
30% of workers here worked from home on census day in May 2021, during the pandemic, more than in 86% of the 167 Canadian cities we have figures for. Glare on a screen comes from direct sun and bright sky behind or beside it. Louvers tilted up throw daylight at the ceiling instead, so the room stays bright and the screen stays readable; wider louvers give the clearest view when you open them.
A few windows and a door
44% of homes here have one bedroom or none, so many orders are a bedroom window, a living room window and a balcony door. Sliding doors take bypass or bifold panels; check your building's rules on what shows from outside first.
Ages, place of work and value: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population. Rankings compare the Canadian cities we have figures for.
Victoria weather and your shutters
At Victoria Gonzales (City) (4 km away), August averages a high of 20.7 °C and February a low of 3.6 °C. No month averages a high above 29 °C or a low below freezing.
About 1 days a year top 30 °C, 10 days drop to 0 °C or below and 675 mm of precipitation falls, most of it around November and least in July.
Daylight runs from 16 h 7 min on the longest day to 8 h 18 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 65° above the horizon in June and 18° in December.
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, Victoria Gonzales (City). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7.8 °C | 3.8 °C | 110.6 mm |
| Feb | 8.6 °C | 3.6 °C | 60.7 mm |
| Mar | 10.7 °C | 4.6 °C | 62.4 mm |
| Apr | 13.5 °C | 6.4 °C | 36.2 mm |
| May | 16.5 °C | 8.7 °C | 27.5 mm |
| Jun | 18.7 °C | 10.5 °C | 18.8 mm |
| Jul | 20.6 °C | 11.9 °C | 13 mm |
| Aug | 20.7 °C | 12.1 °C | 16.4 mm |
| Sep | 18.9 °C | 11 °C | 27.8 mm |
| Oct | 13.9 °C | 8.2 °C | 85.4 mm |
| Nov | 9.9 °C | 5.4 °C | 128.7 mm |
| Dec | 7.5 °C | 3.6 °C | 87.2 mm |
Dry summers, wet winters
Barely any of the year's precipitation falls in June, July and August; most comes in the cool months. Wood takes on moisture in the wet season and gives it back in the dry one, so expect the panels to feel slightly tighter in winter than in summer. Fit them in the season you're in, and leave the hinge screws a quarter turn from tight until they've been through both.
Fitting them in Victoria
Shutter Boys shutters are made for you to fit yourself: an inside or outside mount takes a drill, a level and our step-by-step guide. If you'd rather hire someone, a finish carpenter or blinds installer can fit them; ask on your quote and we'll tell you if we know one near you. You arrange and pay the installer directly.
Near Victoria
- Saanich 3 km
- Langford 11 km
- North Cowichan 51 km
- Delta 76 km
- White Rock 78 km
- Richmond 83 km
More about shutters in Victoria
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Victoria’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Victoria
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Victoria can sell or refer Shutter Boys shutters: dealers buy at trade pricing with a protected area; referral partners earn a fee on each client they send. No fee to join.
Price your windows
Choose Canada in the designer, enter millimetres or inches, and we reply with your quote in Canadian dollars.