Shutter BoysCalifornia shutters in Thunder Bay
Homes in Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city of houses: of its 48,405 occupied homes, 65% are detached, 7% are semi-detached and row houses and 27% 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: 39%. Only 9% date from 2001 or later. 68% of homes are lived in by their owners.
Nationally, Thunder Bay's homes are older than those in 98% 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
39% 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.
Out-of-square openings
With 73% 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.
Whole-house orders
With 65% 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.
A whole house in Thunder Bay
The most common home in Thunder Bay has three bedrooms: 37% of homes. 25% have four bedrooms or more, and 13% have one or none. Homes average 6.3 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 1.4% of the median home value here, $300,000 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 90% 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.
Fitting them in Thunder Bay
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.
More about shutters in Thunder Bay
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Thunder Bay’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Thunder Bay
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Thunder Bay 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.