I'm installng a replacement fence around my back garden and decided to include a gate. I bought tanalised fencing supplies from my local sawmill (posts, rails and the vertical bits (pickets?) to construct my own fence and gate. The gate I made by building a frame from the 3x1½", screwed together using a pocket jig, with diagonals for bracing. The pickets (vertical planks) are each nailed on with 15 pinhead nails each, at least (5 in a X fashion at each rail, plus more where they meet the brace). The gate was solid, as far as I could tell. Yet, about two weeks after installing it there is a most definite droop on the cantilevered side. The bolt no longer lines up, and the top left edge (as seen in the photo) catches the aligning fence picket (whereas it was quite clear of it when I installed it).
I've post-creted concrete posts into the ground as spurs and secured wooden fence posts to these with coach bolts. My aim here is to make sure that no wood is in the ground (only the concrete spur post) and thus reduced wood rot. These posts are solid, I'm fairly happy with them, but still I wonder if the wooden post has warped or the concrete spur shifted, and allowed the gate to slump slightly. Also, I wonder if the gate itself has changed shape/distorted out of square. I don't know how to tell, but I need it to stop so that I can realign the bolt mating hole without worrying it's going to be out of alignment again in another two weeks. It needs repair.
I'd like to know what I did wrong (I'm an amateur here, not a pro, so I fully accept I made errors somewhere), and understand how I can stop the gate from drooping further please.
I wonder if the wood was wet when I built the gate, and in drying out it's changed shape? Or perhaps the other way (dry then wet)? Or are pocket hole screws just not up to the job? Should I remove the gate, try to square it again, then brace it another way with other fixings?
I've post-creted concrete posts into the ground as spurs and secured wooden fence posts to these with coach bolts. My aim here is to make sure that no wood is in the ground (only the concrete spur post) and thus reduced wood rot. These posts are solid, I'm fairly happy with them, but still I wonder if the wooden post has warped or the concrete spur shifted, and allowed the gate to slump slightly. Also, I wonder if the gate itself has changed shape/distorted out of square. I don't know how to tell, but I need it to stop so that I can realign the bolt mating hole without worrying it's going to be out of alignment again in another two weeks. It needs repair.
I'd like to know what I did wrong (I'm an amateur here, not a pro, so I fully accept I made errors somewhere), and understand how I can stop the gate from drooping further please.
I wonder if the wood was wet when I built the gate, and in drying out it's changed shape? Or perhaps the other way (dry then wet)? Or are pocket hole screws just not up to the job? Should I remove the gate, try to square it again, then brace it another way with other fixings?
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