Crafting Your Own Louvered Window Shutters for Improved Home

Louvered window shutters are great for home improvement. People who are old school can easily tell you a hundred benefits of Louvered shutters. Also, even the most contemporary builders are fascinated by these window shutters and often recommend them to homeowners who do not mind a bit of rustic look.

Windows are all about aeration. Louvered window shutters will never disappoint you when aeration, light penetration and privacy protection are concerned. People often find the installation of such shutters pricey but if you can deal with the medium level of difficulty of craftsmanship pertaining to woodworks then you can save a lot of money by crafting your own Louvered shutters customized by yourself.

Materials required for constructing louvered window shutters:

Three types of saws (Mitre, circular and table).
Chisels.
Good quality hardwood or pinewood board (minimum 8 feet length).
Clamps (large and medium).
Power drill.
Measuring tape.
Woodworks glue.
Pencil.
Plunge router enabled with straight bits for spiral cutting (1/4” preferable).
Necessary items for stiles as well as rails pertaining to individual designs
and applications.
Router table.
Round-over bit (1/8” radius preferable).
Sandpaper.
Preferable paint and paintbrush.

Steps of Louvered window shutters construction:

Louvered window shutters

The first thing to do in this case is making the frame that comprises of the horizontal rails and the vertical stiles. Precise measurement is the key here and you cannot miss it even by a millimetre. The louvres need to be constructed in a way that they have at least 1/8” spaces at the top and the bottom of each. So, measure accordingly depending on how long and wide your window is while keeping the desired gaps in mind.
Cutting slats are the next step involved in this process. These vertical slats tale at least an inch of space vertically and hence the total surface area to be covered by the slats determine the number of slats. The slats move one fourth deep in the stiles and hence must be half an inch longer than the actual opening. The edges of the slats must be rounded and smooth.
Next, is cutting the mortises that must equal to half of thestockinthickness. The tenon joints should not be visible from outside and should be cut according to the measurements of mortises.
For creating the grooves that accommodate the louvres, a router should be used. In this case, also you have to keep the one-inch gap between each other and one fourth inch gap at the top as well as the bottom in mind. Once this is done clamping of stiles can be done.
The last step of constructing Louvered window shutters is assembling the louvres into the mainframe. The tenons must be glued inside the mortises for all the rails as quickly as possible. Slats must be assembled on stiles in the same manner. Long clamps will help you to put the stiles, rails and the entire framework together. Finally, when it is ready you can paint it and allow it to dry completely.

A word of caution:

Crafting Louvered window shutters is simple but is highly labour intensive and requires minimum 6-8 hours of work. Also, like any other woodwork, this one too requires some basic safety measures and a lot of fitness and strength. As the difficulty level here is medium hence you have to be comfortable, experienced and skilled to craft these shutters. Hence before you start constructing them make sure you are confident about your craftsmanship and you are also prepared for the job both mentally and physically.

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