Composite Shutters
Hunter Douglas NewStyle hybrid shutters. A wood composite core with a polymer coating and a finely painted finish, built with the same dovetail joints as the hardwood line. Fitted across Boise and the Treasure Valley.
First, a Correction You Will Not Read Elsewhere
Almost every website selling composite shutters tells you they are the bathroom answer. They are not, and this page used to say the same thing until we read the Hunter Douglas specification properly.
NewStyle is a hybrid. The panels are a wood composite material co-extruded with a polypropylene coating, and the important word is wood. Because it contains wood, Hunter Douglas does not recommend NewStyle for bathrooms or any high humidity or wet environment, for the same reason it does not recommend genuine hardwood there.
If the room is wet, you want vinyl shutters, sold as Palm Beach Polysatin, which contain no wood at all and carry a written guarantee against warping. We would rather tell you that here than sell you the wrong panel and replace it in four years.
So what is composite genuinely for? Read on, because the answer is good.
The Painted Shutter, Built Properly, for Less
The large majority of shutters sold are painted white or off-white. If that is what you want, you are not buying wood for the grain, because you are about to cover the grain with paint. That is precisely the case NewStyle is built for.
The finish is a low-luster coating called Finetech, designed to read like a finely painted shutter rather than a plastic one. It gives you the clean architectural line of a painted panel without paying for hardwood you are then going to hide.
And in one specific way it is engineered better than solid timber. The stiles and rails use Crosslink construction, a laminated lumber core. A solid piece of wood has one continuous grain direction and will move along it over years. A laminated core does not, so panels stay straighter for longer. On a tall panel hung on hinges, straightness is what keeps it closing properly.
Panels are joined with Truemill dovetail construction, the same interlocking joint used on the Heritance hardwood line, rather than the dowel or mortise and tenon joints competitors rely on glue to hold. That is not a downgraded version of the good shutter. It is the same joinery in a different material.
Choosing Between the Three Shutters, Honestly
Choose hardwood if you want to see grain, if you want a stain rather than a paint, or if you are matching existing trim and cabinetry. Real wood is the only one of the three that can be custom color matched to a stain.
Choose vinyl if the room is a bathroom, a laundry, or over a kitchen sink. Also choose it for a west-facing window taking punishing summer sun, because the color runs through the material and cannot fade off the surface.
Choose composite if the room is dry, you want a painted finish, and you would rather put the difference in budget into covering more windows. Which, on a whole-house job, is usually the sensible trade.
On most houses we quote, the answer is a mix. There is no rule that says every window has to get the same product, and matching the profile across all three is exactly what a dealer is for.
Louver Size, Tilt, and Specialty Shapes
Three louver sizes. Three and a half inch is the default and the most popular. Two and a half inch suits smaller windows. Four and a half inch gives the most open view when tilted, because fewer louvers cross the glass.
Louver spacing is fixed, which means the top and bottom rails change height depending on the panel, from about three and five eighths to five and seven eighths of an inch. The two rails in any one panel always match each other.
For the tilt you choose front tilt, the traditional visible rod down the middle of the panel, or HiddenTilt, where the mechanism moves into the side and nothing crosses the glass. If the window has a view worth having, take HiddenTilt.
Specialty shapes are available, and there is a material detail worth knowing: arches, circles and angled shapes may be made from real wood or a solid core poly material rather than the standard composite, finished to match the NewStyle colors. Same look, different substrate, and it is why an arched panel can be built at all.
Day to day, the mechanics are the same as the hardwood line. SoftClose with Quick Align closes the louvers smoothly with one touch across five preset positions, and Staytite tension pins hold them wherever you leave them without ever needing adjustment. Bypass track systems come with SoftClose for Bypass so panels never slam.
Bi-fold panels folding clear of a slider, so the doorway is actually usable.
A breakfast bay is fine. A window directly over the sink is not, and that one should be vinyl.
They Are Not Blackout Either
True of every shutter, and Hunter Douglas states it for NewStyle as clearly as for the others. Gaps have to exist for louvers to rotate and panels to swing, so a closed shutter cuts most of the light but never all of it.
What reduces it: the frame carries a built-in light stop, and the stiles are either rabbeted or fitted with an astragal, a slim flange covering the seam where two panels meet, available on the front side of the panel. Unframed shutters let through noticeably more light than framed ones, and on unframed sides a light stop trim strip has to be specified at order time, because it is not included automatically.
On an inside mount in an out-of-square opening, which covers most older Boise houses, the uneven gap is closed with caulk or a trim strip ordered as lineal material. Ask any supplier quoting your job whether that is in their number.
For a bedroom that genuinely needs to be dark, pair the shutters with a room-darkening roller shade or use a cellular shade instead.
Where They Work in a Boise Home
Living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, studies, hallways and stairwells. Any dry room where you want the built-in look of a shutter in a clean painted finish.
They are particularly good on a whole-house job. Shutters get expensive quickly when you are covering fifteen windows, and NewStyle is how most people afford to do the whole house at once rather than a room at a time. Put vinyl in the two wet rooms, composite through the rest, and the profile stays consistent from room to room.
Where they should not go: bathrooms, laundries, and the window directly above a kitchen sink or range.
Questions People Ask About Composite Shutters
Can Composite Shutters Go in a Bathroom?
No, and we want to be very clear about this because it is the most common misconception about the product, and plenty of websites say the opposite. NewStyle is a hybrid material and it contains wood, so Hunter Douglas does not recommend it for bathrooms or any high humidity or wet environment. For those rooms the answer is vinyl, sold as Palm Beach Polysatin, which has no wood in it at all.
Then What Is Composite Actually For?
A painted shutter, in a dry room, built better than its price suggests. If you want a clean painted white or off-white shutter rather than visible wood grain, NewStyle gives you that with dovetail joints and a laminated lumber core for straightness, at less than hardwood. It is the sensible middle of the three.
Is Composite as Strong as Real Wood?
Structurally it holds up extremely well, and in one respect it is better. The stiles and rails use Crosslink construction with a laminated lumber core, which resists twisting and keeps panels straighter over time than a solid piece of timber, because a laminated core does not have one continuous grain direction to move along. Panels are joined with the same Truemill dovetail construction as the hardwood line.
Will Composite Shutters Look Like Plastic?
They should not. The finish is a low-luster coating called Finetech that reads like a finely painted shutter rather than a shiny plastic one. What you will not get is wood grain, because the surface is a polypropylene coating over a wood composite core. If seeing grain matters to you, that is the argument for hardwood.
What Louver Size Should I Choose?
Three and a half inch is the most popular and the right default. Two and a half inch suits smaller windows, four and a half inch gives the most open view when tilted. One thing to expect: louver spacing is fixed, so the top and bottom rails change height with the panel, anywhere from about three and five eighths to five and seven eighths of an inch. Both rails in a panel always match each other.
Let Us Work Out Which Rooms Get Which
On a whole-house shutter job the real work is deciding which material goes in which room, and getting that wrong is expensive. Justin walks the house, measures every opening, and tells you plainly where composite is the right call and where it is not. He brings hardwood, composite and vinyl samples so you can see them side by side. Our showroom at 2615 W Main St in Boise is open too if you would rather come to us. Call ahead so we can be sure to be there.
Or call (208) 808-8676
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