Broken slats, stiff louvres and dropped panels: the honest repair guide

The faults we see most

• Broken or cracked slats, usually one or two, often after a knock or a pet.

• Louvres that have gone stiff or, at the other extreme, will not hold their angle.

• A tilt rod or its staples working loose so the slats no longer move as one.

• A hinge that has seized or sheared, leaving a panel hanging crooked.

• Panels that have dropped or bowed so they no longer close flush.

Most of it is a single visit

The majority of repairs are done on-site with the shutters in place: replacing a slat, re-tensioning louvres, reseating a tilt rod, freeing or swapping a hinge and re-levelling the panels around it. Send a photo or two first and we can usually tell you what is involved before we visit.

Heavier refinishing or structural work sometimes means taking a panel back to the workshop. If so, we will say so up front and sort out temporary cover for the opening in the meantime.

Colour-matched replacements

A replaced slat only works if you cannot tell it was replaced. We match the colour and finish to the existing shutters so a single new slat disappears into the run rather than standing out as a bright stripe.

After new windows

New windows often change the reveal depth or squareness just enough that the old shutters no longer sit right. Rather than replace them, we can usually refit and adjust the existing shutters to the new openings, which is far cheaper than a fresh set.

Repair or replace?

If the frames are sound, a repair almost always makes more sense than a replacement, and we will tell you honestly when that is the case. Every repair carries a 12-month workmanship warranty: if the same component fails again through our work, we put it right at no charge.