Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Timberridge]

Any advice on gate construction? I have to build a new one ASAP, my dog finally ruined my first attempt after years of me doing quick fixes every few months as he tested me and the gate every day. He leans against it with all his weight, so I need to build a strong one. Whatever wood I used before does not hold the screws after a couple years, they slowly pull out. What type of Home Depot/Lowes wood should I buy? My concern is if I overbuild it with heavy wood that holds a screw, it will sag too much from being too heavy. Lose-lose, I think.

I'll try to post pics tonight of exactly what I have to rebuild. Wood glue for the screws will be mandatory this time around, any other quick tips for me? Gate is about chest high and maybe 4 feet wide.

Any advice is appreciated, unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to slowly think this through.

If the posts are going in the ground and you don't want spend a ton a dough on wood then PT lumber is going to be your best bet for those. For the gate, short of using exotic woods, oak is fairly rot resistant and available. I'd avoid what passes today as pine, and also maple and poplar. Even with a hefty paint or sealer they'll rot quickly.

To avoid screws pulling out use galvanized lag screws on the post hinge and thru bolts on the gate hinge.

[shroom]

is the gate next to your house or is there a section(s) in between? ideally you want to lag the post the gate is hanging on to the house.

i've doubled up on 4x4 post before, lagging them together. or move to a bigger post. also upgrading hardware when attaching the hinges makes sense.

[iceman]

Austin, Massachusetts.

I'd fur it out, spray foam insulate it and deal with the casing on the windows and doors if I was staying there a while, not so much if I was going to try to sell it soon.

[Rontele]

I'd fur it out, spray foam insulate it and deal with the casing on the windows and doors if I was staying there a while, not so much if I was going to try to sell it soon.

That small window in time when Tom Greene was just fucking hilarious. As noted above, long termism is at play for the Rontele clan. Sad to be leaving the city, but not moving very far and will be nice to have some space and a yard.

[muted]

If the posts are going in the ground and you don't want spend a ton a dough on wood then PT lumber is going to be your best bet for those. For the gate, short of using exotic woods, oak is fairly rot resistant and available. I'd avoid what passes today as pine, and also maple and poplar. Even with a hefty paint or sealer they'll rot quickly.

To avoid screws pulling out use galvanized lag screws on the post hinge and thru bolts on the gate hinge.

Posts are in, bolted the concrete and only slightly wobbly now(just bolted them correctly a few weeks ago, fucking dog! Fixed one issue and he created another.) or it's bolted to the brick house which is extremely solid. I'll try galvanized lags, do i still need wood glue if I do this?

is the gate next to your house or is there a section(s) in between? ideally you want to lag the post the gate is hanging on to the house.

i've doubled up on 4x4 post before, lagging them together. or move to a bigger post. also upgrading hardware when attaching the hinges makes sense.

I will lag the gate to the house, i haven't done that. The hinge side is on the rock-solid post attached to the house (just switched it from the other side a few weeks ago.)

Does anti-sag hardware work, anyone know? Thanks everyone.

[::: :::]

Posts are in, bolted the concrete and only slightly wobbly now(just bolted them correctly a few weeks ago, fucking dog! Fixed one issue and he created another.) or it's bolted to the brick house which is extremely solid. I'll try galvanized lags, do i still need wood glue if I do this?



I will lag the gate to the house, i haven't done that. The hinge side is on the rock-solid post attached to the house (just switched it from the other side a few weeks ago.)

Does anti-sag hardware work, anyone know? Thanks everyone.

a metal framed gate kit can help with the door panel itself

buy the burliest hinges & hardware you can
use lag screws if possible (or a big screw like a #14) into a nice stiff meaty substrate

[muted]

a metal framed gate kit can help with the door panel itself

buy the burliest hinges & hardware you can
use lag screws if possible (or a big screw like a #14) into a nice stiff meaty substrate

Good to know. Problem with putting together the frame (and also narrow decoration wood to the front of it), is lag screws are way too long and wide for it. Some thick and meaty, but short, wood screws with wood glue may be my only choice???

[Timberridge]

Posts are in, bolted the concrete and only slightly wobbly now(just bolted them correctly a few weeks ago, fucking dog! Fixed one issue and he created another.) or it's bolted to the brick house which is extremely solid. I'll try galvanized lags, do i still need wood glue if I do this?



I will lag the gate to the house, i haven't done that. The hinge side is on the rock-solid post attached to the house (just switched it from the other side a few weeks ago.)

Does anti-sag hardware work, anyone know? Thanks everyone.

No wood glue is needed, but without knowing what on the house you are attaching it to I'd avoid bolting it directly to the house--if the house is wood--just because of siding etc. But if you have an exposed concrete foundation or brick, you can run a couple of lag sleeves into it and and seal it up good and tight around the sleeve.

If you can't thru bolt the gate then EZ Lok inserts might be a choice...tey are similar to ski inserts but brass.

[::: :::]

Good to know. Problem with putting together the frame (and also narrow decoration wood to the front of it), is lag screws are way too long and wide for it. Some thick and meaty, but short, wood screws with wood glue may be my only choice???

photo of condtition will help

glue + short screws doesn't sound good

[muted]

No wood glue is needed, but without knowing what on the house you are attaching it to I'd avoid bolting it directly to the house--if the house is wood--just because of siding etc. But if you have an exposed concrete foundation or brick, you can run a couple of lag sleeves into it and and seal it up good and tight around the sleeve.

