Making a gate - please help

superpup

Hi

I have just built a new 6ft fence at the bottom of my garden (with a bit of help) with rails and featheredge boards.

I started making the gate today using leftover timber (the rails). The frame is 5ft tall by 34" wide. Used mahoosive nails as my drill is rubbish. I have a horizontal bar in the middle. I tried cutting diagonals but couldn't do them so will go and buy a mitre box tomorrow as I can't get the 45 degree angles right without.

When I measured the frame corner to corner, it was about 1/12 - 2/12 of an inch out maximum but I'm worried I'm going to knock it out further when I put the diagonals in tomorrow. Do I have any leeway or does it have to be spot on?

Also, I am worried that the gate is going to be too heavy. The timber I used is 1.5" x just under 3.5". It's quite heavy now and I still have to add the diagonals and 7 featheredge boards to it. I plan to use 3 'dirty great big' hinges. Is it going to be okay or is it destined to drop?

Sorry for the lack of technical knowledge but I wanted to save a bit of money and I like to have a go at stuff myself.

thanks in advance

SailorSam

It doesn't matter how heavy the gate is, where your problem may arise, how strong is the post that the hinges are on ?

When i made a gate, what i did to cut the angles of the diagonals was...
I presume you've done three horizontal cross pieces, well for the diagonals that sit between them, just hold the wood in place and draw the bit that needs cutting off so that it will seat snug between the horizontals.

superpup

SailorSam wrote: »

It doesn't matter how heavy the gate is, where your problem may arise, how strong is the post that the hinges are on ?

Thanks, the post is pretty strong I think. It's 4x4 and bottom 2ft is concreted in.

When i made a gate, what i did to cut the angles of the diagonals was...
I presume you've done three horizontal cross pieces, well for the diagonals that sit between them, just hold the wood in place and draw the bit that needs cutting off so that it will seat snug between the horizontals.

Not sure what you mean but there are 3 horizontal cross pieces including top and bottom of the frame. I tried holding the wood in place and drawing where I needed to cut but I couldn't seem to saw it straight enough.

Inactive

superpup wrote: »

Not sure what you mean but there are 3 horizontal cross pieces including top and bottom of the frame. I tried holding the wood in place and drawing where I needed to cut but I couldn't seem to saw it straight enough.

Perhaps DIY is not your forte then, if you cannot cut a piece of timber.;)

aliasojo

superpup wrote: »

Not sure what you mean but there are 3 horizontal cross pieces including top and bottom of the frame. I tried holding the wood in place and drawing where I needed to cut but I couldn't seem to saw it straight enough.

I made our front garden gate and did as Sam did. The horizontal pieces were laid on the ground and the diagonal was laid on top and where to cut was marked on it.

If you cant saw straight, use another piece of wood laid on top of the diagonal piece as a guideline for your saw to cut against. Use a clamp or a couple of screws as a temporary fixing.

The 4" post will support the gate fine, don't use cheap hinges, they're false economy.

superpup

Inactive wrote: »

Perhaps DIY is not your forte then, if you cannot cut a piece of timber.;)

Perhaps posting on forums is not your forte then, if you can only manage sarcasm.;)

superpup

aliasojo wrote: »

I made our front garden gate and did as Sam did. The horizontal pieces were laid on the ground and the diagonal was laid on top and where to cut was marked on it.

If you cant saw straight, use another piece of wood laid on top of the diagonal piece as a guideline for your saw to cut against. Use a clamp or a couple of screws as a temporary fixing.

The 4" post will support the gate fine, don't use cheap hinges, they're false economy.

Thanks aliasojo. I bought a mitre box this morning which will sort it out. I'm okay cutting smaller pieces of wood but just can't get it straight with these bigger ones. Okay on a 90 degree angle but just can't get the 45. I haven't got a clamp so it's not easy to keep it straight.

I have also bought some good hinges so fingers crossed it'll hold!

thanks again

SailorSam

The cut you need to make will probably not be 45degrees, unless the distance between your cross pieces and the width of your gate is the same,
http://www.buildeazy.com/gate.html

superpup

SailorSam wrote: »

The cut you need to make will probably not be 45degrees, unless the distance between your cross pieces and the width of your gate is the same,
http://www.buildeazy.com/gate.html

Oh god, good point well made.

I looked at that site yesterday. I haven't put the long diagonal on though as I thought it would look a bit odd sticking out so far and that it would be better if I could fix the braces inside the frame.

SailorSam

superpup wrote: »

Oh god, good point well made.

I looked at that site yesterday. I haven't put the long diagonal on though as I thought it would look a bit odd sticking out so far and that it would be better if I could fix the braces inside the frame.

Just thought if you have a piece of cardboard or old wallpaper, maybe you can make a sort of template, which will be easier to cut with scissors till you get it right, hope the rain stays off while you get it done.

One_Day_Rodney

Hi superpup

I made a gate recently using an old 6' x 4' fence panel.
You can see in the picture below the three horizontal 'bars' that Sailor Sam mentioned.

The diagonal should go from the bottom at the hinge side to the top at the other side to prevent the gate dropping.

(Click on the picture to get bigger view)





I just used some 100mm x 18mm gravel board I had in the garage to make the horizontals and screwed them to the fence panel.

The diagonal is made of the same and are screwed to the fence panel and the horizontals. I just offered them up and marked where they met the horizontals to get the angles right (as mention by someone earlier).

Three hinges should also help prevent sagging.

Good drop of fence paint finishes it off.

HTH