Fence Gate

[nelsone]

I have someone that wants me to build a fence for him and he wants a driveway gate with an opener installed. My question is regarding the construction of the gate. How would you go about building this to make it strong enough?

 

[DaveO]

At 5' x 5'9" your not talking about a very large gate panel if you go with a double opening sytem and two panels. I would make the frame (shown in brown in your drawing) M&T with the cross bracing mitered in under compression. Then I would make the panels (lighter tan areas) let into grooves in the frame, floating. I would think that doing that would add considerable strength by keeping everything under compression. The trick would be to keep a nice grain match across each panel so the horizonal boards would look like the were continous.
Also you should choose your opening sytem before building the gates to make sure that you have an attachment point for it in the proper location.
Look up Apollo gate systems for a real good opener mechanism, we use it on our 14' wide deer fence gates, and I haven't had any problems with them yet. They come as solar or line voltage power depending on your location.
Dave

 

[nelsone]

Thanks guys. The horizontal slats are going to be spaced about 3/4", but I think, if I inset them in the gate frame, I should be fine. I wasn't sure if I would need to add any steel to support them.

Dave, I've found a pretty good price on PT lumber. How much problem do you think I'll have with warping and twisting if I use the PT for the horizontal slats? I plan to put the cup toward the posts.

 

[DaveO]

Dave, I've found a pretty good price on PT lumber. How much problem do you think I'll have with warping and twisting if I use the PT for the horizontal slats? I plan to put the cup toward the posts.

I would spend the extra to get it Kiln Dried After Treatment (KDAT). Regular PT lumber straight from the treatment facility is going to have about a 100%+ MC and will shrink, twist, check, cup, warp and otherwise become unsatisfactory as it dries and reaches its EMC. It makes no difference which way you face the growth rings, the wood will respond to any differential in drying by cupping toward that side. KDAT is generally re-dried to around 19/15% MC, and would be much more stable in an outdoor environment, plus it is generally a better grade of lumber (#1) than normal PT stock (often
#2). Either that or purchase your stock well ahead of time and allow it is air dry until it reaches its EMC.

Dave