If you’re looking for a DIY home improvement project that will add value and curb appeal to your home, then consider installing vinyl shutters on your home! You might just be surprised at how much they add to your home. Below, you’ll find a step-by-step guide for how to hang shutters on brick.
This post / project has been six months in the making. Six months.
It should not take an average person six months to get shutters installed on their home.
But apparently, we’re not average. We ran into a few hiccups.
Last week, I revealed our new front yard landscape makeover. We went from this:
To this:
Mid-America Shutters provided me with shutters for our home. However, opinions and installation struggles are 100% mine. This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
One of the big changes there besides the landscaping was the replacement of our old windows and shutters.
Yes, we still have to get the hideous green painted over, but it takes time, y’all. And money. 😉
Now windows, that’s not a DIY job – not for us anyway. The shutters though, I was pretty confident we could tackle. We had discussed painting the old louvered ones, but I really wanted a paneled shutter and seriously, who wants to paint all those louvers anyway? Not me.
We went with standard raised panel shutters from Mid-America.
I knew the classic style wouldn’t date easily and it would also go well with our brick house exterior.
For the color, we opted for Midnight Blue. I wanted something with a little color that would also go well with the brick, the beige-grey window trim and the white windows. Midnight Blue fit that bill perfectly. We’re also planning to paint our garage doors this color to bring it around to that side of the house too.
Eventually, all the green trim will be replaced with that beige-grey window trim color as well, so it will all go nicely together. Mid-America also offers lots of different length options in their shutters, which was great for us since we have both tall and short windows. The finish is supposed to stand up really well over time too, which was a must for us since our home gets so much direct sunlight.
So let’s talk about the vinyl shutter installation. This was where we ran into some issues – not the fault of the shutters at all, but, how should I put this, installer error. 😉
How to Install Shutters on Brick
Tools and Supplies Needed:
- Shutters – you can see the full selection that Mid-America offers here. These are the ones we used.
- Hammer Drill and 1/4″ Masonry Drill Bit – unless you have soft brick and mortar or just some serious brute force, then you’re gonna need this tool.
- Regular Drill (Corded or Battery Powered) and 1/4″ Regular Drill Bit
- Marker or Pen
- Level
- Shutter-Lok Fasteners – these come with every Mid-America shutter.
- Hammer
*It’s also important to note that this job is best done with two people.
Steps
Step 1
Remove your old shutters. Que the first hiccup for us.
When we went to remove our old shutters, we discovered that nearly all of the screw heads on the old shutters were stripped. So, we had to pry the old shutters off, then twist the screws out one by one with pliers. Oh what fun! Hopefully, yours won’t be that way though.
Step 2
Remove a set of shutters from the box and hold one shutter up on one side of the window you are putting it on.
Place it were you want it – if you get paneled ones like we did, one panel is slightly longer than the other and it should be on the bottom.
Place a level on top of the shutter, level it up, then mark a spot on both sides at the top and bottom of the shutter where you want the shutter fasteners to go. We just eyeballed this. The shutter fasteners are the same color as the shutters so they blend in really well and you can’t tell if you’re off by a little bit or not. If you can place the fasteners where they will go into mortar rather than brick, thus, you will drill into the mortar, rather than brick, it will make your job easier.
Step 3
Take the shutter and using your regular drill, drill a 1/4″ hole using the 1/4″ regular drill bit in each of your marked spots.
Step 4
Put your shutter back in place and make sure it’s level once more. Now, you need two people for this part. You’re going to drill pilot holes into the brick/mortar for your shutter fasteners.
While one person is holding the shutter in place, the other should use the hammer drill to go through the holes you just made with the regular drill and make small holes to mark where the holes should go in the brick / mortar.
Que our second hiccup. The hammer drill is a must for drilling into brick and mortar. We did not know this. We tried to use our regular corded drill at first and it flat out didn’t work. There were tears, there were words. It was stressful. After some research, we decided a hammer drill might work better – total game changer.
Step 5
Remove the shutter and use the hammer drill to finish drilling out the holes you just marked in the brick.
Step 6
After you’ve drilled all the holes in the brick with the hammer drill, place a shutter fastener into each of the holes in the shutter.
Line up the fasteners with the holes in the brick, then gently tap the fasteners in with a hammer to attach the shutter to your home’s exterior.
That’s it! The installation is actually really simple, you just have to have the right tools, which was our problem.
Those fasteners are serious business too – the shutters don’t budge at all once they are held in with the Shutter-Lok Fasteners.
Another thing to note is that we used four fasteners on the lower, shorter windows, one in each corner, but six on the higher, longer windows, one in each corner and one on each side of the middle of the shutter.
Don’t the shutters look great, though? I love, love, love the midnight blue – it was exactly the color that the house needed!
Now, just to nix that green and paint the trim around the door!
Looking for more home improvement projects to boost curb appeal?
Here’s a DIY Cedar Planter Box that is great for both flowers and displaying your house numbers.
If you have lattice anywhere on your home, here’s an easy lattice refresh technique!
Don’t miss this mailbox makeover I did in less than an hour.
And here are 13 ideas for sprucing up your front door and entry.
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