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...
http://tinyurl.com/7yap3
Any thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!
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.
On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 20:04:23 GMT, "Don Sforza" <[email protected]>
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!
>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.
On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 07:23:55 +0800, Old Nick <[email protected]>
wrote:
> 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 true.
On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 16:45:18 GMT, igor <[email protected]> vaguely
proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:
remove ns from my header address to reply via email
DAMHIKT, friggit! <G>
>How true.
"Chuck" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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 $900+, and the pre-fab vinyl shutters at
> Lowes don't fit our windows (height-wise).
>
> So I'm considering either building some from scratch, or potentially
> modifying the vinyl ones from Lowes. I wonder how hard it would be to
> cut off the top 'stile' from the shutter, shorten the rails a bit and
> remove some slats, then re-attach the top style...
>
> Here's a link to the product at Lowes...
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7yap3
> Any thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!
>
Woddsmith No. 151 (Feb/March 2004) shows everything you ever wanted to know
on building Louvered Shutters. I'm not sure what plantation shutters are. At
one time, I thought they were just louvered shutters with wider slats.
Pat Barber <[email protected]> wrote:
>Think "really large ventian blinds"....
... "in a frame that opens and closes like any other shutter, and
which tilt, but do not go up and down like venetian blinds".
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.
Uh, substitute Woodsmith for Shopsmith.
AAAD (age activated attention deficit) . . . . sigh
"Lowell Holmes" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:sb%td.1956$Zn6.65@trnddc08...
>I thought that might be the case.
>
> Then the Shopsmith articles should provide all the info needed, including
> the required jigs to assemble them.
>
> :-)
>
> "alexy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Pat Barber <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>Think "really large ventian blinds"....
>>
>> ... "in a frame that opens and closes like any other shutter, and
>> which tilt, but do not go up and down like venetian blinds".
>> --
>> Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked
>> infrequently.
>
>
Here's one
http://www.gerryandkaren.com/plantation_shutters.htm
they used to be free as I recall but....things change.
Bob S.
"Chuck" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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...
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7yap3
> Any thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!
>
Chuck wrote:
> 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.
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
--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto/solar.html
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
"Chuck" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> 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...
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7yap3
> Any thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!
>
Chuck wrote:
> 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...
>
> http://tinyurl.com/7yap3
> Any thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!
>
Well, the site doesn't like firefox but if these are inside
shutters take a look at
http://home.insightbb.com/~sepost/Shutters/shutters.html
I thought I had another shutter building link but I must have
saved in a not currently obvious location.
joe
"Chuck" wrote in message
> 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...
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.
http://www.gerryandkaren.com/plantation_shutters.htm
Here 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.
--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04
I thought that might be the case.
Then the Shopsmith articles should provide all the info needed, including
the required jigs to assemble them.
:-)
"alexy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Pat Barber <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>Think "really large ventian blinds"....
>
> ... "in a frame that opens and closes like any other shutter, and
> which tilt, but do not go up and down like venetian blinds".
> --
> Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked
> infrequently.
"Chuck" <[email protected]> wrote in message
: Any thoughts on building or modifying would be much appreciated!
:
I may be totally 'off-base' here, but if 'plantation shutters' are any thing
like louvered bifold doors (in construction only), here are some swinging
doors that I've constructed from an old set (pics in
alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking - Subject: Swinging Doors). It really
wasn't difficult to dis-assemble the doors, just doweled and glued... smack
it with a mallet...
Rick