Build or Modify Plantation Shutters?

[Chuck]

Does anyone have any experience in building or modifying plantation shutters? We're looking at using them in four windows in our house. The custom made shutters cost $900+, and the pre-fab vinyl shutters at Lowes don't fit our windows (height-wise).

So I'm considering either building some from scratch, or potentially modifying the vinyl ones from Lowes. I wonder how hard it would be to cut off the top 'stile' from the shutter, shorten the rails a bit and remove some slats, then re-attach the top style...

Here's a link to the product at Lowes...

thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!

[Morris Dovey]

Chuck...

Where are you (climate info wanted) and what experience and tools do you have and are comfortable using?

[Chuck]

I'm in North Carolina, so we definitely see some humidity variances from summer to winter. The shutters will be in a shaded, east-facing window.

I consider myself an amateur craftsman- I have built several pieces of furniture and other items. I have all the standard hand-held power tools along with a table saw and a router table. Thanks for your thoughts.

[Morris Dovey]

If you know how to use the tools you have, you shouldn't have any significant difficulties. Consider it a good excuse to add to your clamp and router bit collections. (-8

[Swingman]

At the price in your url, it may well be worth throwing away $60 just to see how reworking the vinyl plantation shutters would turn out.

As an alternative, this guy sells plans, and a video, IIRC ... may be worth checking out.

in Houston, the average window treatment with plantation shutters is about $1K each. I saved the virtually new wooden ones that were in the old house we tore down to build the current one. I had to re-work most of them myself to make them fit the new windows, but managed to do that with seven of them, for a considerable savings.

During the process of re-fitting, I was amazed at how little there was to them, and how easy they would be to build. These were top dollar units and they were held together with miter joints and sheet rock screws. I would look for a commercial source for the slats if possible, but it would be interesting to see how the guy with the above plans handles the slats.

Where there's a will, there's a way ... Good luck.

[Don Sforza]

IIRC, when we installed them at our place (three bedrooms), having them custom built and installed by a pro (I am sometimes tapemeasure challenged) was a no-brainier. Shop around. We were fortunate to find a guy who had never done them before, but was willing to take a chance... at no charge to us if he screwed up.

Gave me the time to make other sawdust in the shop and not worry abut something as potentially disastrous as making them myself. Took the same approach with new cabinet doors. It was easier to order them (Rockler) and install them than other options. I'd still be making door number 8 or so... out of 25!!! This way SWMBO has a nice neat kitchen for the Holiday's and I get brownie points.

Don

[Joe Gorman]

Well, the site doesn't like firefox but if these are inside shutters take a look at

thought I had another shutter building link but I must have saved in a not currently obvious location. joe

[Sean Dinh]

[BobS]

Here's one

used to be free as I recall but....things change.

Bob S.

[Old Nick]

On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 20:04:23 GMT, "Don Sforza" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Crikey! You're one of those snaggy, wimpy _sensible_ DIYers. I spit on you! You are a shame to all of us hopeless DIY addicts who spend 3 days making a stuff-up of what the pros can do well in an hour! By the

20th door you would have been halfway good at it, and had the satisfaction of knowing that if you are _ever_ asked again, you will only have to build ten doors before you get the hang of it again, 5 years from now.

How can you _progress_ in your search for true self, unless you do it as hard a way as poissible. Boy!

[pray4surf]

Rick

[Lowell Holmes]

Woddsmith No. 151 (Feb/March 2004) shows everything you ever wanted to know on building Louvered Shutters. I'm not sure what plantation shutters are. At one time, I thought they were just louvered shutters with wider slats.

[Pat Barber]

Think "really large ventian blinds"....

Lowell Holmes wrote:

Woodsmith No. 151 (Feb/March 2004) shows everything you ever wanted to know on building Louvered Shutters. I'm not sure what plantation shutters are. At one time, I thought they were just louvered shutters with wider slats.

[alexy]

... "in a frame that opens and closes like any other shutter, and which tilt, but do not go up and down like venetian blinds".

[Lowell Holmes]

I thought that might be the case.

Then the Shopsmith articles should provide all the info needed, including the required jigs to assemble them.

:-)

[Lowell Holmes]

Uh, substitute Woodsmith for Shopsmith.

AAAD (age activated attention deficit) . . . . sigh

[igor]

How true.

[Old Nick]

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 16:45:18 GMT, igor vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

DAMHIKT, friggit!