Accordion Shutters on Sanibel Island, FL
One causeway on and off the island. Whatever is on your openings when the order
comes is what you have, so the product that closes fastest has an argument here it does not have
anywhere else.
The causeway changes the calculation
Sanibel evacuates early and it evacuates completely, and there is a single road out. That means
the window between deciding to leave and having to be gone is shorter than on the mainland —
and it means the last thing you do before locking up matters.
Accordion shutters are already mounted beside every opening.
Nothing to fetch, nothing to lift, no ladder, no trips to the garage. A house closes up in a couple
of minutes and then you drive. They also lock from the inside, which is worth something on a
property that will be empty and unreachable for a while.
Salt is the other half of it
Everything on the outside of a Sanibel house lives in salt air permanently. Salt is what kills
hurricane hardware here, far more reliably than any storm does, and an accordion lives outside all
year by design.
That is manageable but not automatic. Rinse the tracks with fresh water a few times a year and
clear the sand out. Grit in a track is the single most common cause of a system binding, and a
shutter that will not close smoothly on the day you need it is the same as not having one.
We service what we install and other companies’ work as well, including brands whose original
installer is no longer trading — which on this island describes rather a lot of them. Best
found out in June rather than the day before a storm.
Made to fit an island house
We manufacture accordions in our shop in Cape Coral, cut to your dimensions. Sanibel has old
cottages, elevated rebuilds and everything between, and very little of it uses standard opening
sizes. FL1850, approved for the High Velocity Hurricane Zone.
Sanibel permits its own work, strictly
The City of Sanibel runs its own building department and the island is known for holding a tighter line than anywhere else in the county — on what may be attached to a building, on vegetation, and on lighting. Anything fixed to an exterior wall is reviewed properly rather than waved through. We specify to that rather than submitting and hoping. Permitting is handled as part of the job.
Talk to us about accordion shutters on Sanibel
Tell us what you are looking at and someone from our team will call you the same business day. We go through it on the phone first — your openings, the products that actually fit, what is involved — and if it is a fit we come out and put a written quote in your hand. No charge and no obligation.
Questions we get asked
How fast can I close the house up?
A couple of minutes for a whole house once you have done it once. They are already mounted, so there is nothing to carry or lift and no ladder – which is the point on an island you may need to leave quickly.
Will salt destroy them?
Not if they are rinsed. Fresh water on the tracks a few times a year and the sand cleared out is the whole routine, and it is the difference between a system that lasts and one that seizes.
Can you service shutters you did not install?
Yes, every brand, including ones where the original company has gone. Most repairs come down to a track, a wheel, a slat or a motor.
More questions? Our full hurricane shutter & screen FAQ covers products, service, permitting and financing.
More in Sanibel: accordion shutters · Bahama shutters · roll down shutters · storm panels · roll down screens · impact windows · everything we do in Sanibel
Florida Screen & Shutter, LLC · 883 NE 27th Ln #5, Cape Coral, FL 33909 · (239) 409-0426
License #SCC131152867 · Fully Licensed & Insured Florida Contractor · MagnaTrack President’s Club, #6 in the country, 2025