Why Cedar Shutters Are BestCedar is the best wood for constructing shutters because it is strong, light and won’t rot. And because it is so porous, paint penetrates the surface and won’t peel. Shutters have been made from a variety of materials, both modern and varied wood species. Rot resistant woods such as white oak, teak or mahogany are heavy and tend to cause shutter-sag over time. Most other woods either rot or twist and crack during prolonged exterior exposure. Then there’s the modern materials often celebrated as maintenance-free or everlasting. If they’re painted steel or aluminum, they will begin to oxidize within ten years, or even less in a salt air environment. Plastic, which will last a thousand years buried in the ground, breaks down when exposed to sunlight and weather. And if they need to be refurbished, good luck. They’ll be brittle and won’t take kindly to new paint without peeling. Furthermore, if you’re looking for sizes and styles that work both functionally and architecturally … forget it! Molded and metal shutters are generally based on two standard layouts and sizes approximate to your window sizes. They simply won’t work and won’t look real.Vixen Hill uses the same superior joinery techniques that have been proven through the centuries. Wooden pegs and “blind” pocket mortise connections are just a few ways Vixen Hill ensures that your shutters will last.Avoid shutters that use glues and metal fasteners because they eventually fail. Glues dry out or break down though chemical reactions while metal fasteners experience a break-down between the threads and the wood grain. This can result in either loose joints or catastrophic failure.Buy shutters with interlocking wooden parts if you want them to last. Though Vixen Hill and other manufacturers use glues to make raised panels, nowhere else does it rely on it for strength. Vixen Hill makes shutters that endure for generations.No other shutter manufacturer mills the world’s finest grain cedar from raw cants. Vixen Hill starts with old growth tree trunk cuttings, then band-saws them for best grain orientation. The planks are then trimmed and air-dried to make the wood stable so it won’t ever twist or crack.Most other shutter manufacturers rely on lumber from lumberyards and have no control over grain orientation and density. There’s flat grain and vertical grain. There’s wide grain and tight grain. There’s coastal cedar and inland cedar. Vixen Hill uses tight vertical grain old growth costal cedar for truly superior shutters. If the shutter isn’t perfect, it isn’t Vixen Hill.All things need occasional care including cedar shutters. Every few years, depending on exposure, they should be washed with a dilute Clorox solution. This cleans off dirt while killing mold and bacteria that can make wood rot. The reward will be cedar shutters that outlast any other shutters of any other material.We’ve all heard of shutters lasting over 100 years. Did you ever wonder how they did it? Chances are homeowners took care of their shutters because they were expensive and they didn’t want to buy them again. They bought shutters that had proven their worth and didn’t fall for the new modern “quick fix”. If you recall the plastics or metals you’ve known over the years you’ll recall the day you replaced them. But for the Vixen Hill shutter, with a little maintenance, you’ll never recall the day you needed to replace them.