hurricane-panelsinstallation
Looking at the photos at this site, it appears that they are able to be installed horizontally.
Do you have to use a track or can you drill into the shutters and then Tapcon them to the masonry? I am thinking of using 2 inch L x 1/4 wide Tapcon for this application.
For my application, there is a sill that protrudes out underneath my windows, which prevents me from placing the shutters vertical in a track. The protrusion looks something like this (see brick under window):
My shutters attach horizontally over the window. No track required. You may have to see a specialty hurricane shutter shop for these though. 1 tip from personal experience, spend the extra money to get aluminum shutters, they make installation much easier. It would also be in your best interest to see what types of shutters are recommended by your insurance company, and check your local municipality for permit requirements.
If you want to use a screw I would use Tapcon® Concrete Screws. They hold very well and are fairly easy to use. The only draw back is that they are a bright blue and you will have to countersink them and caulk or plugged the hole. 3/16 inch will be strong enough, you will want about 1.5" of penetration. To install you just drill a hole matching the size of the screw (needs to be exact size required) and screw them in. Using a screw is helpful because its about the only concrete anchor you can easily remove.
The other option is Metal Hit Anchors. These are a nail in a sleeve. you pre drill the hole and hammer the anchor in and the nail expands the sleeve.
Any time you drill into masonry you should be using a hammer drill, and a masonry bit that is specifically designed to be used with a hammer drill.
On most brick homes anchoring into the brick is going to be stronger. But it is only shutters and you could get away with drilling into the mortar. This way if you ever want to take the shutters down you can fix the hole in the mortar, unlike if you were to drill directly into the brick.
Best Answer
I think I have figured it out. I have to measure the width of my sill, but I think I will need a H and F track with build-out. A description of tracks was located here.