Our front gate, which is now 4 years old, started sagging enough recently that it wouldn’t latch any more. I was a little disappointed by the company that built it, but they’re out of business, so no point in calling them out. Anyway, it’s a common enough problem that there are numerous solutions for bracing a gate so it won’t sag. After consulting with my sweetie, I got this black metal bar on Amazon which comes with nice clear directions and all the parts you need except for a drill, a screwdriver, a 3/4” socket wrench, and a 3/4” open end wrench, all of which I had.
Took me about an hour end-to-end, and that included over ten minutes getting all the parts out of the shipping tube it came in, and removing and reattaching the strike plate with longer screws (I replaced steel #6x¾ screws with brass #8x1 screws) , as the ones installed with the gate were no longer holding well. The best part was that I didn’t have to take the gate down, and could adjust it easily with a socket wrench.
And here’s the finished gate. No more sag, and I’ve got a couple inches of adjustment left on the brace. I didn’t get the bottom bracket on quite straight, but it seems to be holding well. The brackets are held by #10x1¼ screws.
Not the usual cable with turnbuckle that everyone has, looks plenty tough! That does look like a tight fit in the wall, guessing that gate in any NM "standard" opening with 1" of gap would still be considered in great shape for another decade 😀
Anyway, repair will give you time to dream up something in style and maybe ipe for eventual replacement!
The top of the gate has a strip of copper over the top of it to keep water out of the end grain on the vertical stiles.
The fact that it uses a standard door latch rather than a gate latch means the fit has to be more precise, and they sold that as a feature. But they didn’t sell the joints on the gate loosening up enough that it would no longer latch after four years. I wonder if they used TB I instead of II or III.
The cable and turnbuckle fix was what I initially went shopping for, but this looked a lot more appealing to my sweetie, so here we are.
As for making a replacement, I also need to make or buy two new doors for my shop due to poor fit on the doors there from the same (out of business) company, and that’s a bigger deal, because the current doors let any rain falling when there’s an east wind in to ruin the shop floor right inside the door.
Splint, there were gaps at the joints before I cranked down the bolt on the brace. But they wouldn’t come completely apart.
I heard of a few neighbors who had projects done and then had to wait weeks on a door. I’m not sure of the details, but if you can’t deliver, and the products don’t last… well, that ain’t good.
It’s on backwards if it were made of wood and operated in compression. It’s metal, and in tension, so has to go the other way. It’s pulling the gate back together to make up for the joints that aren’t holding.
I see Devin T's point, you'd expect the brace to support from the bottom hinge, so just looks a little unconventional. Obviously you have followed the instructions, can't help but wonder though if a jockey wheel offering support on the sagging stile would be a bit less intrusive.
