General Gate Hanging Information

I’ve just spent half an hour googling and spent the whole time on just one site and discovered there’s more to this gate malarkey than I thought. So sit back and let me tell you aaaaaaall about it!

Fist you must decide where the gate is going. If it’s at the end of the driveway, do you want a field gate, or a pair of estate gates, or a pair of driveway gates?

If it’s at the end of the path is it to be a side gate or a garden gate?

Field gates mimic the ones that farmers drive tractors through but they are fancier and far, far more expensive than any tight wad farmer would pay for.

Estate gates are the ones people with high walls have, They seriously keep out the poor people. After all, people with high walls are important, they have a right not to be gawped at by the likes of you and me.

I’ll assume you can work out what a pair of driveway gates look like.

Now you must decide on whether you want wooden or metal gates. We who know no better, think that metal gates are wrought iron but that’s what blacksmiths produce in a forge with a hammer and an anvil and sparks and big scary arms.

What we think of as wrought iron is in fact just bent steel. If you want to know the difference between iron and steel, go to my family tree, steel is what my dad did, iron is what my mother did.

Once you’ve decided on the material, you must decide on the design. There are lots for each type of gate, with names like the “Stoke Poges” and the “Chalfont St Giles”. Ahem.

Then there’s what sort of wood you want both for the gate and the posts. The height and width have to be considered, what sort of hinges and catches (furniture) do you want and what sort of finish, stained, varnished, painted etc.

Oh yes, are you a physical sort of a person, the type who is capable of opening or closing gates all by yourself, or are you rich and just like to press a button to get things done, it’s so much more convenient after all and electric opening systems are actually a snip at around £1500 a throw!

I’ll tell you what I’m glad I don’t have to decide, I’ll just keep vaulting over the wall!