Transformation

[Don M]

In general shutters were installed on double hung windows & were functional to be closed yet allow breezes to ventilate the interior. They kept the interior spaces cool by blocking out direct sunlight during the summer & could be opened in the winter to allow the sun help warm interior spaces. I suspect your house never had shutters because they may have not been in style at the time it was built. People love to add shutters in places they don't belong, they obviously would not cover your large picture windows nor would they serve any purpose. It's unlikely shutters would have been fitted to your box bay windows because they would have to stick out straight if placed on the triple windows. Fake shutters are like lipstick on a pig & the pig hates them! Our house has shutters on every window on all sides of the house; including the attic. They were all functional & are mostly original. My 2 cents!

[Vala]

Well said, Don!

[Mick_VT]

I read somewhere that louvered shutters were originally used instead of screens, I dont know that for a fact but it makes sense that they might work in a rudimentary way to let air in and keep some bugs at bay, especially if you consider lighting back then was pretty dim. But with the advent of gas and electric being more widely available and prices of screen material dropping screens became the norm in the C20th.

So not necessarily either or, but they may have been for the same purpose. Outside of that louvered shutters were extremely popular / fashionable in the late C19th, so your house would have been extremely likely to have had them when it was built, for fashion if nothing else.

The mounts used for the shutters on my place leave a hole like a nail hole with a small screw hole 1 inch away. A single coat of paint would likely hide them on its own, and a little tiny bit of putty certainly would.

[Vala]

Well then the only way to know for sure one way or the other would be an old photo, which I have never found one yet.

[Mick_VT]

It's unlikely shutters would have been fitted to your box bay windows because they would have to stick out straight if placed on the triple windows.

You may be right that it didnt have them there Don, but you also may be under a false assumption, there was a design of louvre designed for such tight spaces that concertina'ed up so it would only stick out a few inches. I have a turn of the century picture of them somewhere but cant lay my hand on it right now. I do have pictures of bay windows with the shutters awkwardly overlapping, pictures of houses where a shutter had to be permanently closed due to positioning of windows and others where the bay doesnt have shutters but he rest do. No hard and fast rules but in general if a house had them, then most windows (but not necessarily all) had them from what I have seen.

[Mick_VT]

Well then the only way to know for sure one way or the other would be an old photo, which I have never found one yet.

Well if you totally strip the casings or sill to bare wood you would likely see the tells, but an old picture would be very helpful in many ways of course.

In a lot of ways I wish my place didnt have them. It didnt when it was built but they were added around 1890 or so. Each one takes me around 40 hours to strip disassemble, make repairs, reassemble and paint. Thats 80 hours per window. I should do a write up on it some time.

[Don M]

Well then the only way to know for sure one way or the other would be an old photo, which I have never found one yet.

Well if you totally strip the casings or sill to bare wood you would likely see the tells, but an old picture would be very helpful in many ways of course.

In a lot of ways I wish my place didnt have them. It didnt when it was built but they were added around 1890 or so. Each one takes me around 40 hours to strip disassemble, make repairs, reassemble and paint. Thats 80 hours per window. I should do a write up on it some time.

I agree about the work; when we bought our farm all the shutters were in a pile in the barn. they were all loose & sagging, some were missing the hinge hardware, they all needed scraping & painting. I drove out all the old wood pegs & replaced them with new. That tightened & squared them up. Finding replacement hardware was tricky & expensive. Overall it was worth it!

[phil]

interesting thread. Hey I wonder if one could affix mosquito screens to shutters? then it would keep sun and bugs out.
and now I am rethinking how storms that open would work on my bay windows. so much to think about!

[Vala]

Well I got all the clapboard painting done on the 1st and second stories, I just have to paint the window trim and the corner boards white, but we got rainy weather this week so I'm not sure when that will get done then I'll post pics. Eaves will have to get painted when I get a lift machine (the proper name escapes me) that I get when I paint the gables so for now they will just be in classic chipped paint style hah. Which reminds me I'll have to update my sig pic!

[Gothichome]

Good for you, look forward to seeing the results.