Vinyl Shutter Replacement
I want to repaint my vinyl shutters and would like to remove them so I can prime and repaint on the ground. My shutters are attached with shutter locks and I found that I need to cut them to remove the shutters. Any ideas reattach the shutters with new shutter loks? Can I just re-drill the old hole to remove the old lock? Any other ideas? By shutter locks I am assuming you are talking about the reverse barbed button lock. Once you have removed the shutters, pull out the barbed part with a pair of pliers. Look in the wierd screw section of your hardware store or big box store. There are 1/4 x 3 long primed screws with an allen head insert. These are great for reinstalling the vinyl shutters. If the barb doesn't come out, no big deal, just re-drill the hole with a 3/16 bit down the middle of the plastic and install the screw. One word of caution, take a magic marker with you when you remove the shutters, and mark them with a sequence you can remember on the back side so you can reinstall them in the same place. As good as the installers were, they did not drill all of them in the same place. although this is not my post, I do want to ask if the reverse barb button lock you are talking about is plastic? The shutter locks on our shutters are nothing but large plastic screws. Are you saying yank the entire shutter away from the house? If so, isn't that going to damage the plastic shutter locks and the vinyl? We took our shutters off last summer to paint them. The only way we could figure get them off was to reach in behind the shutter and snip the head off of each lock, so we could not use them again. We ordered new shutter locks, but we had a heck of a time trying to get those things in!!! We only got 2 shutters up correctly where the locks went in all the way. The others have locks partially hanging out. I guess if I want them put up right, I may as well call someone who specializes in vinyl siding. Cut the shutter lock, behind the shutter to remove. If they were installed in to plywood, just push the piece in the wood into the wall, so you not have a hold to install your new shutter locks. If they are installed into brick or something similar, it gets to be a PITA and here's how I did them. After pulling the shutter off, I had to figure out get the rest of it out of the hole. What I did was to take a very thin drill bit and drill a hole in the center. Then, I screwed a screw into it, so I had something to grab on to to pull it out. When i went to reinstall, that's when I ran into a problem. The problem was that the hole got reamed out when I pulled the piece of shutter lock out. It wouldn't hold a new one, so here's what I did. I took some wood filler, that was suppose to be good for exterior usage. I then filled the hole in. After letting it set over night, I drilled the hole back out. This leave just enough filler still in there to make a tight fit. And they will hold. I've got high winds here and I haven't had a single problem with them. Good Luck!! Depending on the backing (OSB, etc.) I have had pretty good success after removing the barbs (which suck at best), by using large head #10 screws then painting the heads. These screws aren't located in the regular screw aisle, but if you are in one of the big box stores, look for the drawers of miscellaneous pins, screws, delrins, etc. You will find them in there. If your backing is brick, etc. then I do like joe and lay in some two part epoxy in the hole, then insert the screw, holding it long enough for it to cure ( a couple of minutes) . One word of caution, number your shutters when you take them down, so you can put them back up in the same order. Some installers arbitrarily drill their holes, and they may not all be in the same place. We re-numbered the shutters when we took them down to paint them. Our house is vinyl sided over wood. No brick here. Did you prime those #10 screws before painting to match the shutters? Actually, yes, and took a shutter with me to the paint store and had the color matched to a quart of paint to paint the heads (you won't have to do that, of course if you are painting the shutters in the first place, obviously) after installation and touch up any boogers on the shutters. My neighbor and I were both about to paint our plastic shutters and we had a conversation on this subject. This led to a Google search and thus finding this thread. Where do you find the replacement shutter locks? I went to the local Big Name Hardware store (don't know if I am allowed to say the name) and they did not have them. Do I have to order them some where? All help is greatly appreciated. The big orange store will have them in the specialty nut bolt section. You know, the one with the drawers. They are hex driven with a flat head about 3/4 round and have threads, and are about 3 long. Be sure to get an allen wrench for installation, you'll need one. guys, ya'll are complicating this. You can use exterior screws. Cut the lock off flush with the wall behind the shutter, and the remaining part acts as an anchor. I dont use locks, but i keep the ones that come with new shutters to use as anchors. Only problem with screws, the head may pull through the vinyl in a strong wind. That is why I use the larger headed screws. And, yes, the original stub can be used as a holder. And welcome to the forums, Carolina Junkma, hope to hear from you more. Where do you find the replacement shutter locks? I went to the local Big Name Hardware store (don't know if I am allowed to say the name) and they did not have them. Do I have to order them some where? All help is greatly appreciated.[/QUOTE] WV Mountaineer, if you want the original plastic shutter locks that are made specifically for hanging shutters, the big orange store does have them in stock where you find the shutters. At the other big name hardware store, you have to special order them. Hope this helps. You can get the barbed shutter locks at HD. GO to the millwork department and they sell them by the bag. They should also already have the colors in their paint computer. Have them look under the EMCO colors. They are the same as the ones for the Anderson(EMCO) storm doors. A word of caution to anyone chiseling off Shutter-Loks: Wasps often live behind shutters. You don't want to be swatting them off of yourself with a chisel in your hand. Trust me on this. Wear protective clothing - and drop the chisel if necessary! Don't I know that! I think there was a nest behind every shutter we took down last year when we painted. Of course we removed all of the nests without getting stung. Somehow these wasps are making their way inside our house through our vinyl replacement windows. I don't know where to look for any little places that they may be coming in. The screens aren't torn either. I even find them between the outside screen and window when the window is closed. We usually have our bedroom window open at night in the summer. One night there was something crawling on me. I turned on the light and sure enought, it was a wasp I purchased an old house (1929) that we are in the process of restoring. ( a 3 year process). We want to put in shutters in the living room dining room. We had the floors restained to a dark chocolate, Kitchen cabinets in a dark redwood chocolate, interior doors to a dark chocolate, all the window blinds are done in the dark chocolate stained color in the rest of the house. Now, the living dining room still have the dark floors and all the windows have the white thick molding trim around the windows and floors (just like the other windows). Can I go the dark chocolate shutters in the living dinning rooms or should I go white shutters. (These rooms are too small to go curtins). My gut tells me white shutters; however, the entire house is done with the dark wood. Do you need a picture? L.A. Originally Posted by LAOReilly all the windows have the white thick molding trim around the windows and floors (just like the other windows). You say the entire house is done in dark wood. Yet you also mentioned all the windows and baseboard? are white. If that's the case I think the shutters should also be white, just like the window trim. I agree with the white on the shutters. You will tire too easily from the too dark color that exists. The white will give your eyes a break.
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