Do-it-yourself wicket repair

The gate, in fact, is a door through which you can get to the local area. It represents an opening in the fence, which is closed by a hanging sash: more often than one - although there are also double-wing versions (see Making double-wing gates with your own hands).

In general, this is a simple construction that can be installed and, if necessary, repaired with your own hands. That gate: repair, installation and decoration - was the topic of this article.

On the same topic will be offered to your attention a video.

Door openings

The swinging details of the gates are in constant motion and, moreover, they are not protected from the effects of wind and precipitation. All this contributes to the deterioration of individual elements, requires repair or replacement. Wicket doors are either wooden or metal and are hung on a support by installing hinges.

So:

• The role of the support is played by timbered or metal posts or pillars erected from brick or stone. The height of the pillars depends on the design of the gate, the size of the sash and the level of installation of the loops. The support can be quite low, just above the top loop. Accordingly, the cost of this or that design may differ by several times.

• In capital fences, which are, for example, a stone fence, a full opening can be made under the gate, with an arched vault or, as in the photo below, with a visor. By the way, the visor above the gate protects the hinges and the lock (see Installing the lock in the gate: options and methods) from direct ingress of water and snow into them, which prevents them from freezing in the winter.

The more reliable the design, the less often the question arises: “How to repair the wicket?”. Therefore, even during its initial installation, care must be taken to ensure that the supports are stable, and that the hinges and the lock are well fixed and lubricated.

Support stiffness

With regard to the pillars, then installing them, it should be remembered that any material that is buried in the ground, requires waterproofing protection. If this requirement is neglected, then after a while the gate will have to be not only repaired, but reinstalled on new poles.

• An important condition for the normal operation of the gate is the verticality of the supports. If the foundation parts of the racks are not properly filled, they may skew soon, which will certainly affect the opening-closing of the swinging element. And if the gate is hung on a capital support, which is a brick reinforced pillar, then most likely there will be no problems with the gate.

Of course, on such a fence you can hardly see a gate made of a picket fence, which often requires repair. This is more suitable for a beautiful wrought-leaf or deaf wicket from sheet metal, with a decorative grill on top.

Gate from a shtaketnik

Forged and all-metal gates (see Metal gates with their own hands separately from the gate) are most often purchased ready-made, since it is difficult to make something worthwhile out of metal at home to say the least. But to assemble a canvas of wood, quite capable of each - as a last resort, only a small instruction is required. Well, what has been done independently is repaired, especially without problems.

So:

• The traditional gate, or rather, its shutter, is assembled from wooden bars and thin plates with edges pointed at one side, which are called a picket fence. Although now, for obvious reasons, metal picket walls are increasingly used. It looks better and lasts much longer.

Such a gate is assembled on a frame made from a metal profile and elements of a fencing that you don’t even need to paint yourself. This shtaketnik is made of galvanized sheet steel with a decorative polymer coating. But this pleasure is far from affordable for everyone, since not only the gate, but also the entire fence is constructed in the same style.

Gate gate: assembly of wood

The slit wicket cloth consists of a frame having the shape of a rectangle or the letter "Z". If it is assembled from wood, then a timber with a section of 40 * 40mm is taken as the basis. The crossbars are cut out in accordance with the size of the aperture and are connected to each other either by a spike-adhesive (furniture) method or by means of metal plates.

• The second method is more reliable, since it ensures maximum density of the fit of the frame elements to each other. As fasteners use conventional screws on the tree. Additional stiffness of the spatial structure of the framework is given by metal corners or diagonally-filled cross-pieces. It is very important that all the frame elements are in the same plane.

• When the frame is ready, it is hung on it pre-cut and polished shtaetiny. Most often they are arranged longitudinally - so that the pointed edges form a beautiful gate line from above. We also have such craftsmen who manage to create a piece of art from a picket fence. It is stuffed diagonally, combined with a lath, beautifully milled, etc.
• The board for a shtaketnik can also be used the most different: both in width and thickness, and in quality. Below we give an example where the fence and the gate are made of brushed board. This method of processing wood is mechanical. At the same time, the top soft layer is removed from it, and coarser fibers are exposed, which form the natural wood pattern so much loved by all.

• As you can see, this quality can have not only parquet, but also a fence for the fence. Its price, as you understand, is directly proportional to the operational and aesthetic properties of the material. But the quality of the fence does not affect the assembly technology of the gate.

The boards are attached to the frame with screws or nails, too: simple or with a decorative hat. When the frame is assembled, hanging loops are hung on it.

They differ from door hinges (see Hinges for doors: their types and rules of choice) in that they have an elongated shape and, as a rule, decorative decoration. After the assembled canvas will be installed on its rightful place, it is painted or varnished.

What repairs might require a wooden wicket?

We knowingly laid out on the shelves the construction of not only the doors of the gate, but also its supports. To make repairs, you need to understand what causes the problems. At the gate, as well as at any swing door, the hinges and web sections to which they are directly attached are subject to the greatest wear.

So:

• As soon as the gate ceases to close easily, first of all, you need to check the mounting of the hinges. Most likely, the connection is weakened and screws cut loose, protruding from the holes. This often happens when the screw is not screwed, but hammered when the fastener is installed. It is not recommended to fasten loops with nails.

• To get out of this situation, the loop will have to be removed, and into the nests, crammed from old screws, to drive wedges (choopyk), smeared with any suitable glue. After that, you attach a loop to the place, mark out the place of fasteners with an awl and screw in a new screw there - it is desirable that it be a little longer than the old one.
• If under the loop not only the fastening socket, but also a more extensive piece of wood has collapsed, it is better to replace this element of the sash completely. You can make and insert, then its length should correspond to double the length of the loop. The insert is cut out in a zigzag manner, with the ends in the form of the letter “M”, planted on glue and additionally fixed with screws.

If the sash frame bars are rotten, they are replaced, for which the picket fence will have to be completely dismantled. Although it is rarely the case that the frame is rotten and the picket fence survived. Most likely, you will have to assemble a new wicket, from a new lumber.

Pillars

Well, if the problem is in the rickety pillars, the repair will be capital. The swinging part of the gate will need to be removed, and the columns will be completely excavated. If they are wooden, the recessed ends may have rotted away - then you have to make new supports. If they are also made of wood, then direct the main efforts to protect it from moisture and destruction.

 So:

• To do this, the ends of the wooden poles are burned, coated with bitumen, glue (wrap) roofing material. The pits in which they will be installed must also be properly prepared. First, their depth should not be less than 70cm. Secondly, at the bottom there should be a drainage from compacted sand cushion and rubble. The total thickness of the drainage layer - 20cm.
• Perhaps because the pillars and squinted, that all this was not done initially, but they just buried in the ground. The supports, including wooden ones, need not to be buried, but to be concrete - then they will be fixed rigidly and will not be subjected to intensive moistening.

The ground part of the support, like the gate itself, must also be protected from moisture. Before installation, the sawn timber is treated with an ognebiozashchitny composition. Decorative finish is better to perform alkyd paint, which has antiseptic properties.