Could someone please offer some advice on a cheaper material for exterior shutters. I live in Cleveland, OH. It seems as if most people recommend cedar for exterior shutters. But quite honestly, it is way too expensive for me. My plan was to make flat planel shutters with 1 1/16″ or 1 1/4″ rails and stiles. I was going to use 1/4″ luan plywood (two sheets back-to-back – possibly glued together) for the interior panels and maybe poplar for the rails and stiles. I plan to paint the shutters. Would poplar be okay? Is there another lower cost material that would handle the rigors of Cleveland weather? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Replies
If you are going to paint, consider MDO (medium density overlay). Used for signs exposed to the elements and other painted applications. Becoming very popular for outdoor projects.
"1 and 1/16" or 1 and 1/4" stiles and rails"
If you mean width, that is way too narrow to restrain movement. I've made exterior poplar shutters that still look great 10 years on, but the house is mostly shaded, not in direct sunlight. Seal the endgrain well with primer, then bondo, then a coat or two of exterior latex paint. The more mass of lumber in thickness and width, the less it'll move.
....The more mass of lumber in thickness and width, the less it'll move.
I,m not sure if I agree with that theory-----in my way of thinking it is the reverse. The bigger mass of wood has more growth rings thus more shrinkage and expansion with the elements of weather. However, I am in agreement that the thinner the wood the easier to distort. If distortation is what you were referring to then we are in agreement.
Respectfully, walnutjerry
I agree... For what that is worth!
Working on a job now tearing off the rotten exterior trim on a restaurant. Replacing some stuff with cedar and some with MDO.
My advice is to seal all edges of the MDO panel before putting it into a frame. I think water can get in the laminations and after a while it starts to fall apart.
Said restaurant has big circular medallions or rosettes on the outside. They are made out of mahogany and out of everything we have taken down, they have held up the best. We are reusing them.
Did I mention cypress and osage (aka bodok, aka hedge aka hedgeapple) yet?
Poplar rots quickly, that being said if the shutters are well maintained poplar can be used. You seal the endgrain, I would use shellac ,in fact I would give the entire shutter a 1 1/2 lb cut, the endgrain two coats. Then paint ,skip the primer if you used shellac.I would not use plywood for the panels unless it is mdo. Plywood panels never look good for exterior use (my opinion, others may disagree).If you use mdo for the panels , that will look good.MDO (medium density overlay) runs about $ 45.00 for 1/2" x 4'x8' sheets primed one side.
You could use luan boards if they are available in your area. Generally costs the same as poplar. Luan is a better choice than poplar for exterior uses,takes paint well. Do not use the sapwood, this has an orange cast , the sapwood from luan is more prone to twist. The heartwood is stable and in my area used extensively on boats for trim and built-in cabinetry.Luan costs about $3.00 bf, poplar $2.50 to $2.75 bf for thickness up to 8/4
Maybe the prices are different where you are but in Texas Ceadar is about the cheepest lumber availible. Regaurdless of cost, ceadar is a poor choice because it paints poorly. Cyprus is the best choice for ecomonical outdoor trim stock, and it is the traditional choice for that use.
Mike
Yep, I'd say painting any softwood that is going to be left outside is not going to look good after a while. Something about the early wood and the late wood makes the grain telegraph through the paint very badly.
Unless you can get quartersawn wood, or as they like to call it, straight grained wood for the softwoods.
I don't think Luan would last that long outside. I'd go for MDO also. And then you probably should caulk where the frame meets panels, just to keep water from getting the grooves and wreaking havoc later on, like when it freezes. Drilling weep holes in the bottom frame member might not be a bad idea either.
Chills
i would recomend to go to woodcraft in bedferd, on the coner of rockside and northfield 440-232-7979 and get some cyprus to make the shudders. they had some earler today. it was in the $3bf range.
David
http://www.darbynwoods.com
to woodcraft in bedferd
I find it entertaining to enter Knots and find out that Cypress is available in the metro Cleveland area. I was looking for it a few years ago and couldn't find it. Now when not looking, it's here. Thanks.
If you're attaching these to a flat exterior wall like brick or other, IME it helped to prolong shutter life if you screw large roundhead screws or something similar into the back to keep shutters off the wall. Otherwise, moisture gets trapped , and you know the rest.
White oak and a quality Oil Paint will surely outlast you!
I don't know what is the 'correct' material, but just FYI. 1972 built shutters from stair tread (SYP). Floated the panel bottoms on 2 dabs of caulk. Pinned the rails with 3-4" dowels and painted them with Rustoleum (black). About 8-10 years ago, I had to rebuild or replace about half of them mostly because the raised panels were separating.
Joe
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled