Garden Gate: Repair or Replace? A Hedge End Guide

A gate that drags, will not latch or has started to rot is one of the most common small jobs around Hedge End. The good news is that plenty of them can be put right without a new gate. The trick is knowing which problems are skin deep and which ones are not.

Usually repairable

• The gate has dropped and catches the ground. Very often the hinge screws have worked loose or pulled out of the timber. Refixing into sound wood, or moving the hinge slightly, can lift it back up.
• The latch no longer lines up. Usually a result of the gate dropping. Once the gate is back level, the latch or keep can be reset.
• One board is split or missing. If the rest of the gate is solid, a single board can be replaced and fixed back to the ledges.
• It sticks in wet weather. Timber swells when it is damp. Easing the edge that rubs, and leaving a sensible gap, usually cures it.

Usually time for a new gate

• The bottom of the boards is soft. Push a screwdriver into the base of a few boards. If it sinks in, the rot is likely spreading upwards and a patch will not last.
• The ledges or braces are rotten or split. These are what hold the gate square. Once they go, the whole gate loses its shape.
• Several boards are loose or missing. By the time you have replaced most of the boards, you have paid for a new gate without getting one.
• Old paint is peeling everywhere. Flaking paint on an old gate often hides wet, soft timber underneath.

What a replacement involves

A new gate is built to fit the existing opening, so the height, width and top shape can match the old one or be changed. Arched tops like the recent Hedge End job suit many side entrances; flat tops are simpler and a little cheaper. Hinges and latches that are still in good condition can often be reused, which keeps the cost down.

The posts or brick piers the gate hangs from matter too. A new gate hung on a rotten or leaning timber post will not stay straight for long, so the post is checked at the same time. Where a gate hangs on brick, the fixings into the wall are checked instead.

Getting an estimate

For a quick answer, send two or three photos through the estimate form: one of the whole gate from each side, and a close-up of the worst part. Say roughly how wide the opening is and whether it hangs on a timber post or a brick wall. That is usually enough for Isaac to tell you whether it is a repair or a replacement and give you a ballpark figure.