shutters

There is a misinformation campaign happening in Las Vegas, designed to exploit a lack of understanding and knowledge of a product in order to sell a competing product. Basically, this misinformation campaign involves plantation shutters, and the materials they are made from. In the desert heat, there is an issue with sunlight hitting windows in the summertime, building up extreme levels of heat on the inside. Left without a barrier of window coverings, this direct sunlight can raise the ambient temperature of a room by upwards of 10 degrees, ultimately making your air conditioner work far harder and resulting in extremely high electric bills in the summer. The installation of window coverings brings down this expanse of heat into your rooms by providing a barrier, and naturally the barrier itself is what will decide the effectiveness. Curtains and blinds will provide some amount of success in keeping the heat out, but only plantation shutters act as an actual solid barrier against the heat and cold. Because they can be opened and closed as necessary, they are the perfect window covering for the desert.

The issues with plantation shutters in the desert heat come from the fact that the heat building up on one side can commonly cause them to split and warp if they are not made of top quality materials. This information is commonly used as a scare technique in order to sell shutters that are made of poly materials, the salesmen commonly referring to the splitting that can occur when woods are continually exposed to extreme heat. While this is technically true, it must be noted that all woods are not the same, and better quality woods like basswood will actually hold up to the heat far better than poly products will. When plantation shutters are made of the better quality woods, they will far outlast any shutter made from the cheaper poly materials. They will also be stronger and able to span greater distances ad well, creating a cleaner look that is more modern.

It is important not to fall for the misinformation that sales people will spread about competing products in order to sell theirs. By leading you to believe that the products made from cheaper materials are actually superior, they will generally get the installation job for people seeking discounted or more affordable shutters, and will potentially also get the jobs put forth by people who are seeking to purchase the best quality they can, in order to assure the longest life span. Nearly always, cheaper materials are going to age more poorly, and the salesmen are hoping that you will no longer be the owner of the house by the time that the damage as a result of repeated hot summers begins. Poly products have a far worse life span than basswood shutters, and it is a shame to find that out only years later after there is no longer anything you can do about it. Buy smart, and always buy quality basswood plantation shutters if you live in a hot environment.

In Las Vegas, the sun is the biggest enemy of almost any furniture or home improvement that you can install.  Anything that is constantly exposed to the sun is going to dry, fade, crack and warp over time.  Anything that is purposefully positioned to block the sun from destroying anything else in the room is going to take the brunt of the damage, and probably get destroyed over time.  This is the job of your plantation shutters in Las Vegas, to block out the sun as much as possible in order to provide better cooling or heating of your home while also providing privacy and being fashionable.  Good quality plantation shutters will accomplish all of these tasks, but only the best quality ones will be able to last over time without falling apart.  This is the real difference in shutters and all window coverings in Las Vegas, how they will stand up to the sun over time.

Many companies that offer shutters in Las Vegas try to do so at a price that is lower than everyone else.  In order to get their prices down, they will manufacture their shutters using cheap ploy and wood blends, and unfortunately these types of materials just cannot stand the test that the Las Vegas sun puts them through.  In no time, you will notice your shutters louvers beginning to warp, and they might crack as well.  This is because the materials cannot stand the intense heat, and are built for situations that are less intense.  Basswood is a far better choice as far as materials to make shutters that will last in this climate, but basswood is a little more expensive.  As a result, many people end up with cheap poly shutters that they have to replace after only a few years, ultimately costing them even more money than if they just bought the better quality ones first.  This is not the kind of lesson that you are going to want to learn over time, because you will be stuck with a product that does not look good and will probably need to be replaced.

Onyx Vegas makes and installs our own shutters.  Most of the companies that you see offering basswood shutters actually buy them from us, so when we are your installer and manufacturer we get to cut out the middlemen and save you a lot of money.  We can offer our basswood shutters for the same prices that other companies offer poly shutters, which means that we are not only better quality but ultimately more affordable than them as well.  In addition, our installers will take the time to do the installation right for Las Vegas, using screws instead of nails.  That is going to help your shutters age better over time, and keep them from developing gaps.  With plantations shutters, you really do get what you pay for, and in Las Vegas if you fall for the cheap shutters you will probably regret your decision later.  Call us now and we will give you a free estimate and discuss the costs for good quality basswood shutters vs poly shutters in your home…..then we will beat all their prices.

