Southgate

This is the new gate on the south fence.  This is the third frame that I have built for a fence gate.  With each one I get a little more understanding.  There are a lot of gates that are constructed as part of the fence, and then you make some strategic cuts, add some hinges, and a latch, then its a gate...

No...  A gate is a door, it needs a frame.  You want it to stay square, right?

 

 

The horizontal pieces on this one are cut with a large radial arm saw to make sure they are nicely square.  The vertical pieces hold the horizontal pieces in place with 4 inch lag screws which are countersunk into the vertical pieces.  So, you can't see the hardware that is holding the frame together.  The hinges span the joint between the vertical piece, and the horizontal piece.  This adds a little more hardware to lock the frame pieces together.  As the wood dries out the frame will loosen a bit, and the lag screws can be tightened to regain any lost rigidity.

The old gate, by comparison, had no frame.  There were several pieces of wood added to a fence section which were intended to keep the gate rigid over time.  It had nails as fasteners, so you don't have the option of tightening the old hardware.  I did add a number of deck screws to tighten it up over the years, but it was still a floppy mess.  The hinges were attached to the upper most, and lower most horizontal pieces.  Then the pickets held all of the horizontal pieces together with nails.  There was one vertical structural member on the latch side of the gate, mostly to hold the latch.

On the new gate the hinges, and latch are attached to the frame directly.  The old gate had both the hinges, and the latch attached through the pickets.  This is another area where the gate will loose rigidity through the shrinkage as the wood dries out.

Probably what we like best about the new gate is that it opens inward towards the house, and is mostly out of the way when you are moving stuff through the gate.  The old gate opened outward, away from the house, and was all the way in the way when you were moving stuff through the gate.

With the gate opening inward I was able to hide all the gate hardware from the outside perspective.  This gives the new South Fence, and Southgate a nice clean appearance...