Repair badly rusted part of a garden gate

pj9999

How to fix a rusted part of this gate? 

I understand that you generally file or sand down til the rust is gone and then paint the remaining metal with something suitable, but what to do where parts of the metal are missing (rusted away to nothing? (95% of the metal frame is fine as is all the wood so I don’t fancy replacing the gate, even if it were mine to replace). 

Many thanks.

PS - don't know why boards is rotating the images I upload!

jack of all

It's really a job for a welder/ fabricator, to cut out and splice in new steel box sections. The timber cladding would have to be removed near the repair area to facilitate that.

10-10-20

Funny how the hardwood is outlasting the steel, must be poor steel.

The cowboy in me says that if you were to cut off the rotten steel you could run a good strong piece of new hardwood in place of that horizontal piece to give the gate strength. Tying it into the vertical steel pieces though is going to be a challenge.

steinbock123

Pj9999 - please put up a picture of the whole gate

pj9999

A pic of the whole gate.

Rows Grower

You probably had rain lodging inside the bottom piece of steel, drill a few holes in the underside of the new piece.

TheChizler

I've used cheap car body filler to visually repair non structural sections of solid gates, though I'm not sure how good that would be on box steel.

DC999

What's the issue you're trying to fix? Is the bottom of the gate wobbly? You could screw in some timber below and above (see red arrows) after you've varnished it. Leave a gap so it's not touching the metal or would add more water when wet. That will strengthen it for now. Get a screw that has the right length so it goes into the new wooden strips and into the gate timber but won't protrude.

There are large gaps between the slates, so that new bottom piece would be visible from outside. If the new pieces are close to the same colour it will look like it should be there. Just get it level so it's 90 degrees to the upright slates.

So I'm similar to what 10-10-20 says but I'd leave the rusted metal there if it's not gonna hurt anyone. The left bottom side is still supporting the gate (where the bulk of the weight rests.

But if you're worried kids will cut themselves on it, which they could badly, then you'll need to sort it somehow.