"How Should I Support My Shutters?"

I'm always inspired to see the projects that other handy people come up with, so I was really intrigued by a question that landed in my inbox.

Some background...

My brother-in-law, Josh, has a home in South Carolina in hurricane country. During the most recent hurricane scare, he found himself screwing bits of plywood over his windows, straight through the vinyl siding.

Luckily the hurricane passed him by, but the experience of putting holes in his siding was so painful that he decided to install shutters on his home.

After pricing shutters, Josh decided to build them himself, and I'm really impressed by his skills. (Hey Josh, if you ever want to quit your day job and move to Asheville, I bet we can find you some projects to do around here!)

Now for the question...

The shutters are made from interlocking floorboards, which is a great idea because it makes the boards easy to join.

They're already braced on the front to hold the boards together. Josh also plans to brace his shutters on the back to keep them from buckling. His question is:
"Should the braces be horizontal or diagonal?"

I don't think you need a diagonal brace, since that's for keeping it from racking out of square, and I don't think that will be a problem with the interlocking boards.

However, adding horizontal pieces on the back would help strengthen the shutter. Since you already have braces on the front side, you probably don't need additional supports on the back. But I believe in building things to be super strong, so go for it!

If you've got a tricky question about a home repair, whether in Asheville or anywhere else, leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer it. And if you can't fix it yourself, I'm here to help.

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