ideal gate width

El Kabong!

Hi,

This is the entrance to my land (gate on the right).



The gate 11ft and is loose.
To the left is a stone wall/pillar which I will uncover and tidy up.

Ash tree to the right.

I am going to put in 2 sleeper posts set back a few foot to give myself space to pull safely off the road, and am wondering about the ideal gate width.

Personally, I will only ever have a small tractor, but I don't want to have to do jobs twice, and am wondering what the ideal minimum gate width is, if I should ever want machinery coming on to the land.

I don't envision anything major happening, but perhaps if you want a 20 tonne of something delivered and they need an angle to back in etc etc...

Now if I want to open it up I will have to remove that ash tree on the right but for now I was thinking of putting a bigger gate in just behind it, to leave the option of removing the tree there.

Is 11 foot enough or what should I do?

JohnBoy

I think 11 foot will be fine.

as I said over on octane it's a pretty decent road for someone to swing wide and turn in and you're not going to be bringing big machinery in and out very often.

Consider hinging the gate on the back of the post and allowing it to swing back into the field. looking at the slope this might not be possible but if it is it means you're not robbing the gap of precious inches.



You're not going to have silage contractors charging in and out of it so take your time and it'll be grand.

rocketjk

Make it 11 ft and you'll regret it, bearing in mind most contractors have 10 ft mowers. for the extra few bob go and make it 15 ft. You'll have no problem pulling out a bale trailer etc.

El Kabong!

That photo from google maps is somewhat deceiving, it is quite a long gate. It is probably a 12 footer.

You know the "pin" on the top of the gate that fits into the gate hanger? Well it's damaged on that one. Is there a different type of gate hanger I can get? Is there anything like a new "pin" that I could clamp onto the gate?

I don't know the names of what to search for. If I settle for 11 or 12 foot I might as well try to keep the gate.

El Kabong!

OK well the opening is 13.5foot, and that gate is just an afterthough, resting there and is a 14foot.

I think I will set some sleepers a few foot back and put in a 15 footer, that will extend beyond the tree, and put a pedestrian gate in between that and the tree.

The ped gate will be handy for quick visits, and if we ever need get something big in we can cut the tree and be ready.

El Kabong!

OK forgot to ask...

How do I hang a 15footer?

I was going to put a proper creosoted sleeper into the ground, I guess 3 foot.
and pour some concrete in. Would that be enough for a gate like this?

49801

2.5ft hole, concreted I-beam with hangers welded. build stone wall around I beam afterwards to tidy it up. getting welds right is a pain though

alternatively buy one of those purpose made hangers from the coop (60ish) and concrete it and have your stone mason build a wall to the hanger post.

El Kabong!

I'm trying to not spend money. I already have the sleepers you see....
Could I use the sleeper, and bolt the hangers all the way through?

I'm not familiar with purpose made hangers. Do you have a link to some pics by any chance? Yes I'm a noob.....

49801

wood and concrete dont mix.... the sleeper will take longer than normal posts to rot but it will rot.

however... if you really want to use the sleeper.... dig a hole... place sleeper in the hole and fill around the sleeper with pea gravel or perhaps grit it available close by. best to dig buy hand so that you only dig a hole just big enough. HAPPY DIGGING;)

sorry no link to the purpose made ones. not cheap for what they are but its hard to beat steal. your sleeper will do for your lifetime anyways

El Kabong!

I have no problem digging. Plenty of help on hand too

Can't spend a penny, saving up for an MF135+mower

Now, about the gate, my local agri place is offering me galvanised gates but want to know do I want heavy duty ones.

In general is there a difference in the quality of the galvanising on these or are they just bigger tubes? They will not see much work.

49801

no you dont need heavy duty. those are for yards where animals would be regularly putting their weight againt them. standard field gate is all you want.

galv is galv.

slowburner

El Kabong! wrote: »

I'm trying to not spend money. I already have the sleepers you see....
Could I use the sleeper, and bolt the hangers all the way through?

I'm not familiar with purpose made hangers. Do you have a link to some pics by any chance? Yes I'm a noob.....

