Window Shutters in Woodford for Windows That Face the Green, a Parade or a Garden

Window shutters in Woodford come down to one question: who can see in, and from where? A house set back from the Green has a very different answer from a flat over a shop on George Lane, and a garden door at the back is different again. Our plantation shutters in Woodford are made to measure and fitted inside your window. They are solid panels with tilting slats, called louvres, and some people call them shutter blinds. We measure and fit them free across South Woodford and Woodford Green, and in the streets around them.

Window shutters for a Woodford house set back from the Green

If your front window looks onto the Green or a leafy road, privacy is often not the main worry. Light and view are. So full height shutters with louvres you can angle are usually the first style we suggest, because they let you shape the daylight and keep the outlook.

Redbridge’s appraisal of the Woodford Green and Woodford Wells conservation area describes large detached properties on The Green and Monkhams Lane, set back from the street in mature gardens. It also says the north Green has an open character with views in all directions, and that many roads away from the High Road feel like country lanes with mature hedges. A window like that is rarely stared into from the pavement, so the choice is about the light and the view more than about hiding from anyone. What it gets is low sun coming across open ground. That light can be strong.

For a front room like this, we look at:

• Louvre size. Wider louvres, such as 89mm or 114mm, show more of the view when open. The narrower 47mm and 63mm suit smaller windows.
• A mid-rail on tall panels, so the top and bottom louvres can be set differently.
• Where the open panels fold, so they do not block the part of the window you look out of most.

Our full height shutters page shows how the mid-rail works. If you want the lower half closed after dark and the top half open, tier on tier shutters do that too.

Which shutters suit a flat above a shop in South Woodford?

Café style shutters, or tier on tier, are usually the best fit for a flat over a parade. They cover the lower part of the window, where people on the pavement or at the bus stop can see in, and leave the top clear for daylight. Simple. Café style shutters are half height, fitted from the sill up.

South Woodford is a district centre, with shops and flats around George Lane and Woodford Broadway. Redbridge’s Woodford Broadway appraisal says the shops there were built with living accommodation above, and that the Edwardian parade is over three storeys with attics. The same document says some original sash windows survive on the Broadway, but many have been replaced with plastic casements. Redbridge’s borough study also notes that in the South Woodford and Snaresbrook area, apartments outnumber houses.

On a parade window we check:

• Whether the frame is a timber sash or a plastic casement, because that changes how the panels fix.
• How far the handles and any radiator sit into the room.
• How deep the sill is, and how much glass you want to keep clear.
• Who has to say yes: the freeholder or managing agent, or your landlord.

That last point matters most of all. Shutters are fixed into the frame or the wall around it, and leases and tenancies often say something about drilling. Redbridge’s selective licensing scheme also covers South Woodford ward. That is a matter for landlords of some rented homes, not for you. Licensing does not stop you asking. A written yes before you order saves trouble later. Traffic noise is a fair worry on these roads, so read how much shutters cut road noise before you expect too much.

How do shutters fit a bay on a 1930s semi in Woodford?

A normal three sided bay takes a separate set of panels on each face, so the whole bay opens and closes as one neat set. Woodford grew fast between the wars. One history of the area says that in the 1930s about 1,600 houses a year were being built in Woodford, many of them middle class semi detached homes. Redbridge’s characterisation study says interwar suburban housing is common across the borough.

That means a lot of Woodford front rooms have a bay with a plastic casement or an older timber window in it. Redbridge’s Woodford Broadway appraisal records bay windows on several of the early house types there, including a canted bay at No. 29 Monkham’s Drive. It also says the houses on the Broadway side are almost all two storey semis and detached homes.

For a bay like this, ask about:

• Tier on tier if the front faces the road and you want the lower half shut in the evening.
• Full height if the bay is quiet and you want one clean line of louvres.
• The depth of each side window, because the panels must clear the handles when they open.

Our guide to the best blinds for bay windows compares shutters with other options. If you are unsure between the two layouts, full height or tier on tier explains the difference.

Can window shutters go on a bow or many sided bay in Woodford Green?

Often yes. We do not decide from a photo. A bow is a curved bay and a corner bay has several flat faces, so each one gets measured on its own at the visit. Then we tell you plainly how the panels would sit, or that the window cannot take shutters.

The Woodford Green and Woodford Wells appraisal names a few of the unusual windows. It records a large bow window on Nos. 29 and 31 Mornington Road, a two storey corner bay at No. 323 High Road, and square projecting bays at Aston Court. Mornington Road itself is described as mostly large, detached family houses in late Victorian, Edwardian, Arts and Crafts and interwar styles. The appraisal also notes picture windows from the interwar period. These are not all the same shape, so no single ready made shutter would fit them all, and every set is made to the window it goes on.

At the visit we look at:

• How many faces the window has, and the angle where each one meets the next.
• Whether the recess is deep enough to hold shutters inside, or the panels sit on a frame around the window.
• The handles and catches, and any parts of the window that open.
• Whether the window is wide or tall enough to need a mid-rail.

Some windows cannot take shutters for technical reasons. When that happens, wooden Venetian blinds are the nearest alternative, and we say so on the day.