Ultraclear: the shutter mechanism you cannot see

Traditional shutters connect the rod to each louvre with small staples or nails. Over years of daily use those connections work loose. Once they do, the louvres lose tension, stop sitting flush, and become progressively harder to open and close evenly.

In a coastal or humid environment the same fixings corrode, which accelerates it and can stain the panel. At that point the shutter still looks fine from a distance but no longer works properly, and repairing it means dismantling the panel.

Our Thermalite shutters use a concealed mechanism instead. The linkage is built into the panel — a reinforced louvre pivot rather than an external rod and connector.

Two consequences:

• Nothing across the view. With the louvres open you get the whole window, uninterrupted, instead of a rod down the middle of it.
• Nothing to work loose. There are no staple or nail connections to corrode or pull out, which is what the mechanism was designed to prevent.

It is also why our shutters are cord-free, which matters if there are small children in the house — see child safety and blind cords.

One thing worth knowing, because it is the only real care instruction: use two hands.

Place one hand a few louvres above the other and open or close them in unison. Operating a panel one-handed puts strain on the mechanism, which is the one way to shorten its life. Full instructions are on the product care page.