Shutter BoysPlantation shutters in Dale City
Homes in Dale City
Dale City is a city of houses: of its 22,031 homes, 65% are detached, 23% are townhouses and other attached houses and 11% are apartments or units in buildings of two or more homes.
The 1980s and 1990s built 40% of today's homes, more than any other period we count. 42% are older than that and 18% newer. The median home dates from 1983. Owners live in 79% of homes.
Of the 16 Virginia cities we have census figures for, Dale City has the smallest share of apartments. In nearby Centreville, 14 miles away, 11% of homes were built before 1980, so Dale City's windows are on the whole older. Nationally, Dale City's homes are newer than those in 61% of the 881 US cities we have census figures for.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024. Estimates carry margins of error.
Townhouses
23% of homes share a wall with the next one. Their front windows face the street side by side with the neighbours', so many owners pick a louver size and a white or off-white finish that sit well beside the houses on either side. Bay windows on townhouses usually need a separate panel set for each face.
Replacement windows
40% of homes went up between 1950 and 1979, and most of them have had their original windows replaced since. A replacement window often sits further into or out of the wall than the old one, so the depth you have for an inside mount may differ from window to window in the same house. Measure every opening rather than copying one.
Bought to stay
Owners live in 79% 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.
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, and if you have an HOA, send it the drawings before you order.
A whole house in Dale City
The most common home in Dale City has four or more bedrooms: 46% of homes. Large houses are common too: 46% have four bedrooms or more. The median home has 6.8 rooms.
Detached houses are the most common kind of home here. Across the US, the middle home among detached houses has 10 to 15 windows (EIA, 2020). Shuttering that many windows at a typical bedroom-window size comes to roughly $3,200 to $6,000. For scale, that's about 1.1% of the median home value here, $425,500 (owners’ estimates, 2020–2024).
Homes here are larger than in 95% of the 881 US cities we have figures for, so a whole-house order runs to more windows than most.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 (bedrooms B25041, rooms B25018, value B25077); U.S. Energy Information Administration, Residential Energy Consumption Survey 2020, Table HC2.1 (windows). EIA RECS 2020, Table HC2.1
A typical home10–15 windows
All of them shuttered$3,200 to $6,000
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 windowsYoung children at home
7.9% of people in Dale City are under five, more than in 97% of the 881 US cities we have figures for. Shutters have no cords or chains at all: the louvers tilt with a rod or by hand, so there's nothing to hang within a child's reach. US rules for cords on custom blinds and shades are still being rewritten; ours never had any.
Pricing a whole house at once
46% of homes here have four bedrooms or more. For a house that size, list every window in one go: type or paste the sizes, or upload them as a spreadsheet saved as CSV, and the designer prices each window and the total.
Ages (B01001), working from home (B08301) and value (B25077): U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2020–2024. Rankings compare the US cities we have figures for.
Dale City weather and your shutters
At Manassas, VA (10 mi away), July averages a high of 87.5°F and January a low of 24.2°F. Average highs reach 85°F from July to August and average lows sit at or below freezing from December to February.
About 41 days a year reach 90°F, 94 nights fall to freezing and 47.2 inches of precipitation falls, spread fairly evenly through the year.
That's more 90°F days than in 50% of the 881 US cities we have climate normals for.
Daylight runs from 14 h 52 min on the longest day to 9 h 28 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 75° above the horizon in June and 28° in December.
Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Manassas, VA (temperature) and Woodbridge 5.9 NW, VA (precipitation, 4 mi away). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 42.4°F | 24.2°F | 3.2 in |
| Feb | 45.5°F | 25.8°F | 3 in |
| Mar | 53.8°F | 32.4°F | 3.9 in |
| Apr | 65.9°F | 43.1°F | 3.6 in |
| May | 74.2°F | 53.6°F | 4.3 in |
| Jun | 83°F | 63.5°F | 4.9 in |
| Jul | 87.5°F | 68.6°F | 4.4 in |
| Aug | 85.4°F | 66.5°F | 4.1 in |
| Sep | 78.2°F | 58.3°F | 4.7 in |
| Oct | 67°F | 45.6°F | 4 in |
| Nov | 56.4°F | 35.3°F | 3.4 in |
| Dec | 46.5°F | 28.7°F | 3.7 in |
Humid summers
Hot days and 47.2 inches of precipitation make for heavy summer air. Wood swells when it's humid, so give kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms some air: run the fan after a shower and tilt the louvers open so steam doesn't sit behind them.
Cold winters
With 94 freezing nights a year, warm room air meets cold glass for months. Shutters closed tight overnight hold that air against the window, so condensation can collect on the sill: tilt the louvers open in the morning, and wipe the sill on windows that often run wet.
Fitting them in Dale City
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 Dale City
- Centreville 14 mi
- Alexandria 18 mi
- Arlington 21 mi
- Reston 21 mi
- Waldorf 24 mi
- Washington 25 mi
More about shutters in Dale City
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Dale City’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Dale City
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Dale City 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
Pick your look once, add every window, and see each one drawn and priced. Send it to us and we reply with your quote.