Pro Fence Builder Reacts to DIY Gate Build 

Agreed!

I guess he's not in the business of teaching, just criticizing.

@@fborquez99 I actually found a video on his page that does show a gate build.

@@fborquez99 Of course he isn't in the business of teaching... he's in the business of building them himself.

I was about to say the same.

Me too.......except for the fact that they've nearly doubled in price in the past 18 months!!

I just put some eye bolts in and run a loop of fencing wire. Then I tighten it with dowel rod.

Turnbuckles can warp a gate...

Very welcome, appreciate you watching and weighing in!

Good to hear I’m not the only one!

Exactly. Do it right and you only have to do it once. He saved time when building it but he's gonna have to spend the same amount of time or more to fix it once it inevitably begins working improperly. On the bright side his friends won't be asking him to help build their gate lol.

His main issue was that he didn’t realize his house exterior wall isn’t straight, and he should have placed a post near the wall to hang the gate off of, not the house itself.

Missed opportunity when he cut the 2x6 header & footer to fit inside the 2x4, if he reversed that, gone with the X brace everything would have been much better. Over building is fine, but I think I would have gone with 3 hinges.

all they do is create water traps that rot your timber faster at the attachment points

😂

I appreciate you sharing your experience, we’re actually looking into the adjust-a-gate system right now!

Great point!

The only tools as the most basic, especially if your not gonna use them often is a cheep cordless or corded drill, mitre saw or hand mitre box, set of screw and drill bits, and a 3ft level. Also maybe a long string for leveling and making posts the same height. You can dig fence posts with a shovel if necessary but a decent post hole digger along with a shovel makes the job a lot easier.

I appreciate the feedback!

😂 fair point

I fabricate wrought iron gates. Theres A Lot of prep into building a Quality gate. The DIY network has made our trades a nightmare, as now every Harry Homeowner and Krafty Karen thinks they are engineers and technicians. Granted it creates work in the long run for us handyman types, but going behind shotty workmanship is never ideal. I wish people would just call the pro from the get-go. Great channel👍

It always 'looks' simple....

​@@norfolk7573Heah, iron work especially requires a lot of planning to get it right.

It would be easier to help you with a photo, twisting could mean any number of things in regards of a gate. But generally all twisting is caused by the wood drying out or improper joint construction on the gate frame. With a pic I could give more direct advice to your situation.

Thanks for watching!

Agreed!

Sometimes results matter.

If you're in the business of throwing away money and not improving your skill set then sure...

I did something similar with my porch gate. Its about 3ft by 3ft. Its been on for over a year and there is zero sag so far. I would imagine with larger gates it might become a problem, but I like the idea of two points taking the load.

Makes perfect sense, I appreciate you sharing your process!

Seems like doing it this way would allow the swinging side of the gate to be kind of floppy, especially if your latch was at the top rail.

I appreciate it, thanks for subscribing!

3 or 4 years? It wont last that long

relax dude. it's just a fence. If he hired a "professional" it would have cost thousands and no guarantee a professional would do a better job.

Yep. What it really does is forms 2 triangles. Ever notice that triangles exist everywhere support is required. It's because a 3 sided figure cannot be changed in shape by pushing or pulling as there are only 3 pivots. A four sided figure can pivot at all 4 corners if squeezed from opposite corners on a diagonal (top right and bottom left or vice versa). Yes, you can try this at home. Use 3 small strips of wood and make a triangle with only one screw (or nail) in each of the 3 "corners". Then do the same thing with 4 strips for the rectangle. Have fun.

Thanks Roger!

All fair points!

😂 fair point.

I haven’t used them myself but I’ve heard they work well!

@@JoeEverest thanks for input !

Having a metal plate attaching the two members doesn't really do anything beyond what just screwing them together directly would do. Basically, the steel plate 100% ensures that the heads of those screws aren't going to be pulled apart from each other under normal conditions. BUT, it does nothing to prevent the ends of the screws from being pulled through the wood. As you said, one big cause of sagging gates is that the fasteners fail when trying to transfer the load from the unsupported end through the other members to the hinge post. There will just be too much load for a nail or a screw to hold indefinitely and it will pull through the wood. Often you will find that the fasteners have bent over time. Screwing the boards together through a metal plate doesn't really prevent or help with that type of failure. Of course the load is not high enough to break the steel plate, so that plate is going to hold the heads of those screws and its going to stop those screw heads from moving apart from each other. But the wood is the same; whether you screw through it directly or have a steel plate between your screws, the amount of 'grip' that the wood has on the fastener is the same because you haven't done anything to strengthen the fibers inside the wood. So if you were worried that over time the wood will expand, contract, twist, etc., that is still going to happen; the steel plate doesn't change the cycle of wood gaining and losing moisture. And when it does happen, that wood is going to push and pull on the fastener with basically exactly the same force as it would have without the steel plate. And if the wood isn't strong enough to hold onto the end of that nail or screw, well it still isn't strong enough after you put a steel plate on the outside. Over time, it will pull through just the same, only difference being there's a nice steel plate over by the head.

Fair point, I would encourage you to build a gate following this example and let us know how it turns out.

I just finished my own fence 3 days ago. I used pretty much the same setup for the door. The door ended up larger than I originally planned on. So I may be doing some research to make it a little sturdier. I made a few mistakes when putting in my posts. It wasn’t easy working around the water line and a tree stump. My biggest mistake was setting one post a few inches too far to the left so my boards didn’t fit and I had to modify it. I could have sworn I checked it before I set it. I had 2 more posts that were just about 2 inches off but I was able to manage it. I was glad to go back to work!! lol By the way if anyone reads this I highly recommend the Ryobi auger. I just wish it had a 10 inch bit for a bit more wiggle room when you aren’t a professional and are just winging it!!

I certainly understand where you’re coming from, but I’ve also seen real-world demonstrations and the dry-set posts looked almost identical to the wet-set posts. Even down to the core

His concrete is holding a post in place, not supporting a skyscraper; hence no rebar either.

Thanks, I appreciate you watching!

I’ll check them out, I appreciate you watching and commenting!

Yeah, really should have been a 72” opening.

The only other option I can think of is a cantilever end, but I am not a professional by any means.

Agreed!

Glad to have you, welcome to the #FenceFam!

Not the POST depth 30 inches; the HOLE depth 30 inches. The bottom of the hole holds concrete only, the top holds the post surrounded by concrete.. Common misunderstanding. Good solid unit when the concrete sets.

OH, I think we're saying the same thing. Sorry I misred your statment I think. But it's just slightly more concrete.

Or you're maybe suggesting a wider hole for more concrete. The hole should be 30 inches deep or deeper, period. Think about the sidewise action caused by a wind. The deeper the post/concrete thingy is buried, the better the sidewise support.

----- or simply use a straight 2x4 turned on edge instead of laid flat - that looked to be less than 8 feet of fence and a straight 2x4 8 feet will NOT sag under its own weight when turned on edge -- st least the guy had enough sense to put his 2x4 rails on edge - In my experience at least 80% of wood fences put 2x rails flat on horizontal whether DIY or "professional" fence installers do them - we refer to them as "roller coaster fences"