Winter is usually not the time of year when people think about working on the exterior of their house. You can’t paint the exterior part of the house during winter because the temperature is not warm enough for the paint to properly adhere to the surface. If you try to paint during the winter time, you would likely have nothing but a drippy mess all over your house.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t certain projects you could take care of on those relatively warmer days.
You may have older, worn out exterior shutters that require a significant amount of attention to get them back in great shape and looking the way they were designed originally.
Below are a few simple strategies you could use to help improve the look and appearance of your exterior shutters. You can do this when it’s warmer out and when it’s safe to place a ladder on the ground.
1. Walk around and analyze the condition of each exterior shutter.
This is the best way for you to take honest stock about what your exterior shutters look like. Take a pad of paper with you and write down any notes regarding issues with various shutters. You could do well to develop a numbering system to easily identify each shutter and where it is located on the house.
Take note of any warped, cracked, or missing slats. Focus on rust on any hardware components that may be there. If the exterior shutters are pulled away from the house itself, make note of this as well.
2. Take down one shutter at a time to work on it.
If you try to take down all of the shutters that need work at the same time, you’ll probably put them in the garage, basement, or other work area. This could lead to confusion about where they go back up and it’s far too easy then to neglect the work that needs to be done.
Instead, only work on one shutter at a time. Take down that shutter, repair it, and then replace it. That way you can deal with any impending winter weather or drop in temperature as it comes without getting too far behind.
3. Replace any old hardware, restore and paint the shutters.
When you have the shutters down, do the work in a warmer room or environment. This will allow you to sand down, repaint, and replace the hardware on them.
When done, you can reinstall the exterior shutter to the house and then move onto the next one.
