Installing a metal shutter: the steps of a successful project

Installing a metal shutter is metalwork, not decoration: heavy loads above a storefront, springs under dangerous tension, and twenty years of service decided in one day of fitting. Here is what a proper project looks like — and what to demand from your installer.

Step 0: choosing the curtain

Solid slats for maximum protection and opacity (jewellers, tobacconists); micro-perforated to show the lit window while resisting entry — the city-centre standard; tube-and-link grilles for arcades. Fitting under the lintel (discreet) or on the facade; manual up to ~8 m², motorised beyond or for daily use. In co-owned buildings and protected areas, facade work may need approvals — a serious installer says so at the quote.

Step 1: the survey

A shutter is made to measure: widths, height, box depth, nature of the supports, hidden networks, and the lintel's load capacity — a wide shutter weighs hundreds of kilos. Thirty to forty-five minutes, ending in an itemised quote: curtain, guides, axle, box, motorisation, locks, fitting, removal of the old unit.

Step 2: removing the old shutter

The most dangerous moment: axle springs stay under tension even on a dead shutter, and uncontrolled release projects metal violently. Professional procedure: zone secured, springs detensioned with tooling, curtain removed slat by slat, then axle and guides. Two to three hours including disposal.

Step 3: fitting, in the order that lasts

Guides first, plumb to the millimetre — any error here means a curtain that drags for life. Then the axle on properly anchored brackets, springs calibrated to the curtain's exact weight (that calibration is what makes 200 kg one-hand manoeuvrable). Then the curtain, the adjustments (spring tension, end stops, locks), and finally the box protecting it all.

Step 4: security devices

Against burglary: anti-lift side locks (defeating the jack attack), protected end plates, reinforced bottom slat. For people: the anti-fall device is mandatory on motorised shutters, with reinforced requirements in premises open to the public. A quote without locks and anti-fall is not cheaper — it is incomplete.

Step 5: your handover quarter-hour

Before signing: ten full cycles, fluid movement without hard points, clean stops at the end positions, locks engaging freely, manual release tested if motorised. Demand the documents: manual, conformity certificate, maintenance requirements — they condition the warranty. A well-fitted shutter is perfect on day one.

Budget

Distrust abnormally low quotes: they usually skip the locks, the anti-fall or the spring calibration — the three items you don't see on fitting day and pay for in the following years. Allow five to six weeks from survey to fitting: a made-to-measure curtain doesn't wait well for emergencies.