…stopping my gate from breaking itself.

My front yard has two large wooden gates on to the road, each of them 6′ square. When the wind gets hold of them, they’ve got some real power behind them.

The hinges are strong enough, but they are held closed by one bolt into the floor, one fairly small gate latch and one bolt between the two gates.

In the recent winds, they were flexing so much that the bolt in to the floor was ripped out of the wood, and the other fixings didn’t stand a chance. To save them from ripping off their hinges (which one of them had done before, we screwed them shut with a scaffold board across the two gates.

Thinking more long term, I want to be able to drop a board in to hold the gates solidly whenever the weather looks rough, but I can’t for the life of me find any fixing to let me do this. Every old film you watch, they drop in a bar across a door to stop anyone getting in, but can I find a bracket? No!

TL;DR

Where can I find some U-brackets that will let me drop a bit of 2×4″ across my double gates to stop them self destructing in the wind.

Cheers,
Dave

Wouldn’t it be simple to get some mild steel (say 50 x 5 mm) and bend to shape to create a couple of brackets that could be screwed on. Or one of those metal throw over thingies as on here?

http://www.doorhandlecompany.co.uk/gate-catches-and-latches/?gclid=COei1K-a3bwCFdShtAodnWIAZQ

Wouldn’t a board create more leverage issues in a strong wind?

A throw over might be a good option. Was hoping for a quick solution; making my own brackets doesn’t seem that quick.

Not sure what you mean with the board causing leverage issues. It would add rigidity, and stop the gate from flexing and breaking its bolt into the ground.

The board would catch more wind so create pressure on the rest of the gate fixings. How about making the brackets out of blocks of plywood?

Would these work?

One on each side maybe?

The board would catch more wind

Ah, I see where you’re coming from… the gates are wood panels, so there is no way to catch more wind than they do.

This is my neighbour helping screw the boards across that gate in the storm last week:

The trouble is that they can flex in both directions, so my more mobile solution needs to hold them in a similar way to the screws on these boards.

@bigdummy – I’d spotted those in various sizes, and they’re the best option I’ve seen yet. Only aluminium tube bent to shape though, so not sure if they’ll be strong enough?

I reckon you want a 18″ long bit of 2×4, and screw it vertically onto the gate. Then get another bit of the same length, and screw that onto the first bit, so that it runs along it but overlaps by 6″ at the top. That way there’s a 2″ wide, 6″ deep slot under the top piece, into which you drop your 2×4 bar.

If your gate is the same as your neighbours you do it on the frames, where the two halves meet, and further across, where the cross-brace comes towards the horizontal brace.

Does that make sense?

make it out of wood… why didn’t I think of that!

you, sir, are a genius!

Usual way is just to buy a longer plank than you need and cut a few lumps off. These are the same thickness as the plank. Screw these to the gate. Get or cut some more wood, screw these to the first lumps, overlapping to leave a gap above, the gap is the same thickness as the plank so it sits snug.

for those who might care… beyold the mighty, storm-defeating plank of destiny:

also had to do a bit of repair work where the old floor bolt had snapped the leg away from the left gate… good as new now, and seems nice on solid in the wind 🙂