Shutter Installation in Wilmington, DE

Decorative shutters are fixed to the wall beside the window and never close. They still look right only when they look as if they could: each one the full height of the window and about half its width, so the pair would cover the glass if it swung shut. A shutter that is too short or too narrow for its window is the mismatch people notice from the sidewalk without knowing why.

A working shutter hangs on hinges, with the pin side, called a pintle, set into the window casing or the masonry and a strap or hinge on the shutter that drops over it. Open, it is held against the wall by a pivoting holdback, known as a shutter dog. Because a working pair has to close over the window, it is sized to the actual opening, and the hinges have to line up top to bottom, or the shutter binds and sags. If you want shutters that close, raise it at the visit.

A shutter works loose when its fasteners were only ever holding the siding, when the holes have stripped out after years of wind, or when the trim behind it has gone soft. Re-hanging means taking it down, identifying which one it was, and fastening it back into sound material. The casing and wall trim behind it are checked for rot, since a shutter refastened into soft wood only works loose again.

On brick, shutters are fastened with masonry anchors in drilled holes, and where the layout allows, the holes go into the mortar joints, which are easier to fill later than the face of a brick. On wood siding, the fastener has to reach the sheathing or framing behind the board. Vinyl siding needs more care, because it expands and contracts with the weather and is hung loose on purpose. A shutter screwed down hard through vinyl pins the siding in place, and in summer heat that pinned panel can buckle. The fastener goes through to the wall behind, without clamping the siding against it.

Working shutters add one more check: the casing or masonry has to be sound enough to support the weight of a shutter hanging from its hinges and swinging in the wind.

On a vinyl-sided colonial around Wilmington, the shutters may be decorative ones screwed to the wall beside each window. A replacement set has to cover the old footprint. Siding that sat behind a shutter for years kept its original color while the rest faded, and a smaller replacement leaves that outline and the old screw holes in plain sight.

So the old pair is measured before it comes down, and the new set is chosen at that size or a little larger. Where the style you want only comes narrower, the visit is the time to say so, because the faded outline is easier to plan around than to hide once it shows.