Home Improvement : Ingenuity--and Staples--Fix Shutters

Most homeowners agree that wood window shutters are both beautiful and functional. They can be stained or painted to enhance the decor of any room and have good insulating properties as well.

The one common complaint about shutters, though, and especially wide louver plantation shutters, is that the louvers often come loose from the lift rod so that not all of them move together.

Because of normal wear and tear, the staples that connect the louvers to the lift rod begin to loosen and eventually fall out.

Fortunately, however, this is a fairly simple home repair to tackle. The only tools you need are a pair of long-nose pliers and a pair of wire cutters.

If you cannot find the old staples, you will have to make new ones.

Buy a box of 1/2-inch staple-gun staples from your local hardware store.

Take a single staple and, with the long-nose pliers, straighten its “legs” so that it looks like a flat, straight wire about 1 3/8 inches long.

Hold the straightened staple in the middle with the tip of the long nose pliers. Then simply bend both sides of the staple up to form a U in the shape of the other staples you see on the shutter.

Whether you are using a new staple you have made or the original staple, snip the tips of each of the staple legs about 1/16th inch from the end at a 45-degree angle with the wire cutters to create a sharp point. This will allow easier penetration.

To secure the new staple in place, hold one of its legs about 3/8 inch from the tip with the long-nose pliers and push the point into the lift rod or the shutter louver so that it penetrates fully.

Avoid using the old hole left by the missing staple because the new staple will not anchor tightly. Instead, push the tip of the staple into new wood just adjacent to the old hole.

If the opposing staple is still in place, thread the loose leg of your new staple through it and then force the tip into the wood just next to the hole left by the other leg of the old staple.

Sometimes it is easier to push the staple tip into the lift rod if you place a putty knife on the back of the rod to protect the wood and use the long-nose pliers to “squeeze” the staple into place.

Test the operation of the shutter by raising and lowering the lift rod several times.

Before you put away the tools, check the staples on the rest of the shutter. Push any loose ones you find as deeply into the wood as possible with the pliers.

Staples Can Get Those Shutters Moving Again You can repair wood window shutters with staples, long nose pliers and a pair of wire cutters.