The gate everyone in the house used, and nobody could close

01 / What was there

A full privacy design with quality work.

What the customer asked for

This is the gate between the garage and the side of the house, which on a property like this is the gate that actually gets used. Bins go through it. Kids go through it. Anything that needs to reach the back yard goes through it.

It had stopped working as a gate. The boards had silvered and cupped, the diagonal brace had pulled away, the frame across the top had rotted where it met the post, and the whole leaf had dropped enough that it caught on the gravel. What was left was a thing you lifted and shoved.

A gate in that condition is not a cosmetic problem. It is the narrowest part of the property, it is the part everybody touches, and it is right beside the front door where visitors see it.

02 / How it was done

1. 01

   Take the post seriously first

   The gate had not failed. The structure holding it had. Rebuilding the leaf and hanging it on the same tired framing would have bought a season. The framing got dealt with first.

2. 02

   Build to the opening, not to a standard size

   The gap between brick and brick is what it is, and it is not square. The gate was built to that opening so it clears at the bottom and closes flush at the latch.

3. 03

   Vertical boards, tight and consistent

   New cedar run vertically with an even gap, which is what keeps a gate looking deliberate as the boards weather. Uneven spacing is the thing that shows up two years later.

4. 04

   Hardware that suits the traffic

   Proper hinges and a latch sized for a gate that gets used every day rather than the lightest set that fits.

03 / What changed

• It swings, it clears the ground, and it latches without being lifted.
• The opening reads as finished carpentry against the brick instead of as the part of the house nobody got to.
• It is the first thing anyone walking up the driveway now sees, and it no longer undercuts everything else about the property.