cs6000, I feel the same about the vinyl, wood, and composite. We are looking mostly at composite because they have a nicer look than the vinyl and last longer than wood. Money is tight and we don't want to break the bank on shutters. Does anyone know if there is a way to mount vinyl shutters with real hardware, rather than just screwing them into the side of the house? If we could use vinyl with real hardware, that might give us a better look than just going with vinyl screwed into the side of the house, but at the same time save a ton of money. I am pretty sure we will go with a composite shutter, but it would be nice to have a second option if money becomes more of an issue.

Thank you all! Full disclosure, this is my parents home. Iam a home builder who focuses on new construction and I am inexperienced with historical preservation which is why Iam here. Slateberry, thanks for the recommendation but I dont feel its quite the right fit for a consultant. I could probably get an exact match if me or my parents wanted to but budget and time are limited, its not a famous house, and the desire to be perfectly, historically correct is not there. We are after more of a balance for less maintenance in the future. Casey, thanks so much for referencing the international style. Also good to hear that my thinking of going with a clad product is recommended by someone with so much more design and historical experience. The existing color is a very close match to most companies standard dark brown color offering. Brickeyee, are you really recommending vinyl here or saying you think vinyl windows are longer lasting than clad products? I probably wouldnt go with it just from the color restrictions alone but my thinking was that clad products are longer lasting than vinyl. I thought the expansion/contraction characteristics made the welded or fused corners fail(even the high end lines). I suppose that the newer fiberglass FG clad products would suffer from the same weaknesses? Given that FG and glass have nearly identical expansion and contraction rates so the joint sealant should last longer... I think 10 years would be the absolute max life span given the windows exposure and would suffer from failing sealants as well. At least by pulling the windows out frame and all I could build a durable sloping sill pan which would protect the framing below. I am theorizing that even a clad product would have a longer lifespan with no maintenance needs as compared to painted wood that would need stripping and painting every 10 years or less. The clad product's joints might fail but the framing below would be protected and I imagine the wood below the cladding could dry out well enough between wetting events or if not the cladding would hold everything together for a very long time. My position is obviously solidifying but would love to hear other opinions.

When you said shutters & NH, Beech River is the name I remembered from years ago on OHJ. I've never bought from them, but if I remembered the name from 15 years ago, I must have been impressed! Keep us posted. Here is a link that might be useful: Beech River

Something like a "spar" polyurethane, particularly one that you find a big box store, is probably not the best choice. You might get better results being sheltered, but the normal life of these in an exposed environment is measured in weeks. See the link below. But definitely clean and scrape off flaking finish before you start. If you wipe down with mineral spirits, you will get a good preview of what it will look like with a coat of finish on it. Here is a link that might be useful: some options