How to Install Aluminum Siding Shutters

Shutters were used for hundreds of years providing ventilation and light into man-made structures. Shutters are now more decorative than functional. Installation is easy because there are no working hinges. This project takes one day, and may only take a few hours, depending on the number of windows.

Modern shutters are more decorative than functional.

Step 1

Choose your shutters. Measure your windows’ height and width. The shutters should be as high as the windows and half the width, so divide the window’s width by two. Choose a color that coordinates with your home’s color. The shutters’ color may not match the house’s color, but should accentuate the house’s color. Dark- red shutters on a house with powder-gray siding stands out and calls attention to the house’s delicate color.

Step 2

Lay the shutter on a worktable. You will drill into the shutters, so laying a piece of scrap plywood beneath the shutter protects the worktable.

Step 3

Find the shutter’s horizontal center by dividing its width by two. Measure 1 1/2 inches down from the shutter’s top and measure half the distance of the shutter’s width, starting from the left edge. Mark this spot in the center of the top shutter rail with chalk.

Step 4

Drill a hole through the shutter in the center of the mark you made. The hole should be one-quarter inch wide.

Step 5

Measure 1 1/2 inches up from the shutter’s bottom and measure half the distance of its width starting from the left edge. Mark this spot in the bottom shutter rail’s center with chalk.

Step 6

Drill a hole one-quarter inch wide through the shutter in the center of the mark you made.

Step 7

Lay a yardstick over the shutter with the ends touching the holes you drilled. Mark the middle of the center rail with chalk, using the yardstick as a guide so that the mark falls directly between the two holes you drilled.

Step 8

Drill a hole one-quarter inch wide through the shutter in the chalk mark’s center.

Step 9

Have a partner hold the shutter up to the house in the position to the window’s side where you are installing the shutter. Lay a level on the shutter’s ensuring that the shutter is level.

Step 10

Drill a one-quarter inch hole through the holes you made on the shutter into the siding. Stop as soon as the bit clears the siding and do not drill into the house’s wall.

Step 11

Use a screwdriver, not a power drill, and screw the shutter into the holes you drilled. Use the painted screws that came with the shutter. Do not insert the screws too tightly or you will bend the shutter.

Step 12

Repeat this procedure for every shutter you wish to install on the house, but use a T-square stretched across one shutter to the other to find the position of the second shutter at each window. This way, you know that the two shutters are positioned level with each other.

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