By the middle of a Hinchinbrook summer, the shutters on any west-facing wall have taken a beating. This is one of the hottest pockets of Sydney, the estate landscaping is not tall enough to shade much, and aluminium that has been in full afternoon sun for hours behaves quite differently to the same unit in the morning.
We cover Hinchinbrook in the 2168 postcode along with Green Valley, Hoxton Park, Cecil Hills, Bonnyrigg Heights and Horningsea Park. It falls inside our regular south west run.
Hinchinbrook was built out largely through the 1980s and 90s, so the housing is brick, often two storey, on estate blocks. Most shutters here went in with or shortly after the house and are now old enough for the plastics to be failing.
Shade makes a real difference to how long a shutter lasts out here. If you have anything growing that will eventually shade a western wall, it is worth protecting. In the meantime, keeping the rails clean gives the slats the room they need to expand without gripping. If a shutter is already jamming on hot afternoons, stop driving it with the motor. Forcing a bound curtain is what turns a rail clean into a bent bottom rail and a replacement motor.
