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| Outside view |
This project found me while working on another client's house. I was finishing up a replacement Cedar fence when a neighbor hailed me over to take a look at his gate. It was a crumbling, untreated pile of wood that had long been pulled apart after the posts misaligned.
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| Bonfire fodder |
I informed him that I would be unable to duplicate that design, because it was terrible. The poor thing was given no real chance from day one. It shall make an excellent beach fire somewhere and hopefully toast a marshmallow or two before turning to embers.
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| Inside view |
Think of how often we use gates to get in and out of our yards every day. Many use one to get into the front door or bypass the front door to the side and into the kitchen. Yet most are built very cheap and the hardware gets beat up and fails to close properly. This realisation helped inspire me to start making my own gate "latch" hardware. Instead of a cheap catch system, I use a solid metal plate and strong rare-earth magnets.
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| Steel plate & magnetic catch |
The challenge was coaxing the existing post back into plumb and adapting the hardware to the old side run of fence that was still standing (for now). A turnbuckle system worked perfectly to get the post top back towards the house. It can also be tweaked in either direction if need be.
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| Turnbuckle system doing the job admirably |
It does look rather strange with the old & new side by side. But there is a functional gate there now that should be trouble free for a long time.
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| Really guys? Chalk still on the post? |
