Your plantation shutters can be controlled by either a front facing tilt rod (shown left), or an integrated tilt rod (also known as a hidden tilt rod, shown right).

The operation of the shutter is not affected, and for the most part there is no difference in performance.

The integrated operation has a slightly higher cost of approx 10%. This additional cost purely reflects the additional components and labour required to create the hidden tilt rod effect.

Mid-rails give rigidity and strength to the panels. The mid-rail is usually placed somewhere between the centre and top of the panel, often for aesthetic reasons, but can be positioned off centre in order to line up, as closely as manufacturing tolerances will allow, with horizontal glazing bars in the window.

A mid-rail also allows independent opening of the panels above and below it.

For example, a Wooden Shutter in the lounge has a mid-rail two thirds the way up the panel. The louvres above the mid-rail usually remain in an open position to allow light to pass into the room, and the louvres below the mid-rail are usually closed to afford the room some privacy during the day.

Another way to get independent opening of the top and bottom section of louvres is to opt for split tilt rods. Whether you choose the standard front facing tilt rods or integrated tilt rods to can choose to have them split at a certain point, effectively creating two sets of louvres within the one panel.

This is extremely good for low level windows where privacy is an issue, or in bedrooms where you still want to get the light in, but give yourself privacy.

Sometimes a window will not have a fanlight section, and a mid-rail doesn’t look so good from the outside. Splitting the tilt rod instead of having a mid-rail is the perfect solution for this scenario.

For wider windows, it is often necessary to ‘link’ two or more panels together, so that when the panels are open they will Bi-Fold to save space in the room.

Depending on the wood type you choose, some products will have restrictions on how many panels can be linked together within the factory recommendations, and thus within warranty. We do have the full specifications but it will only confuse some readers if we print it here.

So, as a general rule, Any MDF based product will only allow Bi-Fold panels (that is, two panels linked together), and our Hardwood Plus product will allow Multi-Fold panels (up to four panels linked together).

A hanging track system, similar to what one might use on sliding wardrobe doors, can be used to support the panels on wide windows and doors. Essentially, one can have as many panels across the window as one requires without being concerned about weight issues.

Our entire plantation shutter range can be fitted with a tracking system, but of course we would need to specify this at the point of order, and track systems are not suitable for every window. Allow us to advise you on whether a track system would be suitable for your shutters.

There are two modes of operation for track system shutters. The first type is called Bi-fold. Put simply, the panels will bi-fold across the window like with any standard shutter. The second type is bi-pass. With this setup, the panels will pass across each other much like a wardrobe sliding door. The type that would be suitable for your window or door would be suggested to you by our advisor.

Our Wooden Shutter products are manufactured to quite precise standards (+/- 3mm in fact). Therefore, we are able to have them made in a huge variety of colours and finishes, shapes and sizes. Wooden Plantation Shutters can be engineered to perfectly fit almost any shape of window: arches, portholes, patio doors, French windows, bay windows, and windows of almost every shape and size.

So, whether you have a gothic arch or a porthole window that needs to be covered, we are fairly certain we can make a shutter to fit it. Some materials are not suitable for making shaped plantation shutters. Typically, hardwood shutters are suitable for complex or rounded shapes, and any other material is suitable for simple straight line shapes (such as triangles).

For every shutter that we sell, you’ll be able to customise the colour of the hinges according to your taste. The only exception to this is the Wetroom shutter because we must supply stainless steel hinges to ensure they won’t corrode over time in moist conditions.

Currently we have a choice of black, white, cream, chrome, bright brass, stainless steel and antique brass. Stainless steel hinges attract a small price increase since they are significantly more expensive to manufacture.

When making a choice, we are happy to help you and advise what will look best with your decor.

Solid panels are sections of the shutter panel where instead of having moveable louvres fitted, one would have a solid section fitted.

This is useful for shutters used as room dividers, or for lower sections of tall floor to ceiling windows where privacy and security is of paramount concern.

Solid panels sections can be fitted to the entire panel or just a section of it. Solid panels come in one of two styles, a shaker style (flat squared edges) or a raised moulded shape (more of a classic style much like an internal door).

Should you need a plantation shutter to be coloured with a colour that we don’t have in our range, we can have it painted for you! 
Our Hardwood, Phoenix and Hardwood Plus ranges of wooden shutters can be coloured to either a popular brand paint colour (like Farrow & Ball or Dulux), or you can provide a sample of a colour you’d like your shutters to be. We will then send the sample to the factory for you for colour matching.

Please note, when colour matching to a famous brand colour, we do not use their actual paint, but instead colour match our own paint to suit it. Therefore, there may be the slightest difference in shade from our colour to the sample colour, but this is unavoidable in any circumstance.

The shutters are fitted to the lower section of a window only, leaving the top of the window exposed to allow light and visibility.

Whilst this may sound like a great idea, but should you not find the shutter to cover enough window after we’ve installed, then we should mention that you cannot add the top section of shutter to the cafe style shutter once it has been been manufactured. Therefore, we ask customers to carefully consider whether this is really the most practical option for them before making this choice.

With tier-on-tier, a break is positioned somewhere around the centre of the overall height of the shutter panel, and effectively to get an upper tier of panels, and a lower tier of panels which are able to open independently of each other.

Tier-on-tier shutters will not provide as good a light reduction as a full height shutter, because there will be more gaps of light between the panels, and it should be noted that there will be a minimum 5mm gap between the top tier and lower tier of panels. We should also mention that at the centre of the shutter, where all the panels meet,  it is not always possible to align the panels perfectly during the installation.

Most windows nowadays are configured with openers that are typically situated to the far left and right sides of the recess. It can sometimes be awkward to open those windows if you have a bi-folding shutter placed over it.

Therefore, when we configure your shutter we tend to use ‘T-Posts’ to split the shutter at the same points as your window openers, meaning that you only have to open one shutter panel to get to the window handle.

For doorways where there is not suitable alternative, we can fit a shutter to the actual door itself, and have a custom fill-in panel made to fit around the door handle.

The benefits of such an installation is that the shutter will always move with the door, ensure that you don’t have to open the shutter before opening the door every time you need access. This is useful also for areas such as bedrooms where doors may mead onto a balcony, and there’s a space restriction.

Let us advise you on whether this is a good option for you or not.