Help needed re fixing of wooden gate to brickwork

littlewren

Hi,


I wondered if someone could give some advice regarding my wooden gate please? It's a bit difficult to explain in a post though!


On the right hand side of the gate - where of course it closes - a long strip of wood is attached to the brickwork. On the left hand side of the gate, it's attached to a wooden post - this is the beginning of the run of fencing. Along the top of the gate (but not attached to it) is another strip of wood connecting the two sides (hope this makes sense!)


The strip of wood screwed to the brickwork on the right side is rotting at the top and every time the winds are up everything rocks and it's threatening to bring not only the gate down, but also some of the fencing.


My daughter's boyfriend attached another piece of wood to the top as a temporary measure, but has offered to replace with a new strip of wood.


My worry is, as the wood has been screwed to the brickwork for 30 years, what condition might it be in once unscrewed. I understand that it will need new rawlplugs, but what I'm most concerned about is that he takes the screws out only to find the brickwork crumbling away behind the holes. This would mean drilling new holes in the brickwork, which I don't really want.


I suppose what I'm asking is whether the general opinion is that the brickwork could very well be crumbling and therefore not able to take a new rawlplug and screw. Obviously I understand it would only be a guess, but I'm clueless about these things!


Once the old strip of wood is unscrewed, if it IS crumbling behind the screw holes, there's no way then of putting the old screws back in either.


Reading this back, I hope this makes sense.


Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer. :-)

Procrastinator333

Our gate had a similar strip of wood that had rotted. It was rotten and needed to be replaced. So the decision to remove it wasn't really a choice, it had to be done.

Taking it off, I was initially going to reuse the holes, but the screw heads were so rusted I could not undo the screws. I ended up having to snap them off, leaving the end of the screw and the rawlplug in the bricks.

I then drilled new holes, new plugs and put a new bit of wood on top. But as the wood sits in the same place, it covers up the old screws, so it looks fine and isn't a problem to me.

I come back to my first point, if that wodden strip is rotten, you don't have a lot of choice. Well, you can leave it to rot a bit more. But at some point you have to take it off. And it is only when you do that you can see what options you have for replacing it. And likewise, if you take it off and the brickwork is crumbling, it needs to be sorted, not just left to hide behind a piece of rotting wood.

littlewren

Thank you for your reply Procrastinator333, yes I see your point. I suppose there's no way of finding out whether or not the brickwork is crumbling until the wood is taken off. The screws look like they could be unscrewed, they don't look rusty, but who knows. As my house is next to a right of way, which attracts local yobs, it's not even like it's a job that can be done over a few days, as anyone could get into my garden without a gate. :-(

SailorSam

If the old screws have been in for 30yrs you'll be very lucky to get them out.
If the rest of the wall is Ok there's no reason the bit behind the wood any worse. But i'm sure you'll have to redrill it.

littlewren

Thank you for your reply SailorSam, yes the screws may look ok but they may be a pain to try and get out.

Furts

This might sound random but it will work. If you remove the timber strip from the wall and the brickwork is crumbling it can be stuck back together with Sticks Like, or Gripfill (in the green tubes-not water based) or even clear silicone.

If you do not want to drill new holes in the brickwork you can put in Gripfill in the crumbled brick areas, let it go hard then drill into this in the same place as your previous drilled holes - it will cope with the new plastic plugs, provided you have put in a reasonable amount.

Or you could remove the strip and stick it back to the wall with Gripfill. (It would be belt and braces to add a screw to this. The Gripfill alone should do the job, but it depends how much force is exerted on it if the gate is constantly being banged against it)

Gripfill is wonderful stuff, but it does smell, it is not nice to get it on your fingers, although it can be tooled up if you are quick and careful.

littlewren

Thanks for your reply Furts, the problem is I can't wait for it to dry as I need the gate back up as soon as possible to stop any yobs from entering my garden! So it needs to be a screw job really.

JustinR1979

Sure the men will be queuing up for the job

littlewren

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Sure the men will be queuing up for the job

Haha Justin, I just re-read my post!

Ruski

The brickwork will be fine, and yes, I'd advise drilling and screwing new holes - there's no need to worry about trying to re-use the old holes - just not worth it.


You/they may need to use a bit of brute force and ignorance (as they say) to get the old post off, but it's a relatively simple job.


Use tantalised timber as the replacement.


HTH


Russ

27col

I think that you are anticipating a problem that almost certainly does not exist. You will not be able to find out if there is a problem until the wood is removed. The chance of being able to reuse the holes is not great. Especially if the screw has rusted and cannot be removed from the brickwork.