I'm stupid proud of My Dumb Gate so I'm going to show you all.
There was some pretty high winds a few weeks ago and it straight up ripped the gate off its hinges and chucked it into the garden. The gate was getting saggier and sadder every day and I was thinking of telling the landlord what was up and maybe fixing it. But the winds forced my hand. I have a good relationship with my landlord and I couldn't wait for someone to come out and fix it.
Because I have a small dog, of a semi chihuahua persuasion, who if uncontained, will attempt to kill herself on a busy road.
Here she is in front of the original gate doing its thing, preventing dog escape. And then the old gate in a place it doesn't live. Being very crusty, soggy and scungy. Not doing its job at all.
I sketched out a plan, made a bunch of measurements, and then went down to Bunnings down the road and got all my materials and bits. Shout out to the guy who provided the cutting service, I wanted 1800 and he gave me 1800, I appreciate accuracy.
The New Gate
I cut down the fence rails I got from 75mm to 50mm with a skill-saw but left it at 75 at the hinges so the screws of those would have plenty of meat but then the rest of the gate would be lighter. Then I squared it up and put in the brace from the top outside down to the bottom hinge-side. I got a bit confused about some of the angles until i remember that the frame was a rectangle not a square.
I pulled most of the boards off the old gate and wire brushed them to get off the mould, lichen and rot off them to reuse them. The lighter board is after the brushing. I replaced the boards that would have the hinges and the latch attached to so they would be more solid, and the old ones can be replaced later without getting the gate down again.
New gate!
I even cut a hole for a hand!
Got to use one of my favourite tools I own: a wrecking knife. It's like a cross between a knife and a chisel and you bang on it with a hammer to cut through wood
My baby
Then after some fussing I hung it.
Beautiful, I'm in love <3
But then I discovered that I had to trim an strip off my gate as I had measured the width for the new gate from the middle of the latch post, but what do you know, the fence is actually on the piss! One of the many many many things that are fucked about my flat. Because there is always something. But at least the gate is good now.
Finally, Some "Interesting" Angles. The fence is on top of a tall retaining wall that means my garden is well above my neighbours on that side. So kinda worrying? And no wonder the old gate gave up, the hinges were not square and it wasn't braced properly, doomed to fail.
I made a gate. I enjoyed the hammering, cutting and the details so much that I am going to have to do some more sticking bits of wood together, I guess I have missed building things and didn't know.