Fences and gates generally tend to stick together as units when being sold. There are, however, many people that make the mistake of thinking they don't need a gate to their fence because of the hassle of installing it, just to change their minds later. Luckily, this can be fixed. If you have some experience in wooden structures or maybe from installing the fence you're now looking to supplement, you should be able to install the gate. To make the process as hassle free as possible, there are a few things you should think about before you start working.

Finding matching wood

If you've bought an already pre built fence, you should be able to get a hold of the gate that is made in the same model as your fence. If you haven't, however, then it will be a bit trickier to make the gate match the fence. Go back to the wood supplier you used for the fence and ask about boards from the same batch as you purchased the boards to your fence from. You should bring a test piece from your fence that you can show the salesperson in case they don't have the same boards anymore and you need to just find something as similar as possible. If you can't seem to find matching wood anywhere, you could always paint the fence and the gate.

Mind the opening

Measure beforehand how wide the gate opening in the fence is. As you've already been operating the opening without a gate before, you should know if you're satisfied with the width of it. The measurements are mainly to know if you need to build a single or a double gate. A single gate can be almost any width, but it's going to be heavy and clumsy to open. If the opening is as wide as the front of your car, and you want to be able to drive your car through it, you should opt for double gates even if they might seem small. Double gates are easier to open quickly than a single heavy gate.

Secure the boards

A last thing you should think about when building a gate to your fence is to secure the boards as much as possible. Weather and age will affect the boards and cause them to move around for a bit as they are being used. On a gate, this is even more noticeable than on a fence, as that also gets moved around a lot and might be more affected than boards that are just left alone. Use double nails to securely fasten the boards to the gate.

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