Guide for installing Custom Exterior Shutters
Installing your custom exterior shutters yourself can save a ton of money. I enjoy it so I’d do it myself anyways. I’m going to tell you the best I can how to install your window shutters yourself. It’s very simple and usually is as simple as 6 screws per shutter. OK here we go,
What you’ll need
1. Level- Any size level will work, I like to use a short 1ft level.
2. Tape Measure- A small tape measure is fine, a ruler is ok too. Nothing big here we’re just going to make some marks on our shutters.
3. Pencil- All we’re doing with this is making some quick marks on our shutters and on the house.
4. Drill and bit- You’re going to need a decent drill to make our holes for the screws. The bit you use should be THE SAME SIZE AS THE SHAFT OF THE SCREWS and NOT THE SAME SIZE AS THE THREADS ON THE SCREW. If you have a block house you’re going to need masonary bits, any custom shutter hardware store should have them. And by the way if you have a block house you’ll go through a lot of bits. Plan on a bit per pair or two. For vinyl siding and wood siding houses, wood bits are fine.
5. Custom Shutter Hardware- This will usually come with your shutters, and only consist of screws unless your installing custom operable shutters in which case you’ll get some brackets too. We’re not going to get into that since I think it should be done by a professional, since they’re typically used in hurricane regions. If not feel free to read your instructions you can request from most suppliers, and follow the same steps for those that we will be covering on marking and installing our new shutters.
6. Caulk and Caulking Gun- Any kind of exterior caulking should be fine. Check the label in the “bonds to” section and make sure it sticks to all the materials we’re using. Clear caulking will be best. Any caulking gun that fits your tube is fine. All of this can be found at the local hardware store.
7. Step or extension ladder- Only climb ladders if you’re comfortable with it and your ladder is safe. I do not condone using ladders if you’re not completely comfortable with heights or the proper use of your ladder.
That’s it now let’s put our custom exterior shutters on the house!
1. *skip this step if your shutters came with holes already in them. Lay out each of your shutters on the ground or floor, and get your pencil and tape measure ready. Depending on how many screws your window shutter calls for, we’re going to make our marks so we can drill out holes for our screws, we don’t just drill our screws into our shutters because they will break. You want a mark in each corner, and typically centered on each side. You want to stay in from the edge usually around an inch, if we’re too close to the edge we will crack it. Make sure all of your marks are spaced evenly of coarse so it looks good. Now take your drill and bit, remember what we talked about earlier with sizes, and drill your holes nice and gently so we don’t splinter or crack them.
2. Set up your ladder so your comfortable, and put one of your shutters up against the side of your window, nice and tight, if your windows are a little cock eyed we can put our small level on it and adjust it to our liking. Holding the shutter in place you need to mark the house through each hole on your shutter with your pencil. Or measure from the window with your tape measure to each hole left to right, or right to left, and make a small mark on the window at the same height as your screw holes. take your shutter down and measure from the window to your first hole and make a mark. Then use your level from the first mark to make your second so you know your exterior shutters will be level.
3. Now you can put your shutter down and go get your drill and bit. Drill a hole nice and straight into each one of your marks, it doesn’t have to be as deep as our screw is long because this is just to get it started pretty much.
4. .Take your caulking and cut the tip at an angle to be the same size as the screw, poke the hole in the tip and put it in your gun. You should have your caulking gun with you if you’re on a ladder, typically they come with a hook for this purpose, and do this in combination step 5. We need to do this part fast enough that our caulk doesn’t dry on us because we’re going to screw our shutters in while its wet to make a watertight seal. Fill the holes you drilled on your house with caulking first. This will seal our hole into the house when we put our screw in. Now we need a dab of caulking right under the head of the screw, this will create a water tight seal where our screw meets our shutters as well. I personally like to stick the entire screw right into the tip of the caulking tube and cover it, even after I fill the hole on the house.
5. Now simply put your shutter in place and put your screws in! Don’t sink your screws too far because you can break your shutters. You don’t want to create any kind of a dip because your screw is in too much. Stop right when the bottom of your screw head is touching the shutter nice and flush. Simply wipe off the excess caulking and you’re done! Mission accomplished.
Repeat this process with each of your custom exterior shutters and turn your home into a masterpiece with your name written all over it. I hope this helps out a lot. Comments welcome!
I came across this video on You Tube and it’s an absolute must see if you’re installing your shutters yourself. It’s a great Do it yourself video. It’s by Ask The Builder. The title of the video is “exterior shutters”.
There’s also a whole bunch of related videos on that page as well. Here you go. Exterior Shutters You Tube
Here’s the video itself but like i said the related videos on that page are great. Hope this helps everyone!
Also here’s a link to my squidoo lens, this can help out a lot! Squidoo lens- Custom Exterior Shutters