If you can't thru bolt the gate then EZ Lok inserts might be a choice...tey are similar to ski inserts but brass.

Wood PT post that the gate attaches to is bolted to house already and is rock solid. thanks! the posts are not being replaced, they are fine.

photo of condtition will help

glue + short screws doesn't sound good

photo coming tonight. So what would the minimum length screw/lag bolt would you recommend going through oak? I can't have a 1 foot thick gate, ha.

And anything similar to oak but not so heavy?

[::: :::]

i think i need to see what you're doing -- oak sounds suspicious outside
(white oak has natural water resistance, but most others do not)

[muted]

I just need a wood option at Lowes/home Depot (late night purchasing), doesn't have to be oak but ideally stains nicely to match the rest of the fence which has nice grain. My memory says oak is really heavy, but my memory sucks....I think the rest of the fence is maple and I used pine or something similar for the gate. The maple fence is holding up much better. Hell, the pine would be good enough if the dog didn't body-slam it all the time!

[::: :::]

What part of the world are you in?

[muted]

Utah, wasatch front.

[::: :::]

you worried about strength? or looking decent despite abuse?
even ipe can show dog claw marks (hardest/densest available wood out there)


rot resistant species are going to work better for you outside
soft wood: cedar, juniper, cypress, redwood (may not be available anymore)
hard wood: ipe, mahogany, teak, white oak

you can, of course, paint other species and get more time out of them as fencing, but you need to keep up with the painting

[muted]

I'm worried about strength. An angry dog breaking it and chasing down people is a really bad thing. but so is a too-heavy gate that rips out. Scratches are fine.

Thanks acinpdx for wood recos! I'll decide tonight in person after looking at price/weights/availability. And will post a pic of old gate before that.

I'm leaning towards cedar though.

[::: :::]

if the posts are solid, I think you'll be just fine w/ cedar and a gate kit

[Timberridge]

I like cedar, and have a gate made out of it--its light but very soft. This beast of a dog seems like he could put a hurtin on cedar. But if the frame is thick enough I'm sure it would be fine. With a solid enough hinge you shouldn't get any noticable sag with whatever wood you choose.

If you use a strap hinge or t-hinge the lag screws go into PT post, the strap lays on the gate frame and you use thru bolts with a nut to attach the gate. It would take a gorilla to pull it out. I would not use a butt hinge for a yard gate, unless it came off a castle.

[::: :::]

I'm worried about strength. An angry dog breaking it and chasing down people is a really bad thing. but so is a too-heavy gate that rips out. Scratches are fine.

Thanks acinpdx for wood recos! I'll decide tonight in person after looking at price/weights/availability. And will post a pic of old gate before that.

I'm leaning towards cedar though.

another thing to think about maybe is that a gate that swings in may be more resistant to the dog's attempts to push it out

swing direction may affect your hardware choices & exterior look of the fence

[muted]

I like cedar, and have a gate made out of it--its light but very soft. This beast of a dog seems like he could put a hurtin on cedar. But if the frame is thick enough I'm sure it would be fine. With a solid enough hinge you shouldn't get any noticable sag with whatever wood you choose.

If you use a strap hinge or t-hinge the lag screws go into PT post, the strap lays on the gate frame and you use thru bolts with a nut to attach the gate. It would take a gorilla to pull it out. I would not use a butt hinge for a yard gate, unless it came off a castle.

i think that was part of my problem, no thru bolts in the post, and I'm going to do through bolts on the gate, or at least try to. I just used the screws that came with the hardware. And I was using butt hinges. I don't see how it would make a big difference compared to strap or T, but I'm trying ANYTHING different. I've rebuilt/added on to this one frankenstien gate 5 times for the dog, now I want to build one gate that rules them all.

another thing to think about maybe is that a gate that swings in may be more resistant to the dog's attempts to push it out

swing direction may affect your hardware choices & exterior look of the fence

Good point, it already swings in though.

You guys rock!

[shroom]

i used to run the wood gate kits from HD/whatever that ran wire tension from the upper hanging corner of the gate to the lower swinging corner, and had good luck save for the first few days when it would settle. with a 4ft fence i'd be less worried about sag ( unless you go with a heavier wood or a super wide gate), and toy with putting something heavy or a stake on the outside of the gate so the dog can't push against it as easily. if the gate opens in like you said, it wouldn't be in the way too much.

[iceman]

Balance a bucket of water on top of the gate.

[RootSkier]

Put some dogshit under the handle.

[shroom]

we're getting warmer

[old goat]

back to Rontele--since I asked you where you live. I would definitely insulate. We lived in a brick veneer, uninsulated wood frame house in Sacramento. In the summer the bricks insulated fairly well during the day but radiated heat into the house at night. In your area without insulation the brick will be radiating a lot of the heat from your dual heating system into the outdoors, as well as heat into the house summer evenings, although obviously not as bad as in Sacto. Trimming out the windows for the extra wall thickness is usually very simple, compared to the rest of the process of furring out, insulating, and replacing the drywall.