Better Exterior Shutters » roller shutters

Roller Shutter Garage Doors

admin — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:33:27 +0000

Garage doors have come a long way over the past 50 years. Gone are the heavy, one-piece wooden doors that required strong arms and back to lift open, as well as considerable trust to expect the door to stay open. Over the course of time, various changes significantly improved the look and function of doors; lighter material, electronic openers, sectional doors, and roll up doors were some of the improvements. The latest of garage advancements the roller shutter door, which incorporates some of the best features from the past doors, and consolidates them into the roller shutter door. Consider some of the great features of the shutter door.

Safe and secure closure
Police statistics indicate that the garage is the number one point of entry in home burglaries. The garage, in most cases, provides a direct access into your home. Once inside, a burglar has concealment and noise buffer which aide him as he breaks into the main house. When doors close completely, they automatically lock and create a secure barrier for your car and home. With these doors you don’t have to guess whether you lock the garage or not. It is automatic and it is secure.

Space saving design
Another great feature of the roller door is its ability to roll up into the compact cylinder casing at the front of the opening. This means that you may access the complete garage area without worrying about a door track and the door looming right above your head. With the roll up door, an owner can make the most of his garage space without worrying about clearance when opening the door.

Compact and convenient
The roller shutter garage door is a self contained compact unit which requires no extra room for door tracking, garage door storage, or complicated installation directions to follow. There are no extra parts or motors that need to be installed and assembled. Roller shutter doors are meant to last a lifetime and most come with a full guarantee.

Curb appeal and a variety of selection
These doors are made of lightweight, corrosion resistant aluminum, and coated with a polyester resin. These doors are available in a variety of colors, textures, and styles that will provide a perfect blend and compliment to your home’s overall curb appeal.

The garage feature is truly unique and reflects the best in home improvement products. Go online and check out the sleek, smooth look and operation of this newest product.

Roller Exterior Shutters

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:12:40 +0000

Roller shutters are one of the more popular choices for exterior shutters due to their ease of use and strong durability. Generally made out of a metal, such as aluminum, roller shutters are popularly used for hurricane shutters but have several other uses as well.

Roller shutters are one of the stronger and more durable exterior shutters choices, making them great for use as hurricane shutters. When the shutters are rolled down, they create a solid barrier over the window or door, making it very difficult for anything to pass through them. There are no cracks or separate parts for wind or debris to target and it would take an incredible amount of power to force an object right through the roller shutters.

The main drawback to roller shutters is the big, bulky box that is used to store the shutter when it’s not in use. This box fits right on top of the window or door and is more or less permanent, so you have this big box hanging around even when you don’t need the shutter. Due to this, roller shutters are often used only for protecting larger objects, such as sliding glass doors and bay windows. Using them to cover every window of your house would look pretty odd and wouldn’t do much for the overall decor of your home or condo.

Photo by sun dazed

Maintaining your roller shutters is really pretty simple. They are made out of alloys, so they won’t rust, and there aren’t a ton of things that can go wrong with them. Inspecting the shutters after use, to make sure they haven’t been too badly damaged by a storm, and a regular yearly inspection should be plenty. Check for any cracks in the metal or any places that might have become worn. If you have a motorized roller shutter, check that the motor works by unrolling and rolling the shutter once or twice a year. It can also help to oil the hinges when you check the motor. If the motor ever dies, chances are good that there is a hand-crank backup, so you could still get the shutter out if needed. A professional would most likely have to come out and inspect the motor to be able to fix it.

Cost for roller shutters varies with the size of the area you are trying to cover, but you can generally find an un-motorized version for around $100 that is large enough to cover a standard sliding glass door, and motorized versions of the same size will run you about $200 or so.

Hurricane Shutters

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:27:49 +0000

Hurricane shutters are a special type of exterior shutters that are used almost exclusively in coastal areas to protect the windows and doors of your home from tropical storm and hurricane force winds. While regular exterior shutters can do a fine job protecting most homes and windows, if you’re in an area that often gets hurricanes or tropical storms you’ll definitely want to look into some hurricane shutters. There are several different types and styles of hurricane shutters, but they all work in the same basic manner: a panel or covering of some sort extends or folds over the window or door, providing a much stronger barrier to wind, rain and flying debris than the window by itself would provide.

The easiest and most cost effective method of putting up hurricane shutters is to buy some plywood sheets or hurricane panels and hang them over your windows or doors, as you can see in the picture below. The advantages of doing this are the low cost, and the fact that it can be done rather quickly, which is handy if you get caught unaware by an oncoming storm. The disadvantages of it are pretty obvious: you have to manually put up and take down the covers for every storm, and they aren’t going to last very long, so you’ll be buying more panels probably at least every year. This method works well if you have a garden building in the backyard. You probably won’t be able to find fitted shutters to protect a shed or garden building, so just go with some plywood planks.

Photo by Bob B. Brown

Among the more permanent solutions for hurricane shutters are roller shutters, Bahama shutters, Colonial shutters and accordion shutters. Roller shutters generally provide some of the best protection for your home, but they also look kinda bad when you’re not using them. The shutter is stored in a big box that is installed above your door or windows, and then rolls down out of the box over the window when you need it. The box is pretty much permanent and doesn’t do much to add to the decor of your home.

Bahama and Colonial shutters are other hurricane shutter options that can actually look nice when they are not being used. Both of these shutters feature a panel that swings shut to cover the window when needed, and can act much like a normal shutter when not needed. Colonial shutters are attached to the side of the window and swing side-to-side, while Bahama shutters (pictured below) are attached above the window and swing down to cover it. Both of these shutters can also serve to block sunlight from coming into the window, as well as their primary function, making them useful in more than one way.

Photo by colemama

Lastly, accordion shutters are another hurricane shutters option. These shutters act much like vertical blinds and gather at one side of the window or door on a railing that extends above the window. When you need to use them, you simply pull them out and across the window and put them back when you don’t need them.