Most homeowners would agree that the aesthetics and the appeal of the home are nearly equally as important as its comfort and functionality. It matters if you like the looks of your home and that is often tightly connected with how useful and practical certain features are. It is no secret that replacing old parts of your home with the new not only gives you a better experience, but increases the curb value of your home while making you and the people you live in happier.
Value of shutters
In this article we will focus on an aspect most houses need which are also things homeowners do not replace as often as they probably should. The shutters that protect your windows from anything the outside world may throw at them serve multiple functions, all of them important in the daily life of a family living inside the particular home. From weather and the elements to the nosy neighbors, the protection and privacy they allow cannot be matched and they are an integral part of every house.
What is more, the shutters also give people the much needed shade and are even capable of reducing the heat in the summer allowing you to use less electricity for cooling down your home. The light management you can do with them can also allow give you aesthetic freedom with your décor. Basically, the benefits never seem to stop with shutters which is the reason why they have been in use for centuries, perhaps even millenniums.
The problem
While all of what has been said above is true, it is also true that most people have no idea when or why they need to replace the shutters. Just like any other thing that is exposed to nature and its good and bad days, shutters experience problems over the years and definitely need replacing. With that in mind and in an effort to lend a helping hand, we decided to give you a rundown of the most important signs that point to the need for window shutter replacement. If you want to learn more about this aspect of your home, especially if you are located in or around Kent, England, make sure to check out diamondwindowshutters.co.uk. Following are five key signs that clearly point to you needing new shutters.
They look old and worn
The naked eye can be a great judge of how good of a shape a certain thing is in. If your shutters sadly look old, tattered, and shabby, if they obviously have parts missing and if they are broken down or warped, a replacement is definitely in order. Not only will they fail to perform their functions properly, but they will also make your home look worse than it is. Faded and chipped paint tends to look quite bad and unappealing. Moreover, if the color is almost completely gone, the functions of keeping the light and heat out will surely be compromised. All in all, there is no reason to put this off any longer particularly if there are whole bits of wood or other material missing.
Mechanism issues
Opening and closing of the shutters should come without any type of effort on your end. If they refuse to move properly it means that their mechanism started to malfunction. If they are even slightly off, you will easily notice it. Every shutter is supposed to move in a certain pattern so if they are doing anything else they are not supposed to, have them fixed or replaced. Most often, the problems cannot be fixed and they only get worse over time. Eventually, you will not even be able to open them or close them completely and end up with useless shutters on your windows. To make matters worse, operational problems can happen with old and new shutters and do not have to necessarily follow wear and tear patterns. This makes them a tougher and frequently more expensive issue to deal with, but replacement is usually the way to go.
You have new windows
In case you are having new and modern windows installed in your home, you should also think about changing the old shutters. Starting completely fresh with the whole window thing will ensure a longer life for both. When you are changing something integral like this, it is always best to spend a little extra and do it the right way and in its entirety. New windows and old shutters do not mix. The other way around does work in certain cases, but the former is simply not advised. You will want new window coverings for multiple reasons, most of which deal with the right kind of protection for your new glass. The look of the home may also get compromised with a fresh set of glass mixed with old and worn out shutters. You do not even have to change the style or the size of the new shutter set if you enjoyed the old one. If the new windows are of the same size, go with the trusty shutter solution you know.
Flapping and noises
In case your shutters have mobility problems and move freely in the breeze, you need a replacement for sure. Flapping in the wind is dangerous for so many reasons. Not only will the shutters damage the outside area of the window, but they can come in too fast and smash your windows to pieces if the wind is too strong. They could even detach completely and go flying in any direction, causing serious damage to the surroundings or even hurting someone. In addition to this, if there are weird and screeching noises coming from the shutters, you will hardly ever fall asleep easily. A mix of flapping and screeching during the night especially when there is a storm on the horizon will keep the whole neighborhood up for hours. Make the decision to upgrade your home and replace the old shutters before you have to do other upgrades because you failed to react on time.
