Double Driveway Gates

[rvp]

Hi all.

I'm looking to put a pair of 6ft high and 6ft wide (12ft total) wooden gates where currently i have fencing and a single access gate.

Questions are as follows.

1. What Posts should i use? i'm thinking 6x6 but can only get 2.4mtr tanalised lengths locally - would this be ok seeing as i'm looking to bury 2/2.5 ft in the ground?

I also have a concrete fence post could i utilise that at all?


2.What fixings should i use?

3. What hinge size is required? 30"??


Apoligies for all the questions

Cheers.[/quote]

 

[r896neo]

I did one recently the same size as yours.

i used 8 inch square posts 8ft long with 2 feet buried in a good load of concrete. Do not be tempted to use postcrete for this kind of job.

As for hinges large galvanised hook and band type are up to the job and easy to fit.

For fixings obviously the hinge bands are bolted to the gates and get the largest screws you can into the hook. 6mm x 100mm or similar

 

[rvp]

I did one recently the same size as yours.

i used 8 inch square posts 8ft long with 2 feet buried in a good load of concrete. Do not be tempted to use postcrete for this kind of job.

As for hinges large galvanised hook and band type are up to the job and easy to fit.

For fixings obviously the hinge bands are bolted to the gates and get the largest screws you can into the hook. 6mm x 100mm or similar

Thanks for the reply r896neo.

8x8! i can only seem to get 6x6 locally and even that was hard to get! most only did 4x4

I was going to use Postcrete funnily enough! i'm intrigued as to why thats a bad idea as it seems to get good feedback.

Thanks again.

 

[rvp]

Here's a picture, looking to get rid of the Gate and two fence panels either side.

I'm looking to keep the concrete posts to the left and right and as i said maybe utilise the left one to hang the Gate off ( wooden baton perhaps?)

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[r896neo]

The conc posts will have to come out, they were never designed to hold the weight of a gate and are almost certainly not up to the job. Not to mention its in the middle of where your gates will go.

Postcrete has very little stone in it and because its rapid setting it doesn;t hydrate throroughly which in essence means only maybe 2/3 of the cement in it actual chemically sets, most of it just never gets enough water.

Therefore it is much weaker than proper concrete. For a few fence posts thats fine but not for gate posts.

Do not underestimate the massive forces that a swinging 6ft gate puts on its post.

Personally i would centre the gates and have a small section of fence at each side.

 

[rvp]

The conc posts will have to come out, they were never designed to hold the weight of a gate and are almost certainly not up to the job. Not to mention its in the middle of where your gates will go.

Postcrete has very little stone in it and because its rapid setting it doesn;t hydrate throroughly which in essence means only maybe 2/3 of the cement in it actual chemically sets, most of it just never gets enough water.

Therefore it is much weaker than proper concrete. For a few fence posts thats fine but not for gate posts.

Do not underestimate the massive forces that a swinging 6ft gate puts on its post.

Personally i would centre the gates and have a small section of fence at each side.

Thanks again, good info.

Regards centering the Gates i was thinking to do that and obviously the centre concrete post will have to come out whatever i decide but i was looking to leave a little room to the right to have a small access Gate.

 

[r896neo]

that is sensible if you use that access by foot too.

 

[rvp]

Hello me again

Quick question r896neo if you're about or to anyone else if they can't be bothered to reply

Could i use this instead of digging a hole? d i'm thinking it would be easier when it came to replacing the post rather than having to dig concrete out!

 

[r896neo]

You wish! Certainly not for a gate post.

 

[rvp]

You wish! Certainly not for a gate post.

Worth a try

Hows about this method that i came across on my travels!

Tight pack gravel around the foot of
the post in the hole and up to about 6 inches
shy of the surface and then concrete on top of that.
Form the surface into a run off.

This way when you come to dig out in the future you only have
to break out a corner and the old post stump should pull out of the gravel fairly easily.

Sound plausible? the bit in bold is what i like the sound of when i come to replacing them.

 

[r896neo]

Again not for a gate post. A 6 or 8 inch treated softwood post should last for at least 10 hopefully 15 years. Just make sure to bring the concrete up out of the ground and bench it away from the post to shed water.

 

[JohnD]

those are heavy gates and will pull the gate posts together so that the tops lean in.

One clever way to stop it without a huge concrete block is to dig a trench between the two post holes, and cast a concrete beam, reinforced, monolithithically with the post blocks so that the forces act againt each other.

you can use the beam as a sill, or if you prefer put it a little below ground level.

Alternatively you can use a lintel between the tops of the two posts.

 

[ladylola]

All good advice.
Just to throw another idea into the mix . Something I've seen done and have tried myself once with success is to use a steel cable running from the top of the post at an angle of 45* or so back to a concrete block anchor. Works to stop the posts tipping towards each other and stops the gates binding. Perhaps a little Heath Robinson and not too pretty and doesn't really help if the prevailing winds are at 90* to the gates so you will still need a decent amount of post in the ground.

 

[dhutch]

The bigger the post and the more in the ground the better, basicaly, which is fairly common sence.

I put in a 12ftx6ft panneled gate last summer and found you can get 9/10ft 8x8" posts, although there is a step change in cost when you go above a 8x8x8 so as I was on a cost drive I used an 8ft post, putting 3ft in the ground and having the post a foot shorter than the gate and then panneled the post to look like the fence alongside the gate.

I didnt really like the idea of using a stack load of concrete, its a sod to mix much without a mixer, a pain to get out when in 20 years time you need a new post, and not very ecologically unsound to boot. Google suggested it wasnt really needed, even for what is a pretty large single gate, so I have instead just packed it hard with sand/gravel mix (often sold as 'balast') and just put a small 4inch tall of so concrete cap round the top. The drive is conreate and the cap bridges the gap between the post and the drive, which ofcuase works in my favour and would also work with block paving or if you have a linear drain over the threshold, etc.

Cant remember what I paid for my 8x8x8, but it wasnt a great deal, tanalised, and then painted by me to match the fence. Ball park figures it was £50 for the post £50 for the iron work, and £100 for the wood to make the gate.


Daniel

 

[rvp]

Excellent, cheers to all very informative.

I'll have to go with 6x6 though as i can't find any 8x8.

I'm hoping 8ft ones are tall enough too because i cant seem to find 9/10ft ones anywhere.