Timber gates guide

Start with what has to get through

Not what the gate should be called. What has to pass through the opening.

Why wide openings get two leaves

One long gate leaf is heavy, and all of that weight hangs off hinges on one side. Over time a leaf that is too wide for its hardware drops, drags on the ground and stops latching.

Splitting the opening into two leaves halves the width each set of hinges carries, and each leaf needs far less room to swing. On a driveway, where there is often a wall or a parked car close by, that clearance matters as much as the weight does.

The things that decide how a gate is built

A gate is not just a section of fence on hinges. These are the factors that actually drive it:

• The width of the opening measured where the gate will actually sit
• The weight of the leaf, which depends on the timber and the style. A hardwood gate is heavier than the same pine gate, and a capped gate is heavier than a plain one.
• Which way it swings, and whether there is clearance for it to open fully
• The fall of the ground across the opening, which sets the gap underneath and whether the leaf will foul the surface as it swings
• How it needs to be secured, and from which side
• Whether automation might be added later, because that affects how the opening is set out

Gate posts are not fence posts

This is where gates fail. A gate post carries a swinging load that changes every time the gate is used, and it carries it as leverage rather than straight down.

So gate posts are sized and set for that load rather than treated as ordinary posts in the run. 65mm x 65mm steel posts are commonly used for gate positions for exactly this reason. Like all posts they go 600mm deep with at least one full 20kg bag of concrete, and they can be filled with concrete up to a third of their length.

Matching the fence

A gate built from the same palings, to the same height and the same top line, reads as part of the boundary. A gate that does not match reads as a gate.

On a lap & cap fence this matters most, because the capping line is the strongest visual line in the fence. Carrying it across the gate and through the opening is what makes the run look continuous.

Gates can be built to match single paling, lap & cap, lapped only and hardwood single paling fencing.

Hardware

Hardware is chosen for the size and weight of the leaf rather than picked off a shelf.

• Hinges sized for the leaf, with adjustment where possible so the gate can be trued up
• A latch that suits how the gate is used and which side needs to be secured
• On a pair of gates, a drop bolt into the ground holds one leaf while the other swings
• Stops to prevent over-swinging, particularly on heavier leaves
• Locks where the gate needs to be secured

Pool area gates are a special case

If a gate forms part of a swimming pool barrier, it is regulated. How it has to behave, including its hardware and the direction it opens, is set by the requirements that apply to your property.

Those requirements are established before the gate is built, and compliance of a pool barrier is certified by your council or an accredited certifier rather than by us. We do not publish generic pool gate rules, because a generic answer can be wrong for your property.

Decorative tops

Lattice and decorative top panels can be built into timber gates, particularly driveway gates, and painted finishes are common on gates even where the fence is left uncoated.

It is one of the few places on a boundary where a bit of detail reads as considered rather than fussy, because a gate is a defined object rather than a long run.