# Forum Home Renovation Fences & Screens  Driveway gate advice

## PiL

Hi guys, 
3 years ago, i built a picket fence that came out alright.
On one end i built a wide swinging gate which ultimately i wasnt happy with as it was impractical. A year later I ended up building a simple arbor over it, and changed it into a split gate. Waaay better. 
Now it's time to span the driveway. It's concrete and about 3m wide. One side is a wooden post and the other is a brick wall. 
I have this idea in my head that id make it asymmetric - one gate 1m wide and the other 2m wide. The longer span being attached to the brick and the shorter one to the post.
The shorter gate would be for easy foot access.
Waste of time? Should it be split 50/50? 
My experience with the other (wide) gate niggles at my mind. 
Any advice here would be much appreciated.

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## ForeverYoung

I think the 1m/2m sounds good - especially since you don't have a pedestrian gate in the long fence pic'd? 
My issue with swinging gates is usually which way they swing  :Wink: 
Several times I have run my fence in (towards the house) so that outward swinging gates don't interfere with the verge/footpath and also allow the gates to be opened outwards when a vehicle is parked up. I should add this was also done because the slope didn't allow gates to open inwards.

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## PiL

> especially since you don't have a pedestrian gate in the long fence pic'd?

  The far left span was a single 1.4m wide swinging gate. That's the one i found impractical and split into a double gate in the other pic. You can still see the original diagonal brace.
I use both the driveway and opposite gate equally on foot hence the contemplation for better foot access. 
Here's a more recent photo. It's a little under 14m long.  
It will be pine with cypress pickets to match. 
I like to draw these things to help visualise so might sketch up a couple of designs. Here's the final draw up of the gate.

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## ForeverYoung

With the 'arbor' above you will be limiting access - trucks, vans etc... so higher than lower.

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## Whitey66

> With the 'arbor' above you will be limiting access - trucks, vans etc... so higher than lower.

  Or better still, make it the height you want and make the cross piece easily removable for the odd time you need it out of the way.
Is that slope across the driveway really as steep as it looks? If it is it may be hard to swing the gates so they look good when closed.

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## havabeer

get some powered openers , otherwise unless you want to get out every day and open and close them you will probably just leave them open 90% of the time.

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## PiL

> Or better still, make it the height you want and make it easily removable for the odd time you need it out of the way.

  there will be no arbor above the driveway gates. the one over the footpath gate is for added stability more than anything else. been thinking of putting a rambling rose over it but plants and wooden structures dont tend to play well together. and it is removable. 8 screws hold it up.   

> get some powered openers , otherwise unless you want to get out every day and open and close them you will probably just leave them open 90% of the time.

   mostly will be closed at night, but pretty disciplined at closing gates. there's another set down the driveway attached to the house. built those as a lad about 25 years ago (still good - humble brag) that i opened and closed for about 15 years until my dog died. have since torn the old garage down and replaced it with a shed so the car doesnt go down there anymore, but still keep the gate closed for the poodle.

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## PiL

whilst googling some other people's projects, i'm starting to formulate the dimensions of the gate frames in my mind. 
i'll probably go 900mm tall pickets.
... which means the frames would be around 600mm high and 1000mm and 2000mm wide respectively. 
it seems to me that at 600mm high by 1000mm, a single diagonal brace would be fine. however for the 2000mm wide frame, i've been looking at jobs with wider gates. 
there are ones with a single long brace, a double zig zag, a triangle and upside down triangle (the triangles dont seem right) or an X. 
with the dimensions i'm looking at, would a single long brace be sufficient or am i better off doing one of these double zig zags? i cant picture the play of forces in my brain. 
if someone could advise on this it would be much appreciated.

