Gates

Gates

If a fence is going to fail somewhere, it fails at the gate. It's the only part with moving loads, and it's the part you touch every day.

01  /  Why they hold

Why ours don't sag

A wood gate frame is a rectangle held together at the corners, hung off one edge, and swung several thousand times a year. Over time the corners work loose and the rectangle becomes a parallelogram. That's the sag. It isn't bad building, it's geometry plus weather.

We build gate frames from 16 gauge welded steel, powder coated black, hung on steel gate posts rated to 112 mph. The frame doesn't rack, so the gate keeps its shape. When the pickets eventually weather, you re-picket the same frame.

The manufacturer warrants these frames for a limited lifetime. Same terms as the posts: original residential purchaser, replacement material, coastal environments excluded.

A wood gate with vertical boards and rounded tops, hung on black steel posts with black strap hinges and a black thumb latch handle, set over a concrete pad.
A wood drive gate and the fence line it meets, seen straight on from the driveway.
The back of a wood double gate, each leaf carrying a diagonal brace that runs from the bottom of the hinge side up toward the latch, with a drop rod at the center.
A wood double drive gate closed across a concrete driveway, hung on black steel posts with heavy strap hinges.
A double drive gate carrying its own weight across a driveway opening. This is the span where a wood frame gives up.

02  /  What we build

What we build

Single walk gates, double drive gates, and oversized entry gates for farm and property entrances. Commercial grade hinges and latches on everything, self closing and self latching where pool code requires it.

Two horizontal slat wood gate leaves on black steel posts, with ornate black strap hinges on the center post and a black latch with a drop rod on the adjoining leaf.
A gate leaf part way through assembly: a black steel perimeter frame with timber rails across the top, middle and bottom, filled with vertical boards, and black hinges and a latch fitted to one stile.
Close view of a wood gate built from vertical boards, with two black strap hinges and a black lever latch, framed by a capped top rail and set against a painted brick wall.
A welded wire garden gate in a black steel frame between two heavy wood posts, opening on to a lawn and a pergola.

03  /  Questions

The things people actually ask

Why is the gate always the first thing to fail?

Because it is the only part of the fence that moves. A gate frame is a rectangle hung off one edge and swung several thousand times a year, and over time the corners work loose and the rectangle becomes a parallelogram. That is the sag.

It is not bad building. It is geometry plus weather, and the only real answer is a frame that cannot rack in the first place.

Can you re-picket a gate rather than replace it?

If the frame is sound, yes. That is the point of building the frame from steel: when the pickets eventually weather you re-picket the same frame rather than starting again.

If the frame itself has gone out of square, re-picketing it only hides the problem for a season.

What sizes of gate do you build?

Single walk gates, double drive gates, and oversized entry gates for farm and property entrances.

Commercial grade hinges and latches on everything, and self closing and self latching hardware wherever pool code requires it.

Does a pool gate need different hardware?

Yes. A pool gate has to close itself and latch itself every time, without anybody thinking about it, because a gate propped open is the same as no barrier at all.

That is not an upgrade on our pool work, it is the part of the barrier that does the actual job.

Gate sagging already?

If an existing gate has dropped, tell us what it's hung on. Call or email and we'll tell you whether it's worth re-hanging or worth rebuilding.

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