Board and batten type shutters made with Hardiplank type products?

[Wakey]

I Have some old plastic shutters outside that I was going to paint to freshen them up but if I could put something out there that would look better and also keep wasps from being able to nest, it might be worth the effort. I like the idea of the Hardi product because it is immune to bugs and would keep to the low maintenance stance around here.

I've priced these so needless to say this would be a DIY project!

I don't need these to be operable, strictly cosmetic. The current shutters have a width of 14" and I can go a bit wider based on the dimensions of the product.

I'm considering going with four 5.5" wide trim boards (5/4 rustic finish .75 thick) . What I can't figure out is what to do about the horizontal boards, my guess those are called battens?

They have 3.5" width boards but they are also only 3/4" thick so I'm unsure how well that would look. I guess I could use a PT 2x4 but it has a smooth finish and it would look silly because it is so thick.

Here are a few examples built with wood.

What do you folks think of my idea?

Installation on brick would be many other considerations, please help me decide if I'm on the right track first!

 

[Ford850]

I used 3/4" rough sawn cedar to make mine, and they look similar to the second picture. I routed a 45* bevel on all 4 surface corners/edges on every board prior to assembling to add more character. Doing that, I kept the cross boards slightly narrower so they didn't cover the two outer beveled edges. My shutters are not usable, appearance only, but I made them sized so they "look right" by sizing them according to the window sizes. A couple smaller windows have only one, full window width, shutter. My house has haida skirl beveled siding, so I get bees and wasps behind the shutters unless I spray in the spring with Bifen or something similar (very easy to do - just spraying a stream in each gap). Overall I love the look, and they have been fairly easy on maintenance. I think we took them down after 6 years and restained/painted them.

 

[Wakey]

Cedar would certainly be easier to put together with screws from the back side.

Do carpenter bees tunnel into cedar? That is one of the main reasons I'm considering the Hardi product. That and not needing paint as often.

I may go get enough boards to put together 1 shutter as a test.

I'm wondering if liquid nails or something else would hold this together. I don't know how else to hold this shutter together outside of sinking 10 concrete screws through each board and batten into the brick. Yikes!

 

[Ford850]

They do tunnel in cedar, but have not touched my shutters or siding. I use a semi solid stain though, which helps a lot.
I used Titebond lll (waterproof) and screws from the back like you said. I made some simple jigs for board spacing and cross batten placement. I made 25 I think, so I took some time to get things set up right before I started. I remember once I got going with the assembly part, it was a very rewarding project. To mount them, I have 4 screws in each one, through the cross boards so it pulls them snug and keeps them from warping or twisting.
The Hardi product would definitely be easier to maintain, if you can find a good adhesive solution.

 

[Wakey]

I decided on the 5/4 rustic finish trim boards for the boards and battens. (1" thick x 3.5" wide. 5 boards, 2 battens) I'm thinking I could build a jig to glue these together assuming these boards are identical. I plan on a slight gap between each board and the battens will be about 1" shorter than the width of the shutter. I have 45 pound steel barbell weights to press them down and hold.

The shutters will be 55" tall and 18" wide for a 36" window so it should look perfect.

I'm thinking I'll attach each shutter with 4 concrete screws drilled into the brick.

The cost looks like about $105.00 a window.

It will take 3 weeks to bring these in, I'll wait until tomorrow to order them in case someone points out a flaw with my plan.

As for the screws, I was thinking I could counter sink them a bit. Looking at plugs seems like a problematic chore to drill a 3/4 hole to flush it in. Would the paint flake off in a year? That would look worse than a countersunk screw in my estimation.

Thanks for any additional thoughts.

 

[Ford850]

I used large screws, and counter sank them trying to keep them flush. Since some of my shutters were not quite flat, I sucked them in tight with the screws. Of course being cedar, some areas were soft and allowed the screws to sink in too far. I touched up all screw heads after being installed with some stain. My point is that even with the deeper screws, they look fine. If doing it over, I might use a RSS screw from GRK like these RSS Rugged Structural Screw or these Cabinet so they would stay on the surface with the wide flange head.

 

[Wakey]

The trim boards will be flat and the brick on this house is remarkably well done so I should not have a problem.

I do have to be careful tightening these down so as to not crack the boards!

Thanks for the advice here, I really appreciate it.

 

[jenkinsph]

I have used quite a bit of the Hardi Plank and Hardi panels and it does last a long time requiring little maintenance. But for your use you might consider using composite decking boards too. I think this would be a much better product to use for the horizontal boards with less problems with splitting and cracking. These horizontal boards can be counter sunk if desired and would hold the Hardi Plank vertical boards tight to the wall.. Lowes sells these boards in a thickness slightly more than 1 inch which would work well when painted.

 

[Tomtint]

I did exactlly what you were talking about. When I originally built my house I used pre primed finger jointed pine and built shudders just like you posted a pic of. They rotted out this year and I replaced them with ASIC PVC boards. I painted them black and I'm sure I will find out soon enough if that's going to be a issue with solar absorption or not.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a big fan of Hardie products, but probably wouldn't try to make shutters our of them. Instead, I'd probably go with Smart Siding trim. Lowes sells it. It's a high grade OSB product with a stamped finish that looks like cedar. It paints well, but you need to be sure to seal all your cut edges with paint to keep moisture out.