Saturday, May 22, 2021

Building a gate

We have a broad elevated deck off the back side of the house. It's a beautiful deck, but there was no way to keep Mr. Darcy from taking the walkway around the side of the house, down the stairs, and out into the driveway. So ever since we moved in, we've just been blocking off the stairs with a piece of cattle panel. It was very annoying to have to move it out of the way whenever we used the steps.

So today Don decided his project would be to build a gate on the deck.


 He assembled all the tools and pieces...

...and started fitting things in place.

He began by building a frame to shorten the space. We didn't need a six-foot gate there.

These brackets help keep the 4x4s in place.

Then he built the gate frame and attached it with hinges.

Progress so far.

He also installed the clasp, which will help hold the gate frame in place while he installs the rails.

He made the rails as a stand-alone unit that he simply inserted into the gate frame and fastened in place.

Ta-da! Finalized gate. We still have to paint it, of course, but now Mr. Darcy can go out on the deck whenever he likes.

And at last we can get rid of that infernal chunk of cattle panel blocking the steps and use it somewhere less annoying.

8 comments:

  1. Don does beautiful work! It looks great.

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  2. It looks great! (Given your earlier post on prices, I am now looking at each of these as very precious project indeed).

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  3. We are building a gate for the exact same reason for our three labs. We never thought about building it with slats. Thanks for the idea and tips.

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  4. Excellent job! Now you only have about 30 more to go. :-)

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  5. A frequent conversation at my house is telling my husband how much I appreciate all of the things that he does around here. I couldn’t afford to pay someone for all of the work he does. I’m sure you feel the same way about Don.

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