Timber garden gates
Side access gates, garden gates and driveway gates, built in timber to match the fence around them. A gate moves every day, so the posts it hangs on and the way it is braced matter more than anything else about it.
About timber garden gates
Most gate problems are sag: the gate drops at the latch side until it drags on the ground or will not close. That comes from two things: a hanging post that has moved, and a brace fitted the wrong way round.
The diagonal brace on a ledged and braced gate must run upwards from the bottom of the hinge side towards the latch side. Fitted that way it is in compression and holds the gate up; fitted the other way it does almost nothing, and the gate starts to drop within a season.
- TypesSide, garden, driveway
- Matched toCloseboard, picket, batten
- Gate postsHeavier than fence posts
- Most common faultSagging
How a gate is built and hung
Gate posts first
A gate post carries a swinging load that a fence post never sees. Hanging posts are heavier and set deeper than the posts either side of them.
Ledged and braced
Gates are built on horizontal ledges with a diagonal brace, then faced to match the fence: feather-edge boards for closeboard, pales for picket, slats for batten.
Hinges and latches sized to the gate
Heavy hinges spread the weight across the frame. Side gates get a latch and a bolt or lock on the garden side.
Wider openings
Driveway openings are usually a pair of gates, with a drop bolt holding the fixed leaf. Wider openings need heavier posts.
Is it the right choice?
We would rather point you to the right job than the bigger one. This is how we would advise on site.
Build new when
- The gate has dropped badly or the frame is rotten
- You are replacing the fence around it
- The opening needs to change width
Repair it when
- Only the hinges or latch have failed
- The hanging post has moved but the gate itself is sound
- A few boards are split on an otherwise solid frame
Timber garden gates, answered
Either the hanging post has moved, or the brace is fitted the wrong way. A loose post can often be reset and a wrongly braced gate rebraced, but a gate that has dropped badly is usually better rebuilt.
Yes. The gate is faced with the same boards, pales or slats as the fence so the run reads as one. New timber is paler until it weathers or is stained.
Usually, yes. A gate that opens inwards keeps its hinges on the garden side, where they cannot be undone from the street, and it does not swing across a shared path.
Related work
We work across London, with local pages for Barnet, Enfield, Finchley, Muswell Hill, Wood Green, Haringey, Camden, Hackney, Clapham, Wimbledon. See all areas we cover.
Get a written estimate
We measure the run, check the posts, the ground and the access, then put an itemised figure in writing. The visit and the estimate are free, and we reply within 24 hours.