It is important to find the best quality Las Vegas shutters that you can, simply because the heat and constant sun will quickly destroy almost any shutter product that is made of inferior quality materials.  Poly shutters do the job of shutting out the light and helping to keep the heat or cold inside a home, but they function only nominally well in ultra hot climates like Las Vegas.  Our climate here is far more intense than most areas of the country, and as a result we need to consider how the desert heat will effect our furniture and home additions over time.  If they are made of materials that will fade or crack, we must take steps to make sure that they will not be directly exposed, or do so understanding that the life span will probably be considerably less than if we kept it protected.  If the addition is going to be continually exposed to the sun the way that shutters are, we need to make the choice of if we are all right with replacing them every few years due to wear and tear, or if we would be interested in purchasing better quality shutters that are built to last.  Most people are not thinking of replacing their shutters every few years, and look at the purchase as going to the lifetime of the home.  Unfortunately for many, they find out the hard way that purchasing plantation shutters made from cheap poly materials or wood blends do not hold up to our desert sun.

Basswood is the only real material that functions properly in our desert heat in Las Vegas, and will stand the test of time without disintegrating, falling apart or splitting.  These materials do cost a little more, and higher quality installation companies that will take the extra steps to doing a better installation will also be a little more expensive than the cheap ones.  However, the differences between nailing the shutters in and screwing them in, or placing an extra screw through the frame for added support even though it is not put there at the time of manufacture, is the difference between shutters that last the life of your house and shutters that do not.  They will all look pretty much the same at the time of installation, but over time you will begin to see the differences between better quality shutters and cheaper ones.

When you invest into something like shutters for your home, you are going to want to balance the better quality with affordability.  Because Onyx Vegas actually manufactures and installs our shutters, we are able to cut out the middleman that adds so much to every price.  As a result, we can offer you the best quality shutters in Las Vegas and also the best quality.  In a world where top quality usually means the most expensive, Onyx Vegas stands out.  Call us first and look at the quality of our materials.  Do research into the installation of cheap poly shutters vs basswood shutters, then let us show you why we are the best decision.

Most people realize that if something is cheap, it is probably not going to last as long as something made from better quality materials.  It will also probably not function as well as something that is made better, or where someone took the time to actually fit the components together properly.  When you are concerned about keeping prices low, you must compromise the quality of the materials and the labor in order to keep your profit margins, unless you can figure out another way of reducing costs so that the customers can pay less and your profit margins remain intact.  Most companies who do shutter installations in Las Vegas do not manufacture their products, and instead simply order them from manufacturers who build them and then ship them to the installer.  If that installation company is trying to have the lowest prices, they will probably have to go to companies that can make the shutters cheaper in order to keep their profits intact.  This will mean that they use cheaper woods or poly blends in order to form the components of the shutters, and even though these materials may look great on the day they are installed, because they are cheaper they cannot withstand the sun in a harsh environment like Las Vegas.  Over time, the louvers will warp and crack, and as as a result they will not close properly when you try to block out the sun.  They also may come apart more quickly under the stresses that they are put under.  You will learn over time that the cheaper materials do not have nearly the life span that a better quality basswood does.  You bought your shutters expecting them to last forever, and you are not going to be happy in a few years when they begin to look old and need replacing.

Onyx Vegas makes the shutters that other companies install, and we install them too.  This means that we can compete with companies offering cheaper shutters that are lower quality and still match their prices, because we control the manufacturing and the installations.  We do not have to compromise the quality of our shutters by using cheaper materials in order to save money.  You can see this in the fact that we can offer a shutter that is significantly wider than the industry standard of 28 inches.  We can offer these because our products are stronger and are build better.  And yet we are still able to offer them to you installed for prices that are in line with our cheapest competitors, who offer cheap poly shutters that will begin to fall apart in only a few years.  Your shutters are an investment that will pay for itself many times over as long as they do not need to be replaced, and the only way to make sure that is the case is to use only the highest quality basswood in the construction.  Call us once and you will never have to call us again, because our products last a lifetime.

