Gate Measurements – Make Them Correctly

How to Make Your Residential Gate Measurements

Should you want to give a contractor the correct gate measurements, here is your basic “how-to”.  This is a basic guide for you to get in the right “ballpark” on the dimensions and measurements for your project. Prior to the fabrication of your project, we will send a technician out to get exact measurements, determine the slope, and post and ground conditions.

Take measurements “a” through “d” if you are measuring for a walkway pedestrian gate, and “e” through “h” if you are taking measurements for a wider, driveway type gate. With the wide driveway gate (for distances f,g, and h), you may need another person to keep the measuring tape straight and level or a laser tape measure that can be purchased at better hardware stores.

Height

Whether it be for the more narrow pedestrian or the broader driveway gate, the maximum gate height you will want will be the shorter-side height. Then, subtract a couple of inches to clear any gravel or lawn. Or, more than 2″ if the swinging open of your gate has to accommodate a hill. (See the second figure.) Determine your gate height from this equation.

Width

It is important to note whether you intend for us to supply the posts in your gate installation. If we are replacing a previous system, we may be able to use what you have in place. But, unless you are very experienced in gate installation, we don’t expect you to be able to answer that. We will inspect the posts at the time we give you an estimate.

If we are replacing a current installation, give us the distances between posts. Then, whether we replace the posts or reinforce them, you’ll have a close estimate of the actual dimensions of your replacement gate.

Measure the entrance width at the top, middle, and bottom. But, take care to make the measuring tape straight in all cases; in the wider gate you’ll need another to assist you, or a laser tape measure, as mentioned earlier.

Of the three width measurements you get, please choose the smallest measurement as your gate width.

The slope of the hill in gate measurement

Is the slope of the ground an Issue in the fabrication or installation of your gate? Then you are going to have to calculate the amount of the slope. But that’s the task of an expert.

Three different slopes, X,Y, and Z

There are three different slopes that gate installers and fabricators need to pay attention to. To talk about them we are going to refer to them as “X”, “Y”, and “Z”. However, these are not official names. We are just using them here to associate our explanation with the image above.

Generally speaking, yard gates swing inwards, as in “X” above. If the ground immediately inward from your gate slopes to a greater height, the gate will need to be made at a smaller height. This is so it can pass over that increase. For a gate to swing inwards, the only other solutions would be to level the ground or to install a sliding gate.

You can install your gate to open outwards, as in “Y”, if the gate does not cross a public sidewalk or open out onto a public street. If you want to do this, you need to survey to determine if there is an increase in the height of the ground in an outward direction, and shorten the gate to accommodate that, or level the ground, or install a sliding gate.

Look at Figure “Z’. Please note that I have attempted to portray a post that is on uneven ground in relation to the plane of where the gate will be installed. We often are called upon to install gates on such properties. If we need to install your property on uneven ground, we will need to make adjustments in the actual fabrication of the gate, as you can see in these installations: