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Advice needed on gates and gate posts.

Gautama

I'm looking for some advice on farm gates. I'm not a farmer but I am a landowner, and my land is let to a neighbouring farmer.
For a while it's been on my mind to replace the roadside gates. I've about ten gaps to fill. Currently things are higgedly-piggedly. The current gate posts vary from old piers, to old concrete posts, to big wooden posts, often just tied at the latch end with a bit of wire to a regular wooden stake. The current gates are all over the place too, many warped and often two gates over-lapping, i.e. a 16 foot gap filled by two 10 foot gates, overlapping (and tied up with baling twine).
I'm thinking of replacing all of these with new gates (one per gap) and two new posts (one hinge side, one latch site). This is something I want to do once, that'll last a lifetime. I'm thinking of heavy-duty galvanised gates.
My main question here is the best (most solid) posts. I'm leaning towards those galvanised cylindrical posts. Do any posters (no pun intended) have suggestions on these, or gates in general?

One concern I have is about the gates being stolen. Is there anything I can do to prevent (or just deter) anyone from stealing the gates. These will be roadside gates so any passing thieves could easily take notice. I was thinking of a heavy duty chain around the gate upright (hinge-side) around the post itself, either with a lock on it or a heavy nut-and-bolt which has been mangled so that it cannot be unscrewed.
Thanks for all advice and suggestions.

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, I intend to use all the old gates elsewhere on the land, in non-roadside gaps. A lot of the existing gaps between fields are blocked by strands of barbed wire, or those DIY wire and posts gates.

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IH784man

You'll spend a lot of money doing that,if it's not necessary I wouldn't bother tbh.

Muckit

Well it's all money. A 16' good quality gal gate will be around €130ish. Then ~€72 for hanging and ~€54 for closing post. That has you up @over €250. Then you have to fit them. Get the posts dug out will require a digger. And you'll need to concrete them in. Perhaps someone can give you price on that.

It's a lot of money. Can you offset against tax? Is the tenant putting pressure on you to do this work?

Muckit

Re theft.... a chain can be cut in seconds with a bolt cutter... the same as the one the lad in the store will use to cut you a length off the roll!

The gal posts you are on about have threaded hangers. If the top one has just a hole instead of a slot it is harder to remove but all can be done again in minutes with cordless angle grinder!

All that will be safe are the posts that are concreted in!!!!

Gautama

Muckit wrote: »

Can you offset against tax?

Not any more. I was thinking about this today, I should have done it before I turned 40 (am 44 now). Would have been able to offset it then but I'm not liable to tax anymore.

Muckit wrote: »

Is the tenant putting pressure on you to do this work?

No, not at all. Tenant is great but he makes short term repairs to gates if and when necessary.
I inherited the land 30 years ago and nothing like this has been undertaken in that time. I'm looking to the future too. If I do this now it won't need to be done again in my lifetime.

I dropped into a fencing services place today. I asked the guy if he could give me a ballpark price. He said not really, as the price depends if I want one gate or ten, i.e. the more I get the better the price per unit. Economies of scale.

Water John

Iv'e seen people paint gates two colours. Removes their resale value.
It will also look like your 'brand', perhaps county of local club.

Muckit

And can you not count how many gates you need done?

Water John

Get a price from your local Farm Relief Service. All in, or supply and fit.
They will look at the job and discuss it with you and come back with a price.

pedigree 6

No experience of the galvanised posts.
The only thing I will say to you if someone is determined to steal a gate they will.
The tools of the stealing trade are rechargeable mini grinders and for brute force con saws.
That's not to put you off putting up a good gate and posts.
You still need to make the gate unattractive to steal and make it difficult if they want to steal the gate.

I like to use rsj pillars for the posts and weld the hinges to the pillar and weld the hinge together where it is bolted.
Now to the gate farmers usually don't like buying secondhand gates from traders so you're job is to make it look used and not straight from the factory.
You can do this by welding your surname on the gate or/and with a galvanised gate painting the bars some colour. A lot of farmers here paint half the gate or use two different colours.
Good luck there's nothing better than having a well hung gate and knowing any stock in the fields are well secured.

Justjens

If you can get railway iron, will last a lifetime, and welding on the hangers on-site will deter theft.

patsy_mccabe

Justjens wrote: »

If you can get railway iron, will last a lifetime, and welding on the hangers on-site will deter theft.

Almost impossible to get now. A few years back all the tracks here were sold to China for scrap value. Cut into 4 foot lengths. Crying shame.:mad:

Gautama

Muckit wrote: »

And can you not count how many gates you need done?

Well, there are six that I'm definitely thinking of doing. That'll cover the main farm that falls into one folio. But then there are a couple of fields that are on the edge of the main farm, in a separate folio. There's one more gap here on the main road. That'd be seven.
But these two folios are divided by a boreen. There are two more gaps in this boreen. That makes it nine in total.
Now, there is one gap that I've excluded. It's still there, visible and working. But never used due to turns in the road. Anyeay, you'd barely be able to get a modern tractor thru' it, but never get it to turn into it and thru' it, if you know what I mean...

Base price

Gautama wrote: »

Well, there are six that I'm definitely thinking of doing. That'll cover the main farm that falls into one folio. But then there are a couple of fields that are on the edge of the main farm, in a separate folio. There's one more gap here on the main road. That'd be seven.
But these two folios are divided by a boreen. There are two more gaps in this boreen. That makes it nine in total.
Now, there is one gap that I've excluded. It's still there, visible and working. But never used due to turns in the road. Anyeay, you'd barely be able to get a modern tractor thru' it, but never get it to turn into it and thru' it, if you know what I mean...