Of course you can bolt the hanger through the sleeper and you should be able to get the hangers at your local co-op or a builders' merchant.
49801 is right that the timber will eventually rot if set in concrete. That said, thousands of timber gateposts get set in concrete every year.
My own gateposts are fixed this way, without any problems.
You can extend the life of the timber by capping them with something to make water (especially ice etc.) run off the top of the post.
There is a fantastic product available now from different manufactures for concreting in posts.
It is a dry mix which sets in about 15 minutes.
'Post 10' is one widely available brand costing around €5.50 - €7 for a 25 kilo bag; you'll need three or four bags, at least.
All you do is dig the hole, set in the post, and backfill with the mix.
When you're happy that everything is plumb - add water to the mix and in 15 minutes you have a rock solid post to work on.

El Kabong!

Hi,

Thanks for that. I have been looking around at hangers etc in my local agri place but I don't think I saw ones quote like what you showed there. I had also heard of a product called postcrete which is exactly what you describe as Post 10 so I will definately get some of that!

I have a 2 foot deep hole dug at the moment. Hit a rocky patch. Will get it to at least 2.5 foot and see how it goes.

So if I am putting a sleeper in, how wide a space/hole should I have around it. At the moment I have a dug a 2footx2foot hole.

slowburner

I'd say you are deep enough now if it's an 8 foot sleeper and the ground is rocky. 2 1/2 feet would be no harm though.
I am mean, so I tend to make the holes as narrow as possible to use less concrete;)
I use something similar to this.

49801

If you really want to use concrete (that quick post is seriously quick)
Consider setting a sleeve in it for your sleeper to drop into. Something like a piece of wavin or twinwall pipe maybe. fill the gap between the sleeve and the sleeper with pea gravel. Pack it with steel bar as you fill it. You might be able to get a cut of steel box section big enough as well.
make sure your hole will drain well though. in the past i've put an inch of stone in bottom of hole and put a sheet of canvas with a hole cut in the middle for the post (old big fert bag). this way the concrete does not seal the bottom of the hole and should drain well.

Just to put a figure on it for aguements sake I'd guess a sleeper set in concrete will take 15-20yrs to rot.
not set in concrete 30-35yrs?

galv steel 40-50yrs + for 65 quid (dd ad)

El Kabong!

how about I put some gravel in the bottom of the hole and staple gun some heavy dty plastic around the bottom 2-3 foot of the sleeper, leaving the end open to the gravel? Lay a more plastic on the gravel, except where the post will sit.... and then fill the hole with postcrete?

BTW this is a real CIE sleeper with creosote.

49801

El Kabong! wrote: »

how about I put some gravel in the bottom of the hole and staple gun some heavy dty plastic around the bottom 2-3 foot of the sleeper, leaving the end open to the gravel? Lay a more plastic on the gravel, except where the post will sit.... and then fill the hole with postcrete?

BTW this is a real CIE sleeper with creosote.

u are seriously over thinging this!
dont bother with the plastic like above. wood can not breath though plastic same as you could not breath if someone put a plastic bag on your head;).
just lash it in with concrete and be prepared to replace it when it rots in 15-20yrs:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:.

slowburner

With a cap on top to shed water it might even last 25 years.
Another useful thing to do is ramp the top of the concrete so that water is carried away from the sleeper.

brian_t

Just wondering if posters here feel it would be necessary to take precautions against the gate been stolen.

Askim

brian_t wrote: »

Just wondering if posters here feel it would be necessary to take precautions against the gate been stolen.

yes, these days everything can be stolen, just make it a hard as you can for them, weld on the bolt, don't make it so the gate can be just lifted off etc

A

razor8

slowburner wrote: »

I'd say you are deep enough now if it's an 8 foot sleeper and the ground is rocky. 2 1/2 feet would be no harm though.
I am mean, so I tend to make the holes as narrow as possible to use less concrete;)
I use something similar to this.

where can you get these?

El Kabong!

Well the job is done. I went down 2.5-3 foot on the hinged sleeper and used Post 10 (6 bags!) and some 804 to fill it up. On the other side I hit a rocky patch so went 2 foot, narrower hole (3 bags). I will shorten the height of the sleepers to tidy it up and reduce the weight.

16 foot gate hangs perfectly.

Of course being the noob I am I put it on upside down with the narrow rails at the top. Must turn it over before I get a name for myself

49801

well done!
u had better get us a picture so we can be critical;)

slowburner

razor8 wrote: »

where can you get these?

I got mine in B & Q, about 12 years ago.