The exterior shutters selected for the Lifespan House were custom made by Withers Industries, a company founded by Walter Withers in 1968 in Charlottesville. VA and relocated to Mt. Pleasant, SC in 1982. The shutters are crafted from pressure treated kiln dried Southern Yellow Pine and shipped ready to paint. This select high grade Southern Yellow Pine coupled with the critical redrying process allows the production of a truly furniture grade exterior product.
The yellow pine heartwood louvers are made up of individual slats. Although the louvers are not operable, these sturdy exterior shutters are functional as well as decorative and can be closed shut with a slide bolt from inside the house in case of a storm.
Shutter Dogs
Withers also offers a complete line of exterior hardware in historic styles and offsets to properly dress practically any window. Ornamental cast iron "shutter dogs" (the star below the shutter panel) serve to hold the panels back against the wall when the shutters are open. Not only do they add a note of historic authenticity but like the rest of the shutter hardware they are built to perform. The hinges are stamped raw steel with a zinc treatment. They come in a variety of offsets and depths to meet the needs of the application.
The placement of the shutters is historically accurate with the rail of the shutter set below the lock rail of the window ensuring that when the window is open there is plenty of room to activate the slide bolt. To correctly position the shutters during installation a quarter inch slat of wood is used as a spacer between the exterior sill and the base of the shutter.
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