Las Vegas is a unique city, namely because of our incredibly hot climate.  We live in a desert where temperatures routinely go over 100 degrees, which pretty quickly will destroy anything that is exposed to it for a period of time.  Anyone who has lived in Las Vegas for more than a few years and who has had furniture that is exposed to the sun can see the fading and destruction of fibers that takes place, and as a result we need to make choices in our homes and furniture that will withstand the desert heat.  This is especially true for anything that will constantly be directly exposed to the sun like your curtains, shades, blinds and shutters.  These coverings on your windows will assist in keeping the hot sun out by blocking it themselves, making them the things that break down over time.  In the case of custom shades or plantation shutters, you are spending a large amount of money on the shutters themselves, and it would be a shame for them to not last as long as they can.  When you pay thousands of dollars to have something installed into your home, the last thing you want to do is have to replace it every few years.  This is the case with your shutters, and this will generally reveal itself over time if you have chosen shutters made of cheap materials.

The way that manufacturers keep the prices down on shutters is by making them with cheap materials like poly or wood blends.  These materials will look fine for a time, but because they are ultimately exposed to the Las Vegas heat they will warp and crack in just a few years.  The way to avoid this problem is to only choose shutters which are made of basswood, a material that is known to withstand the abuse of constant sunlight far better than the cheaper woods or poly materials.  These shutters will cost more to manufacture, but will ultimately need less maintenance and replacement over the years.  Over the course of time, you will find that you will spend far more money replacing shutters that fall apart in the sun than simply installing the better ones initially.

There are other factors that add to the price of shutters that also help them to last longer in these types of climates.  For example, if an installer uses nails instead of screws to affix the frames to the walls, over time those nails will work their way loose and create gaps that light shows through. Onyx Vegas installers go even further, by placing an additional screw into the frame itself of the shutters.  This screw helps keep the frames tight and strong, and will extend the life span of the shutters as a result.  These are the little things that may seem excessive, but when your shutters last for the lifetime of a home instead of only a few years, you will then understand why we take that few extra minutes to do it the right way, instead of the easy way.

When you started the process of picking a company to install plantation shutters into your home, you probably started by looking at websites from companies that offer them.  You see the images of different styles of shutters that they offer, and you see photos of the installations they have done over the years.  These pictures are generally taken on the day of the install, and ultimately will all look very good as long as the photographer understands how to use a camera.  After seeing the different pictures that all look like different colored versions of the same product, you begin comparing the prices of the shutters based on as much information as you can get from the websites, and then narrow your choices down to the companies that are within your budget.  When you finally meet with the salesman and look at the samples, they will probably all look relatively the same to you, and you might make the mistake of simply choosing the cheapest company.  After all, shutters are shutters right?

In Las Vegas, the answer is no.  Shutters are not shutters across the board, and unfortunately Las Vegas is the type of climate that will completely destroy lesser quality materials over just a few years.  This means that if you are going to plan on keeping your shutters for the lifetime of your home (which most people do) then you are going to ultimately spend more money in the long run having the broken shutters replaced or fixed than you would if you simply bought the better quality ones in the first place.  With regards to shutters, the way that cheaper companies keep their prices lower is by using a poly material or a wood blend in order to manufacture a product that looks good but will probably warp and crack if exposed to heat over a period of time.  There is no way to avoid this with cheaper compounds, and in order to assure that the shutters you pay for last in the Las Vegas sun, you have to have them made from top quality basswood.  This material is more expensive than poly, but it is far tougher and will withstand the abuse of the Las Vegas sun more effectively.  In addition, the installers will need to take extra time doing the things that will help the shutters stay intact longer.  For example, if nails are used instead of screws to affix the shutters to your window frames, over time the nails will loosen and gaps will form.  It will take the installers less time to do the job, but ultimately it will cut years off the life of your shutters themselves.  These small elements make a slightly more expensive product and installation, but make all the difference in the long run.  Ultimately affordable shutters do not need to be cheap, and if you cut costs by using cheaper materials or installation techniques, your customer will end up paying more for them than if they just did it right the first time.