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## Bart1080

Assuming your talking about a welded metal gate frame out of say 2mm with pickets screwed to it?
@ 2m or 6.5', its still not a big gate. 
Your single diagonal would be fine.
If you were overly concerned, weld a vertical in the middle, butting up to either side of the diagonal....the gate ain't going anywhere  :Smilie:  
If you look at most 10' farm gates, they generally just have a single vertical in the middle.
If you look at rural fences that are 12' or 3.6m as a "common" gate length, some only have 1, 2 verticals or the zigzag but they also have mesh welded to give it further strength. 
edit:  come to think of it, my square hay bale feeder is similar dimensions and the gate I bade is simply a rectangle with a single middle verticle brace and timber screwed to it....hasnt moved a millimeter with horse's and cows pushing it daily.

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## PiL

> Assuming your talking about a welded metal gate frame out of say 2mm with pickets

  I hadn't considered metal as Im not handy with it at all.
I think ill stick with timber but thanks for the tips. I guess the physics of it are the same. 
I'll draw up some plans and see what it looks like on paper.

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## PiL

I need to attach a 100×100mm post to the brick wall for the hinges to be hung on, however ive never done this before. 
Could someone direct me to the right hardware for this job?
There seems to be a plethora of products...

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## PaulDW

How is the brick wall constructed, is there a pillar at the end? You might have to sink the post into the ground to support the gate.

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## droog

> I need to attach a 100×100mm post to the brick wall for the hinges to be hung on, however ive never done this before. 
> Could someone direct me to the right hardware for this job?
> There seems to be a plethora of products...

  Picture of said wall ?
If you are hanging a gate it will put a lot of leverage on the brickwork. As stated unless it has a supporting pillar do not rely on the wall to support the gate.

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## PiL

> How is the brick wall constructed, is there a pillar at the end? You might have to sink the post into the ground to support the gate.

   

> Picture of said wall ?
> If you are hanging a gate it will put a lot of leverage on the brickwork. As stated unless it has a supporting pillar do not rely on the wall to support the gate.

  The wall is as thick as the longways length of a brick. There is however a pillar at the end which is 2 x 2 longways length of brick in thickness. 
It is not exactly square as the property line is slightly askew. The concrete of the driveway comes right up to the wall. 
It's got ivy growing on it, which I'll remove and take a photo of. 
I hope it's sufficient to hang a gate!

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## PiL

Here's the brick wall/pillar.
It needs to support a timber gate span of 1.5m with 900mm cypress pickets. 
Would this be OK?
And if so, what's the best way to attach a timber post? 
Lots of attachment points to spread the load im assuming.

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## Whitey66

Despite what the "Three Little Pigs" story says, bricks are not the best thing to swing a heavy gate off. You really need to put your post a long way into the ground as I don't think the bricks alone will handle it.
Steel frames would also be best for the gates with timber pickets screwed on.
How much fall is there across that driveway, it appears in the photos to be a lot.

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## PiL

hmm... so drill post hole in the concrete hey. 
i do have a friend that is a concreter and probably could do it for me. 
having said that, i want to build a carport too which would also need holes drilled into the concrete. 
Maybe it needs to be done as one big job. 
well that puts a dampener on things. 
i want to build said carport in front of the house AND within 900mm of the boundary - i need to get council approval for that first. fml.
(council where i live has a blanket rule that carports be behind the front facade of the house and 900mm from the side boundary, despite the fact that many houses contravene this rule on my street. most of our driveways are laid on the boundary line) 
Thanks Whitey66. have noted that you also recommend a metal gate.

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## ForeverYoung

Unless the brick pillar was built to have a gate swing off it then it probably won't stay upright for long. 
If you put a roller/wheel on the bottom of the gate that will take some of the leverage off the pillar, but tricky with that slope - will need to be spring loaded? 
Just thinking aloud...
Dig a big hole on the driveway side of the pillar and put in a post as tho that alone was supporting the gate, and attach the post to the pillar.
When you dig the hole you will probably hit the pillar footings, if you leave them you could have a steel post fabricated to dogleg the footing so as to get the required depth. Steel would allow you a smaller profile for the post too.
Alternatively you might find when you dig the hole you might be able to drop a long stirrup post in there which gets around the footing then timber post in the stirrup and bolt the post to the brick pillar.

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