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How Difficult Are DIY Shutters?
Doing home improvement projects on your own in Dover is a lot easier than it used to be. With resources easily available to walk you through every step, a lot of projects that used to be hard are now very doable.
There are outliers, though – jobs that may be inconvenient, time-consuming, or just too difficult to do on your own. One job that may belong to that category is installing DIY plantation shutters.
These are just a couple of the problems that may arise when you try to put in shutters as a DIY job.
Measuring Your Windows
Although it may seem easy at the start, getting the precise window measurements for plantation shutters can be very tricky. As a member of our team likes to say, “There are a thousand wrong ways to measure windows, but only one right way.” There’s a good amount of differences between individual windows that can affect how you should measure for shutters.
Do you know if your shutters need to be on an outside or inside mount? What’s the thickness of the frame of the shutters you’re looking at and how far into the window jamb should it need to sit? What kind of frame is best for tilt-in windows, swinging windows or glass doors?
All these factors can change what size of shutters you’ll need and what frame you pick. By extension, that changes how you need to measure your windows.
DIY Shutter Buying
The next problem area for DIY shutters can pop up during the buying process. Just like the variation in windows, there’s a lot of variation in shutters, and if you’re on your own, it’s a common mistake to buy the wrong thing. Here are a few easy to make mistakes if you’re a DIYer:
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Purchasing shutters made of the wrong material. For example, buying real wood shutters for a space in your home that needs to have a waterproof window treatment.
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Picking a shutter configuration that doesn’t let you open or close your window all the way.
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Ordering the wrong type of shutter frame, especially for unique windows like in sliding glass doors.
In addition, there can be some added confusion about certain shutter terms. Working with shutter experts helps avoid any confusion, so you get exactly what you think you’re getting when you buy your shutters.
DIY Shutter Installation
Where DIY shutters can become most difficult is trying to install them, as you might have guessed.
There are a few reasons it’s hard – first, shutter installation is a precise procedure, and a tiny mistake in measuring at the start or in hanging a bracket can ruin the whole thing. Shutters can also be physically hard to maneuver on your own; depending on the material and your window’s location, lifting a shutter can be strenuous and in certain scenarios hazardous.
The majority of shutter DIYers are unaware that it’s pretty typical for shutters to not fill out the whole window frame exactly. This is mainly due to the fact that most window frames aren’t perfectly square. Installing the shutter flush to one edge of the window could force the entire shutter to be crooked and make gaps. Needing to caulk a ¼ or ½inch gap is common with shutter installations, and if you’re solo a caulking job could be outside your expertise.
Finally, when you install DIY shutters, you don’t have anything to fall back on. If a shutter company installs your shutters for you, they’ll typically guarantee the product and installation with a warranty. However if something goes awry when you DIY, you’re on your own if there’s any damage to your shutter or to your window.