Go with RSJ's/"H" iron posts concreted into the ground with heavy duty galvanised gates. They will outlast you and cover your indemnity once you have receipts from a registered contractor/fitter.

kk.man

I've mine done years ago ..did it in stages..used reclyced rsj ..mixed concrete with shovel..dug holes with a spade. Great to see a place with all gates hung properly. You could weld a strip of metal at the top hinge to prevent gate been taken down...generally they are not taken if you put in the effort to secure them.
I would think about the following;
Do you need as many as you say?
Could you permantly fence some gaps?
Put gates entrances stragetely..in coners
Roadside gates are less needed than times passed
Finally your tenant won't thank you for your work..like most they are not going to take care of your land like their own..they begrudge paying you and let it run down

Gautama

kk.man wrote: »

Finally your tenant won't thank you for your work..like most they are not going to take care of your land like their own..they begrudge paying you and let it run down

Gautama wrote: »

Tenant is great...

He's taken half the land for the last thirty years, and has taken the other half since last year. Reseeded all of that, cut back over grown ditches, removed an acre of scrub and drained a pond.

Maybe I'm lucky, but anyway, I'm doing it for my sake and my son's sake.

djmc

There are crash barriers on done deal around the country for 60 euro cut them in half and you have two strong galvanised gate posts.
You can buy bolt on hangers for the gates just drill the posts and bolt on.
A cheaper option for the post the gate latches into would be a timber corner fence post but that probably won't last a lifetime.
I wonder if post hole borers from tool hire might be better than man with minnidigger for holes for posts .
If light gates were used might not need concrete.

kk.man

Gautama wrote: »

He's taken half the land for the last thirty years, and has taken the other half since last year. Reseeded all of that, cut back over grown ditches, removed an acre of scrub and drained a pond.

Maybe I'm lucky, but anyway, I'm doing it for my sake and my son's sake.

You are lucky...Just goes to show you cant judge a book by its cover....I'm just quoting from what I have saw over the years!

arctictree

I did a few roadside gates a couple of years ago. Cut up some ESB poles for gateposts into 6 foot lengths. Hired a 16 year old for a day to dig all the post holes - much cheaper than a digger and a neater job too! After hanging the gates, I broke the threads on the hinges so they cant be unscrewed easily. I also drove a few 6 inch nails at an angle into the posts so it will wreck anyones chainssaw that decides to steal them that way. Also, I painted one bar green to drop the resale value.

Gautama

Muckit wrote: »

Re theft.... a chain can be cut in seconds with a bolt cutter... the same as the one the lad in the store will use to cut you a length off the roll!

Yeah, I know what you're saying but that can be said about all security.
Whether it's car security, a bike lock, mortice locks on a front door, or a lock and chain like this, if a thief is determined no security is any good.
However, the real purpose of all these security measures is twofold:
* to put off the casual thief, the chancer.
* to deter the thief from this item, move along to the next car/bike/house/gate, there's easier prey around the corner.

Gautama

Thanks for the replies. Food for thought.

Muckit

True. Good to have a good think and a chat about these things.

Pacoa

Almost impossible to get now. A few years back all the tracks here were sold to China for scrap value. Cut into 4 foot lengths. Crying shame.

Bought a 9 foot length of railway rail the other day for 80euro from Duggan Steel in Bandon and they had about half a dozen lengths left so they're still out there but disapearing fast.

Water John

You could use sleepers as well. I think some guy around Ballyvourney has them for €24.

josephsoap

When setting RSJ's/H posts in concrete in order to hang a gate,

I'm just wondering would it be better, say you dig and pour 1 foot foundation of concrete and then bolt the post onto that foundation then pour another foot of concrete on top that

Or

Dig a 2 foot foundation and pour in the concrete and set the post in same ?

I have a few gates to hang myself, I was thinking of buying 8 foot H posts and setting them in 2 foot of concrete.

Water John

Joseph, B is fine, one pour. May be go 30".

josephsoap

Water John wrote: »

Joseph, B is fine, one pour. May be go 30".

Cheers John,

That should hold a good strong heavy duty 16 ft gate.

gazahayes

josephsoap wrote: »

Cheers John,

That should hold a good strong heavy duty 16 ft gate.

Don't like using H irons as they can bend when the gate is open and too much weight on it. Concrete gateposts here and if you can get them concrete railway sleepers. Solid and should never budge if set in concrete.

Miname

Between gates been stolen and the effort going into a few gate posts. Does no one just drive right foot lengths of Esb pole into the ground and hang a gate of them? Is there really that many out there lifting gates?

Merrion

40mm plastic waste (sewer) pipe cut to 6 ft lengths and put in the ground like you would an ESB pole, drill the holes for the hinges and fit them then fill with concrete (and the hole around them).

I did this for gates around a used car lot in the UK - can't see why it wouldn't work for farm gates?

blue5000

Merrion wrote: »

40mm plastic waste (sewer) pipe cut to 6 ft lengths and put in the ground like you would an ESB pole, drill the holes for the hinges and fit them then fill with concrete (and the hole around them).

I did this for gates around a used car lot in the UK - can't see why it wouldn't work for farm gates?

I'd like to see this:D

Merrion

(Obviously not second hand waste pipe...I mean this)

Thinking about this you could fill the pipe with loose soil/pebbles - no need for concrete out in the countryside.