Everyone wants to get the best quality they can for the lowest prices, it is just human nature to not want to pay more than you have to for anything, no matter if it is the best quality that can be made or not.  One thing that is a balancing act is for manufacturers to create a quality product and still offer it at a good price, and as a result there are usually two types of products on the market in most industries, the cheap kind and the quality kind.  Because offering something for a low price can only be achieved by constructing it for an even lower price, we will usually see that things that are made to be sold for low prices are made of poorer quality materials of poorer quality labor.  It is simple math, if the ingredients cost more, then the price is going to be higher.  Issues will generally arise when two products look the same to the casual observer, and the only real way for a novice to tell the difference is to see how they age over time, or see the product in certain circumstances that would separate the quality from the cheap.  This is the case with plantation shutters, and unfortunately for many people the price is the main factor for making their decision.  In a harsh climate like Las Vegas, the quality of the materials of the shutters generally will only reveal itself over time.

In Las Vegas, the continual exposure to the harsh sun and extremely hot temperatures will warp and crack most wood blends and poly materials over time.  On the first day that they are installed, you will probably not notice much difference between poly shutters and actual basswood shutters, but what will happen is that over time the cheaper materials and building practices will reveal themselves.  Basswood shutters are made to not only look good but also for functionality over time, and will not warp or crack under even the most extreme temperatures.  In addition, higher quality companies will generally take extra steps in order to provide an installations that stands up to the test of time.  An example of this would be using screws instead of nails to affix the frames to your windows.  If installing with a nail gun, the installation might only take an hour for a typical home, but if using screws the same installation may take three hours.  Over time, the nails will work their way out of the walls and begin to loosen the gaps, allowing light and air to pass through cracks more easily.  They will also settle into a form that may not align up properly, and ultimately need to be replaced.  These little things are what makes a cheap shutter different than one that is affordable but good quality.  Onyx Vegas is both the manufacturer and the installer of our shutters, allowing us to cut the prices down where others cannot.  This is how we keep our shutters affordable, without compromising the quality and making them cheap.

For people that flip houses, adding value to a home as quickly and cheaply as possible is the goal.  The idea when flipping a house is to find one that needs work and then put that work in as cheaply as possible, upping the price that it can be sold for by a greater percentage than the price of the work.  House flippers are experts on adding value in a way that does not cost more than the value it brings, and a large amount of the work that is put into a flip will involve cosmetic corrections.  There is another version of adding value to a home that is not exactly the same idea as the things that get done by flippers.  For people who are interested in adding value to their home in a way that will remain over time, allowing you to live in your home and enjoy your improvements knowing that they are not decreasing in value as years go by.  When you upgrade your kitchen and then a few years go by, you have enjoyed it but will probably need to upgrade it again for a sale, due to the kitchen becoming dated again.  Bathrooms are generally the same way, where design trends dictate how much value something has for a few years.

One way to upgrade the value of your home in a way that will not lose value over time is to upgrade in functional ways.  This means things like upgrading the insulation in the walls in order to keep cool air inside longer, or upgrading the systems that will benefit the home owner.  One aspect that is both a design and visual upgrade that is also functional is the installation of plantation shutters.  These window coverings are built into the windows, and because of their clean and functional aspect they will not appear dated as style changes happen.  Curtains only have a design life span of a few years due to style changes, but shutters keep their design over time so they do not fluctuate the way curtains do.  They are also considered to be as part of the insulation system on a Las Vegas home as well because they can be closed to provide a solid barrier against heat buildup.  The heat on the inside of a window exposed to the sun in Las Vegas can raise the ambient temperatures of a room significantly, which makes your air conditioning work harder to maintain the temperatures it is set to.  This will cost home owners money over time, and ultimately the installation of plantation shutters will actually pay for themselves in savings on the cooling bills of the home.  Plantation shutters will always hold the value that you put them in for, as well as actually paying for themselves if you stay in the home long enough.  In addition to this, plantation shutters costs go up over time due to materials costing more, so installing them today will actually bring more value over the years.