Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Build Gate would be happy

To those who know this is the driveway of my parents house. The previous wooden gate lasted just over 18 years. It was falling apart.
So over the Christmas season I took on the challenge to build a better gate. To move from the wooden age to the metal age. The problem was the driveway's width. It wasn't the standard driveway width. It was too narrow for a double gate but too wide for a single gate. From the image you can tell I have gone with the latter. The width of the gate is 2360mm. The steel frame required diagonal beam support. Welding was out of the question. Bing! an idea. A suspension system will provide sufficient support. Instead of some serious Emm... engineering, I chose 2x 6mm diameter stainless steel cables tension with a turnbuckle.
After initial prayers followed by 7 hours for fabrication and painting of the pickets, the new gate was lowered into the new hinges and with a lock installed, the task was finished. The neighbours inspected the gate and it met with their approval albeit there were some stray drill holes on the frame through miscalculations. Well some putty will soon fix that. By my Emm... calculations, this gate should last at least 20 years. By then I would not know a drill from a driver. For those who require explanation, a drill is not a march. It drills holes while a driver screws! This is noted for my own reference in 20 years time.
No sooner when the sun set, my tools - drill and driver and screws are packed away for another project.

1 comment:

s said...

Congratulations on the new gate! Very impressive plans :)