A Roller Shutter Glossary

In our industry there is no uniformity and consistency from one company to the next as far as naming parts, terms, and even the shutter itself.

Roller Shutters

This would seem an obvious one here in Australia but “roller shutters” are often called other, similar terms. In the US they’re mainly called “rolling shutters” whereas in many places they are referred to as roll up shutters or roll down shutters. We’ve seen them called security blinds, security shutters and window shutters, as well.

Thankfully the camera world seems to have taken “rolling shutter” and claimed the Wikipedia page and all sorts of terminology around it so we can continue to call the whole mechanism a roller shutter in Australia, especially.

Curtain

The main, segmented section of a roller shutter is called the curtain. It is made up of interlocking profiles. These profiles are often called slats. Do you want 2 striped slats?

Shutter Guides

Shutter guides are the side tracks that keep the curtain in place and guide it down when you open the shutter.

Want to guess at some alternate names for this part? They’re called tracks, guides, side rails, rails, side bars … you name it, we’ve heard it.

We call this part a shutter guide although if you ask us about our shutter tracks, we promise we know what you mean.

Packing Profile

Also referred to as Packing, Packers and Pack Out, this is an aluminium section designed to push the shutter away from the wall so you can avoid door handles, etc. Packing material comes in various sizes and whil we call it “packers” we do understand the similar names or “that packing stuff.”

Pelmet

There’s your “word of the day” – a pelmet is usually the word most of our new staff don’t know before they start here. Defined as “a narrow border of cloth or wood, fitted across the top of a door or window to conceal the curtain fittings” a pelmet is the aluminium angled box at the top of the shutter that conceals the rolled up shutter.

Our customers and colleagues also refer to this as the header, head box, roll, or most commonly just “the box.”

V Lock

The stopper that effectively holds the shutter when it’s open and keeps it in place, the V- Lock is one of the shutter’s hidden features. Because it’s not a prominent part of the shutter, unlike the curtain or pelmet, it doesn’t have a name that everyone knows at all. These are often called v channel locks, v locks, bottom bar stoppers, stoppers and v stops. We call them V Locks:

So there you have it – a quick look at some of our most frequently misnamed or mislabeled parts. Now you can ask us for them by name.

We supply and install roller shutters all over Australia including Roller Shutters Melbourne, Roller Shutters Sydney, Roller Shutters Adelaide, Roller Shutters Brisbane and Roller Shutters Perth.