Shutter Hardware Selection
Here are more than a few words about hardware selection.

Back in the good old days, everyone had wood windows with wood 
trim around them, their house had either siding or brick, 
and selecting the proper shutter hinge was fairly simple.

Those days are gone.

With the wide array of materials in use today for windows, 
trim and house exteriors, and an even wider array of
possible applications for these materials, selecting the proper
shutter hinge requires playing an extended game of 20 questions,
where each answer affects all of the other questions and their possible answers.

If you want help with this process, call us toll free at 888 404 9434,
and we will be glad to walk you through it.

If you want to select for yourself, or just be more familiar with
how shutter hinges operate, read on:

Shutter Hinge Selection is determined 100% 
by your window details, and has nothing 
to do with your shutters.

All of the following information pertains to strap hinges.  
If you want to know about mortise hinges, 
see our video on the wood shutters main page.

In the "classical" detail, wood trim 
protrudes forward from the front of
 the window frame, creating a pocket 
into which the shutter will close.

The strap mounts to the face of the 
shutter in the closed position, and 
when closed, the face of the shutter 
is flush with the face of the trim.

The pintle mounts 
to the face of the 
wood trim.

The offset of the 
pintle and strap 
are matched,

and the throw of the shutter is twice the offset.

In this picture, a 1/2" offset is used.
This means that in the open position, 
the back of the shutter 
(on the window side) is 
1" from the siding.

If these shutters were hung in
brick, a larger offset would be used
to throw the shutters out of
the brick pocket.
(A 1-1/2" offset would have a 3" throw).

Please note that shutters have a "throw" from side to side also.

This side throw dimension is determined by the installed distance
from the edge of the trim to the center of the pintle, and the 
offset of the hinge.  The larger the offset of the hinge, the further
the side throw will be.  This is caused by the fact that the offset
portion of the strap is not at a 90 degree angle.