Hi, i recently had a quote for steel framed composite clad gates, which was a little more than our budget.
Complicating matters is that it's a "gate and a half", the total width being 1350mm. I was going to have one leaf at 900 and one at 450mm.
The thought occurred to me that if I omit the steel, i could fairly easily make the gates myself. There are numerous suppliers of recycled plastic "lumber" online, and i could knock together a pair of gates to perfectly fit the gap. I've done a simple drawing of the back of the gates, attached.
Could i make the whole thing out of 120mm x 20mm planks, given the stability of the material? Or would i still be better using t&g for the facing material?
In going to use a long drop bolt to secure the small leaf (doubling up the bottom rail to hold this), and some kind of key lock to secure the large leaf to the small leaf. Then use a batten on the front to act as a stop. Heavy duty T hinges will be used.
What are the pitfalls, if any, of working with this material? Does it cut like regular timber? Do i need special fixings? Can you foresee any problems with this design?
Complicating matters is that it's a "gate and a half", the total width being 1350mm. I was going to have one leaf at 900 and one at 450mm.
The thought occurred to me that if I omit the steel, i could fairly easily make the gates myself. There are numerous suppliers of recycled plastic "lumber" online, and i could knock together a pair of gates to perfectly fit the gap. I've done a simple drawing of the back of the gates, attached.
Could i make the whole thing out of 120mm x 20mm planks, given the stability of the material? Or would i still be better using t&g for the facing material?
In going to use a long drop bolt to secure the small leaf (doubling up the bottom rail to hold this), and some kind of key lock to secure the large leaf to the small leaf. Then use a batten on the front to act as a stop. Heavy duty T hinges will be used.
What are the pitfalls, if any, of working with this material? Does it cut like regular timber? Do i need special fixings? Can you foresee any problems with this design?
