Shutter BoysCalifornia shutters in Essex
Homes in Essex
Essex is a city of houses: of its 8,390 occupied homes, 85% are detached, 4% are semi-detached and row houses and 6% are apartments or units in buildings of two or more homes.
More homes here were built 1960 or earlier than in any later period we count: 33%. Only 15% date from 2001 or later. Owners live in 85% of homes.
In nearby Amherstburg, 12 km away, 50% of homes were built in 1980 or earlier, so Essex's windows are on the whole older. Nationally, Essex's homes are older than those in 87% 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
33% 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.
Whole-house orders
With 85% of homes detached, most orders here cover a whole house: bedrooms, a patio door, perhaps a bay. Put every window in one list in the designer so the louver size and colour match from the street.
Out-of-square openings
With 63% 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.
Bought to stay
Owners live in 85% of homes, and shutters are usually bought to stay with the house. Poplar takes paint well, so they can be repainted years from now if you change a room's colours. Keep your order list: it records every size if you add a room later.
A whole house in Essex
The most common home in Essex has three bedrooms: 45% of homes. 24% have four bedrooms or more, and 6% have one or none. Homes average 7 rooms.
Detached houses are the most common kind of home here. Across Canada, the middle home has 6 to 10 windows (NRCan, 2007). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $2,700 to $5,700 CAD. For scale, that's about 1.1% of the median home value here, $400,000 CAD (owners’ estimates, 2021).
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (bedrooms, rooms and value from the 25% sample; counts randomly rounded); Natural Resources Canada, Survey of Household Energy Use 2007, Table 4.5a (windows). NRCan SHEU 2007, Table 4.5a
A typical home6–10 windows
All of them shuttered$2,700 to $5,700 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 windowsOne room at a time
Homes here cost less than in 77% of the 167 Canadian cities we have figures for, and many owners do a house in stages. Start with the rooms where light and privacy matter most, usually bedrooms and the street-facing front, and keep the same louver size and colour so later rooms match. Your saved design keeps every size.
Ages, place of work and value: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population. Rankings compare the Canadian cities we have figures for.
Essex weather and your shutters
At Harrow (7 km away), July averages a high of 27.6 °C and January a low of −7 °C. Average lows sit at or below freezing from December to March.
About 18 days a year top 30 °C, 117 days drop to 0 °C or below and 827 mm of precipitation falls, spread fairly evenly through the year.
That's more 30 °C days than in 93% of the 160 Canadian cities we have climate normals for.
Daylight runs from 15 h 15 min on the longest day to 9 h 6 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 71° above the horizon in June and 24° in December.
Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991–2020, Harrow. Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | −0.4 °C | −7 °C | 59.8 mm |
| Feb | 1.2 °C | −6 °C | 52 mm |
| Mar | 6.4 °C | −2.1 °C | 68.4 mm |
| Apr | 13.4 °C | 3.2 °C | 78.7 mm |
| May | 20 °C | 9.7 °C | 81.2 mm |
| Jun | 25.4 °C | 15.4 °C | 71.5 mm |
| Jul | 27.6 °C | 17.6 °C | 69.6 mm |
| Aug | 26.5 °C | 16.7 °C | 73.4 mm |
| Sep | 22.9 °C | 12.9 °C | 76.6 mm |
| Oct | 15.8 °C | 6.9 °C | 67.2 mm |
| Nov | 8.5 °C | 1.4 °C | 64.6 mm |
| Dec | 2.4 °C | −3.5 °C | 63.8 mm |
Summer sun
On the 18 days a year above 30 °C, closed louvers keep direct sun off the glass and out of the room. In a window that takes afternoon sun, white and light paint finishes stay cooler to the touch than dark stains.
Fitting them in Essex
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 Essex
- Amherstburg 12 km
- Kingsville 14 km
- Tecumseh 17 km
- LaSalle 19 km
- Windsor 24 km
- Lakeshore 25 km
More about shutters in Essex
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Essex’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Essex
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Essex 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.