Shutter BoysPlantation shutters in Suffolk
Homes in Suffolk
Suffolk is a city of houses: of its 40,499 homes, 72% are detached, 7% are townhouses and other attached houses and 18% are apartments or units in buildings of two or more homes.
Much of Suffolk is new: 44% of homes were built 2000 or later, and only 32% before 1980. The median home dates from 1996. Owners live in 71% of homes.
Of the 16 Virginia cities we have census figures for, Suffolk has some of the newest homes. Its housing is much like Chesapeake's, 19 miles away. Nationally, Suffolk's homes are newer than those in 73% 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.
Shallow openings
44% of homes were built in 2000 or later. Newer windows are often set close to the room side of the wall, and handles, cranks and alarm sensors stick out into the space a louver swings through. Measure the depth to the glass and to anything that sticks out; the designer checks it against the louver size you pick.
Whole-house orders
With 72% 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.
Rounded drywall corners
68% of homes here were built from 1980 on, and many houses of that era have rounded ("bullnose") drywall corners around the windows instead of square returns. A shutter can't sit flat against a curve: choose an outside mount with a frame that clears the corner, or an inside mount if the flat part of the opening is deep enough for your louvers.
Bought to stay
Owners live in 71% 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 Suffolk
The most common home in Suffolk has three bedrooms: 42% of homes. Large houses are common too: 34% have four bedrooms or more. The median home has 6.5 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 1.3% of the median home value here, $347,400 (owners’ estimates, 2020–2024).
Homes here are larger than in 82% 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
6.3% of people in Suffolk are under five, more than in 69% 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
34% 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.
Suffolk weather and your shutters
At Suffolk Lake Kilby, VA (3 mi away), July averages a high of 86.8°F and January a low of 31.1°F. Average highs reach 85°F from July to August and average lows sit at or below freezing in January.
About 27 days a year reach 90°F, 56 nights fall to freezing and 52.1 inches of precipitation falls, spread fairly evenly through the year.
That's more freezing nights than in 52% of the 881 US cities we have climate normals for.
Daylight runs from 14 h 40 min on the longest day to 9 h 39 min on the shortest, and the midday sun stands 77° above the horizon in June and 30° in December.
Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, Suffolk Lake Kilby, VA (temperature) and Suffolk Lake Kilby, VA (precipitation, 3 mi away). Daylight and sun height: calculated from the city’s latitude.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average high | Average low | Precipitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 49.3°F | 31.1°F | 3.7 in |
| Feb | 52.4°F | 32.9°F | 3 in |
| Mar | 59.4°F | 38.9°F | 4.1 in |
| Apr | 69.2°F | 48°F | 3.6 in |
| May | 76.1°F | 56.7°F | 4 in |
| Jun | 83.4°F | 65.1°F | 4.7 in |
| Jul | 86.8°F | 69.7°F | 5.7 in |
| Aug | 85.1°F | 68.6°F | 5.8 in |
| Sep | 79.6°F | 63°F | 5.8 in |
| Oct | 70.5°F | 51.5°F | 4.3 in |
| Nov | 60.5°F | 40.8°F | 3.7 in |
| Dec | 52.7°F | 34.8°F | 3.7 in |
Wet months
52.1 inches of precipitation a year keeps the air damp for long stretches. Steam and condensation are hard on any joint, so in kitchens, bathrooms and laundry rooms keep the air moving and wipe water off the sill before it sits.
Fitting them in Suffolk
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 Suffolk
- Chesapeake 19 mi
- Portsmouth 19 mi
- Norfolk 27 mi
- Newport News 27 mi
- Hampton 30 mi
- Virginia Beach 34 mi
More about shutters in Suffolk
Each page takes one question further (fitting your windows, room by room, sizes and colours, louvers, or how shutters compare with other choices), using Suffolk’s own figures.
For designers, contractors and stores in Suffolk
Interior designers, contractors, window covering stores, realtors and property managers in Suffolk 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.