Why many people choose aluminium over timber or PVC?

• Cost: Timber is an expensive material and shutters are very labour intensive to produce.

• Maintenance: Timber shutters need to be sanded, oiled, repainted, or revarnished regularly to maintain their appearance and stop them from deteriorating in the weather.

• Pests: Timber is vulnerable to termites, pests, and ants.

• Durability: Timber can rot, warp, splinter, and crack.

• Combustibility: Timber shutters can create a severe fire hazard. Encasing a building in timber shutters in a bushfire-prone area is a risk.

• It’s plastic: PVC is made from petroleum, making it environmentally unfriendly. PVC is difficult to recycle and ends up in landfill, where it can leach harmful chemicals into the environment.

• Resilience: PVC is highly susceptible to UV rays; it warps, cracks, and degrades over time.

• Toxicity: PVC is toxic. Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, has been described as a known carcinogen by the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. It creates and releases one of the most toxic chemicals – dioxin and contains dangerous chemical additives including phthalates, lead, cadmium, and organotins. These volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can leach out or evaporate into the air over time, especially when heated and cause long-term health problems.

• Strength: PVC isn’t strong. It will sag and twist under its own weight.

Choosing a material with sustainability in mind is paramount. Aluminium is economical, safe and ecologically sensible.

• Maintenance: Aluminium shutters require little to no maintenance.
• Resilience: The ultimate weather resistors, aluminium won’t corrode, discolour, warp, splinter, peel, rot, go mouldy, fade or suffer insect infestations.
• Strength: Very lightweight and yet extremely strong. Aluminium is hard-wearing and very versatile.
• Non-combustible: Aluminium is a uniquely fireproof material. This is because it has a natural oxide layer that prevents the metal from reacting with oxygen and igniting.
• Sustainability: Aluminium is an environmentally friendly choice as it is 100% recyclable.