Want a ballpark figure for how much accordion shutters would cost? Well, the good news is you have a few options. You can get a free estimate from a professional hurricane shutters company. This will be the most accurate way to get an actual cost. Or you can do a rough measurement yourself and get a ballpark idea. Doing a rough measurement for accordion shutters is fairly straight-forward. You just need to measure your home’s window and door openings that you need the shutters for. This will give you a rough idea of the total square feet of shutters you will need. Below we run through the process and give some tips and tricks. You can also check out the explainer video to see the process.
How to Measure for Accordion Hurricane Shutters
Video Instructions
A helpful tip before you begin
It is helpful to record the measurements you take on a notepad or somewhere else that you feel comfortable with. Create 3 columns. The first column will be some way to identify each opening, such as the location of the opening (ie. front left window) or a number. Next, create a column for the width of each opening. Then create a column to record the height of each opening. It is also helpful to create another column for the area (width x height) of each opening. This way you can add up all the areas at the end of the process.
Measurements & math
You can record the measurements in whatever units you feel more comfortable with. You can record each measurement inches and divide by 12 to get the feet. For example, if the width of a single window is 36 inches you can divide 36 by 12 to get 3 feet. This is because there are 12 inches in a foot. And if the height of that opening is 48 inches you would divide it by 12 to get 4 feet. So the square footage of that specific opening would be 3×4 or 12 square feet.
Process to measure for your accordion shutters:
- Set your notebook up as instructed above in order to capture your measurements.
- Identify the openings you want to measure. This will most likely be all of your windows and doors.
- Unless you know that every windows is exactly the same it is a good idea to measure each opening to get a better idea.
- Pick one opening and measure it’s width. To to clarify, when we say width we mean the width of the masonry opening and not the width of the actual window itself. If you have a block construction home you will most likely have a window opening that encases your windows. And this opening will usually always be a little wider than the window itself. Measure the entire opening. For doors, measure to the outside of the door and any frame or the masonry opening if it has one. Record the width in your notebook under the width column.
- Next, measure the height of the opening. Again, this is the height of the masonry opening and not the height of the door/window itself. Record the height in your notebook under the height column.
- Repeat the process for each opening of your home. Record each measurement in your notebook under the appropriate column.
- Calculate the areas of each opening in square feet. The formula for area is width x height. See the note on how to calculate this above.
- Add all the individual areas up to get a total area or square feet for your accordion shutters.
Conclusion
This process will give you an approximate (or rough) square footage for your accordion shutters. You can use our Hurricane Shutters Cost Guide to get a ballpark range of the cost of accordions and other shutter types. This is a good way to see which shutter is right for your budget.
An alternative to measuring for shutters yourself is to call a professional hurricane shutters company. They will do the measurements for you and give you an actual cost based on the square footage they measure. Each company will want to take their own measurements before proving an estimate anyways. So this could save you some time.
If you are in Southwest Florida we would be happy to give you a no-obligation, complimentary estimate.
