My gates - wood, weather, warping, sliding gates and metalwork

SBo

SBo

SBo

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273
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Bucks
Hi all,

So I had wanted driveway gates since moving to my new house 4 years ago. Having two young kids it keeps them safe from the road and having been burgled 2 years ago it adds security. I receieved some crazy expensive quotes from local gate companies so loving a challenge I did my research and decided to go for it myself ...with some help.

(Just to say upfront, I know that electric gates are machinary and clearly bring with them some safety risks. I was very cognisant of this from the outset, I read the legislation, I was careful in the design and then testing that the system is safe, I did a risk assessment that identified the sliding gate risks, we put mitigation in place to manage those risks (3x photocell pairs, 2x safety edges, fencing, appropiate force limits), I did a force test etc.)

In March we went for it, I hired a mini digger and a builder to dig out and pour a strong cement/balast mix in which the track sits and to change the height of one of the brick pillars to match so that the gate is level along the top (there is a two brick hight difference between the pillars due to the slope of the ground). Then a carpenter who is also a mate built the gates for me out of beautiful sapele wood, in two main pieces so they could make it from his workshop to my house, and then with a third piece on the end just to carry on the rack. We gave them 3 coats of wood oil, and over the summer I applied 2 coats of water-based exterior varnish (as I had already had some warping issues in the spring). I dealt with the motor install (Beninca 624 Turbo) and controls, lighting etc. They ran perfectly all summer and autumn, with control from keyfobs, apps and HomeAssistant.

I had some learnings along the way, the spring limit-switch didn't work very well, it would sometimes get pinged twice at the open/close point and consequently the gate kept failing to go into slow-down phase, so I eventually replaced it with magnetic / reed switches sold by Beninca and it fixed that. The wireless safety edge transmitter has had signal range issues on and off so I've had to move the reciever a few times which now seems to work well on the steel post albeit I still occasionally get drop-outs until I squeeze the safety edge which seems to bring it back from some sort of standby mode it can fall into. The Unifi Video Doorbell Pro has had some wifi range issue, but that's not surpring and I didnt want to run ethernet out to it. I moved an access point and that has settled down. One of the keypads got water inside despite being IP66, and kept randomly opening/closing the gate as a consequence through a short, so I just had to replace that under warranty.

But the main issue and the one I have outstanding is that the wood warps when really wet, specifically the main lower frame piece on the far closing side of the gate. What this means is that when it gets really wet then at one end it hits the cog hard and runs against it, and on the other it is driven into one side of the sleeper wall. Yes the sleeper wall is a bit too close on one side,and will also swell in rain, but rather than dig out and move the wall I think I am better off dealing with the underlying issue. Right now with all the rain, I have had to limit the the gate "open" to about 85% of its full run as otherwise it wedges itself against the sleeper wall and then will not close as it then requires more starting torque than the motor is set to provide.

I think only having fixings on the back is part of the problem, but from the front I love that it looks like a traditional swing gate.

So the idea I have had, is to place the gate on a steel box section. I would circular saw the equilivent height of the steel out of the bottom of the gate, ideally visible only from behind, and then use coach bolts to bolt the gate frame into the steel. The wheels would be fitted into the box, I think some reinforcement of the box section where it is cut for the wheels to sit will be needed.. Given the length and to help I guess I need to hire someone who could source the steel and weld it together on-side.

I've attached the original plans with dimensions and lots of photos. I'd really welcome any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, observations, what specification steel to use, thoughts on it rusting, thoughts on how much the wood will fight against being straightened out, whatever really. Thanks for reading.

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so, it's bowing outwards (to road) purely on a horizontal axis, how out in middle ? .. which perhaps you can see on final image if that's not lense aberration
(vertically presumably it's weight supported on track beneath gate , and with sufficient points of contact no issue with vertical bow)
even if you had additional steel at base would that prevent bow higher up.

seems you have to find if bow will limit itself over time and move posts housewards to accomodate that, also something to allow sideways movement on ground rail.
if the two sides of the gate were allowed to move independently (hinge in steel at middle too) would that help.
 
Yes bowing outwards towards the road, with the most outward point being the middle of the gate (you can where it has scraped against the sleepers).
It is worse along the bottom, I think the most bowed piece is the bottom main bit of framing of the right hand gate when you look at it from the back. Last photo shows it a bit.
Im also now wondering about the wheel alighment of the right hand (again looking from behind) wheel and whether that needs adjustment (won't be easy).
Note that the wheel are both about 1/4 of the total width in from the ends, this was from advice and also the fact that the track doesn't run all the way to the end of the of the channel - supplier provided 3x3m lengths for a 5.4m gate on the logic that the wheels are placed in from the ends.

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I think that is a design fault caused by it being more than one piece with a contributing factor of the supporting metal only on the reverse.

It looks great but is more form over function. All the long sliders i have seen have a metal core for this exact reason
 
As said that looks really good -I to would be upset finding it warps and catches. When designing it did you allow for expansion of the wood -also would the use of spirit type varnish be more waterproof than water based _ I know it's a long shot but you have a heavy chunk of wood and metal there so good luck in what ever fix you use.
 
More wheels?
Is everything plumb and level?
Is the sloping drive part of the problem? (left to right)
Tolerences too tight with your install?
How about some box section at the bottom above the running gear. That rack wont have the strenght to resist the timber swelling and drying. (gates off, good fixings, strong clamps to try and bring the bow back)
Is the join on the top box section a weak point? How have you fixed the gates to it?

I have no experience with automatic gates.

Hes done a nice job with the gates btw

Edit. Just had a look how the gates operate. The middle steel is just a guide. So the only strenghtening is the top steel, a couple of bolts holding the gates together and the running gear. Id want the gates as rigid as could get them. Stronger bracing.
 
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Where it gets wedged against the sleeper wall, you could add some spring loaded rollers onto the sleeper wall. It would then be wedged against a roller instead of a wall, so requiring less force to get started.
 
964rs said:
I think that is a design fault caused by it being more than one piece with a contributing factor of the supporting metal only on the reverse.
Click to expand...
yes - how frequently is the gate attached to the metal bar ... and if there was some floating possible - slots at the attachment pint would the gate expand lengthwise instead ?
otherwise it looks symmetric on road/house faces
maybe you put some wedges between bar and gate to coerce it back into shape, and limit further bowing
 
Lovely looking gate that looks well built.

I would worry that any corrections added might force the wood to bow, twist elsewhere and you will end up chasing them and will just add too much weight.

Don't want to say replace with bespoke metal gates and that is what I would consider if it was my issue.
 
We had a problem with our wooden gates sagging and warping, got someone to rip them out and replace with metal\composite gates and not had an issue since (18 months ago)
 
Thanks all. I found myself with a few free hours and the sun was out on Saturday so I moved the sleeper wall which was a massive PITA but now done.
Gates running well again. I think I will add some more bracing but also just accept that warping will occur so the tolerances need to be sufficiently wide. Sapele is supposed to be a very stable hard wood, but it’s still wood. Presumably the reason why all other wooden sliders I’ve seen are on steel frames.
 
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