gates

[shazr]

Hi I am diy unfriendly and my back gate has been knocked down and i want to fix it without buying a new one can anyone give me a detailed - plain english, idiot proof - plan please i would really appreciate it thanks sharon

[Thomzo]

Personally, I'd flutter my eyelashes at a neighbour and buy them a couple of bottles of wine if they did a good job.

[Andy Hamilton]

How big is the gate? Wood or metal? Attached to its own post or to a fence?

A gate is not just a gate you know

[shazr]

as far as i am concerned a gate is a gate - if you hadn't noticed i'm new to all this - wooden gate quite high wanna secure my garden before i start growing stuff except grass! and i need to attach surround so i can attach to wall and a wobbly fence

[Andy Hamilton]

Wooden gate, ok I assume attached to wood?

So by secure it do you mean put a lock on it or put it back up? anyway this should help.

You need more security if you are just growing grass.

[shazr]

If i was growing that grass I wouldn't have to put my own fence up and that was a facinating site however can you please point out the idiot proofness and plain english? - I once broke a hammer trying to hit a nail!

[Silver Ether]

can you post a picture of said gate and how its broke .... then you may get help easier...

[shazr]

don't have right equipment however could try and discribe brokenness, it ha a post that was attached to wall that is gone (its on theground so is gate and everyother bit of it) it was very rickety when i moved in the kids around here decided they could make it worse and they did!

[possum]

First of all, from the sound of it, you need to put the gate post back, if it has been knocked down then probably it was rotten, so you will need a new one. Remove all traces of the old one, dig a hole about a foot wide and a foot deep (deeper if it is a high gate post), mix up some concrete (buy a bag of ready mix) put the post in, then pour in the concrete. Check that the post is vertical using a spirit level.

Next for the gate, see what you can salvage from the old one, if you can great, if not, you will need several planks, length will depend on how high you need the gate to be lay the planks down on the ground, cut them to the correct length (again that depends on how high you need the gate). It is probably best to leave a slight gap between each plank if you are in a windy area.
Next measure a two planks to use as horizontal bits.. Nail this to all the vertical planks.
The next bit is the imporant bit, tak another plant, this will be the diagonal bit and you can't do with out it. lay it on the top, then make out the angle where it meets the horizontal bits and saw them at the appropriate angle (this will vary depending on height and width of the gate)
The fasten this to the vertical planks.

[shazr]

thanks possum that was exactly what i needed thanky you my work for the weekend! i'll let you know how it goes! sharon

[possum]

I hope that helped and please read through the typos. The diagonal piece is the important one, anything else is purely cosmetic