Timber Gates SydneyBuilt Square, Hung to Stay Square
Almost every failed timber gate fails the same way: the frame racks, the latch stops meeting, and the bottom corner drags on the path. It is a bracing and hardware problem, not a timber problem, and it is solved when the gate is built rather than after.
Why Timber Gates Sag, and How We Stop It
A gate is a rectangle that is held up on one edge only, so gravity spends every day trying to pull it into a parallelogram. The fix is a diagonal brace running from the bottom hinge corner up to the top latch corner, in compression. Get that diagonal the wrong way round and it does nothing. A great many gates in Sydney backyards have it the wrong way round.
The second half is the post and the hardware. A gate post carries the whole leaf and takes a shock load every time the gate is shut, so it goes deeper and in more concrete than a line post — and on a double gate or a wide vehicle opening it is heavier stock again. We hang on adjustable hinges so the gate can be trued up later without pulling anything apart, because timber moves and a gate that cannot be adjusted is a gate that will eventually bind.
Timber Gate Types
Side access gates
The standard pedestrian gate down the side of the house, matched to the fence. Usually the one that gets used most and maintained least.
Double gates
Two leaves for a wider opening — trailer, boat or garden access. Drop bolt into the ground on the passive leaf so the active leaf has something solid to latch to.
Feature entry gates
Wider boards, a shaped top or a horizontal slat face for the front entrance. Same bracing rules underneath the good looks.
Pool-area gates
Where a gate forms part of a pool barrier it has to be self-closing and self-latching, and open away from the pool. We build those to the barrier requirements rather than as ordinary gates.
What Makes a Gate Last
| Bracing | Diagonal in compression, bottom hinge corner to top latch corner |
|---|---|
| Gate posts | Larger section than line posts, set deeper and in more concrete |
| Hardware | Adjustable hinges so the gate can be trued up as timber moves |
| Timber in ground | H4-treated, capped where exposed end grain would sit wet |
| Pool-area gates | Self-closing, self-latching and opening away from the pool |
| Clearance | Set for the path fall, so the leaf never drags as it swings |
General guidance only. The figures marked with an asterisk above, and the rules in this table, come from AS 1926.1 and the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008. They were correct when this page was written. Councils apply their own controls on top, and heritage conservation areas, bushfire prone land, corner blocks and easements all change what applies. Confirm with your council and NSW Fair Trading before you commit to anything.
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