Gates are the most common piece of yard steelwork people build themselves, and the one that most often gets rebuilt. The frame twists during welding, the leaves stop meeting in the middle, a cantilever gate starts catching in the first frost. Here is what to settle before cutting metal.
Sliding or swing
Swing gates are simpler and cheaper: two frames, four hinges, two posts. They need clear space to open — roughly half the driveway width on each side, free of snow, cars and slope. If the drive falls towards the street, swing gates will either open inwards only or drag on the ground.
Cantilever sliding gates ignore slope and snow in front of them, but need room to the side: the opening width plus about a third. They also need a proper foundation for the roller carriages and a heavier leaf. Rule of thumb: 4–5 m of free wall or fence beside the drive means sliding is more convenient; without it, choose swing.
Frame: which tube section
The outer frame is normally welded from square tube 60×40 or 60×60 with a 2 mm wall, with 40×20 or 20×20 internal ribs. Anything wider than 4 m needs 60×60 — on a lighter section the leaf flexes and the cladding rattles in wind.
Two details get skipped most often. A diagonal brace: a rectangle without one is a hinge and folds into a parallelogram under its own weight. And weld sequence: running a continuous bead around the perimeter pulls the frame towards the last weld and twists it. Weld in short runs, crosswise, letting the frame cool between passes.
Cantilever gates: counterweight and foundation
A cantilever leaf rests on two roller carriages beside the opening, not on the ground. Hence the main rule: the tail — the part that runs past the opening — must be at least a third of the gate width. A shorter tail means a longer lever and roller wear within one season.
The foundation is not a concrete pad but a reinforced block with an embedded plate the carriages are welded to, cast below the frost line. Above it, the gate goes out of alignment in spring. The cantilever beam runs the full length of the leaf including the tail, and it is what gives the whole assembly its stiffness.
Swing gates: posts and hinges
With swing gates the posts decide everything. For a 2 m leaf the minimum is 100×100 tube with a 3–4 mm wall, concreted below the frost line with ribs inside the concrete. A lighter post eventually leans, and the leaves stop meeting.
Hinges are chosen with margin: their combined rated load should be twice the weight of the leaf. Weld them after the leaf is clad and at its final weight, otherwise the geometry shifts. Heavy leaves get three hinges instead of two, with the lower one on a reinforcing plate.
Cladding options
- Corrugated sheet — cheapest and fastest, but turns the leaf into a sail, which loads the rollers on a sliding gate.
- Steel picket — wind passes through, lighter than corrugated, the yard is partly visible.
- Louvres — private but ventilated; dearer than picket.
- Perforated sheet — a solid plane with a pattern, which means perforation cut to size rather than a stock sheet.
Fix cladding with rivets or countersunk screws. Do not weld corrugated sheet to the frame — the coating burns away at each weld and corrosion starts there.
What to build yourself and what to order
A sensible split: concrete work, installation and cladding are realistic to do yourself, while cutting and welding the frame belong where the tooling is. Tube cut to length and mitre gives joints that need no grinder fitting, welding on an assembly table holds the geometry, and powder coating lays down an even film that will not peel after a year the way aerosol paint does.
We make gates, wickets and fences to the size of your opening — from a bare frame for your own cladding to a finished, coated leaf.
