Side Gate Design Ideas

A garden gate or side gate marks the border between private and public areas of a home. It is meant for keeping kids or pets in the backyard where they belong and strangers outside for maintaining privacy and safety. However elbow grease is needed to assemble one, learning to build a gate is really quite simple.

A gate that is installed at the side of the house or as an entrance into the garden is generally 6 feet high. It must be constructed of weather resistant materials and corrosion resistant hardware for enduring the vagaries that weather presents. Using the correct material will also prevent gate posts from weakening and wearing or tearing.

Posts for a size of 6 feet tall gate are generally 5x5 lumber and cut to a suitable height. Further, the posts have to be bolted to another fixed structure or can be held up at the top with a header or beam for stabilizing them. Posts can also act like walk-through structures like a pergola or arbor. The holes into which the posts are concreted should have a size of 2 feet deep and 1 foot squared. Extra support can be provided by running a timber or concrete bridge below ground level between the two posts for keeping them straight.

For determining the gate's width, it has to be proper and granted enough clearance on either side of the gate. 1 inch has to be deducted from the width between the two posts that have been set up. This will allow a half inch of clearance. The gate's frame (2 long sides and 2 short sides) should be constructed on level ground from 2x3 pieces of lumber. A fifth piece of lumber that is cut to fit between the 2 long sides is to be used in order to know how to build a gate with a strong frame.

The frame of the gate must be squared by adjusting the frame until the two opposite diagonal measurements become identical. This will ensure the corners of the frame to be at right angles and the frame is square. A piece of 2x3 lumber is used for supporting the frame that is laid slantwise from corner to corner and tied with the help of galvanized nails. The gate's vertical boards have a size of 1x6 fence boards and they have to be nailed with the frame using 2.5 inch galvanized nails that are flat headed for stability. These must equally overhang the top and bottom of the frame while lying flush with its edges. The width of the last board has to be cut for maintaining the flush fit. The gate is hung between its posts so that it sits 2 inches of the ground.

Side gates can either be made from fabricated steel or strong durable wood such as Oak, Siberian Larch or Scandinavian Oak. Wooden gates have become increasingly popular as they fit in seamlessly with most gardens and outside environments.

There are advantages to having wooden gates - and below we'll have a look at those:

Wooden Gates Advantages:

a) Durability: Along with the woods above there are numerous other wood types which are extremely durable and can withstand a huge amount of damage and are especially beneficial where a lot of physical damage may occur.

b) Rot & Fungus Resistant: Whereas metal is extremely prone to rust, wood is naturally resistant to any kind of deterioration by, for example, rot or fungus. Life spans for wood like Siberian Larch can be over 150 years in outdoor environments.

c) Sustainability: For those people who are trying to be as self-sustainable as possible using wood is something that can be sustained by the proper growing of trees on your land (or nearby acreages). Trying to create your own metal fabricated gates would obviously be a lot costlier and difficult to organise!

d) Stability: Wooden side gates (the ones listed and similar specialty woods) are prone to minimal expansion when exposed to heat or moisture.

e) Aesthetically Pleasing: Wooden side gates can become a stunning feature in any home and provide a beautiful, natural segue from the front of the garden to the back garden.