Exterior roller shutters are good for protecting windows against storms and hurricanes, but they also offer many other benefits as well. Considering your own needs and reasons for getting roller shutters will help you to determine the best type, as they are often made from different materials and offer different benefits. Note a few tips for choosing the best exterior roller shutters for your home.
Noise
Roller shutters can help to block out noise from nearby traffic, storms, your neighbors, and so on. However, not all shutters are made with insulating material that is actually meant to block noise; you may buy standard shutters and then wonder why you can still hear car horns or a neighbor's stereo. To keep your home quiet, ask your installer about noise-insulating shutters and note how much reduction in noise they offer. These are usually shutters with an insulating material inside the outer layers or wood or metal. The more noise reduction offered, the more expensive they might be, but you'll want to invest in shutters that actually offer a noticeable difference in your home.
Security
If you're buying roller shutters for added security, note that wood is probably not your best option. Even when coated and treated, wood can more readily be broken or splintered by a would-be intruder. Plastic is a lightweight and rigid option but note if the planks or slats of the shutters seem easy to bend away from each other, rather than assuming the shutters can't be opened if they cannot be bent from the sides. Steel can be the best option for secure shutters as it's virtually impossible to simply bend steel shutters. Ensure they cover the windows very tightly when installed, to make it even more difficult to slide in a pry bar and try to force the shutters away from the windows.
Interior safety
While you want roller shutters to cover your windows in order to protect them and keep your home quiet and secure, you also want to think about interior safety. It can be easy for someone inside the home to get trapped if the shutters don't open very quickly. This can be especially true for security shutters that are meant to be durable and heavy. Be sure you've invested in a heavy-duty crank that works with a durable rod inside the home; test how heavy the shutters are before having them installed or note the weight so you know that children and anyone else can easily open them from the inside, or choose shutters that open with a remote control.
Share29 August 2016
I really want a cool old fixie like some of the people at my university have, but they are actually more expensive than I had first thought. Then I was going through the shed at home, and I found a really old rusted bike my dad used to use. The bike needed a lot of work, so it's been a project for the last few months to get it working properly and get it looking great again. This blog has all of the repair and restoration steps that I have used, and pictures of my progress as the project progressed.
