How to make a stone gate with your own hands

The fence, denoting the borders of the infield, as well as other buildings on it, can have a rather original design. Stone fences with gates and wickets on the front side are particularly complex.

It is openings that are the main topic of our article, in which instruction will be given and video suggested. After reading them, you will learn how to make a gate out of stone and other materials, stylized under it.

Gate in the fence

First of all, you need to consider that the style of execution of the fence, of which the gate is an integral part, should duplicate the architecture of the house. Only in this case they will look organic.

Although the stone is both natural and decorative, in appearance it is perfectly combined with almost many types of materials: wood, brick, plaster and even siding (see Which gates are better - we make a choice).

What is to say that the stone fence creates the impression of solidity and inaccessibility of the structure. As a rule, there are both gates and a gate in it - the height of their flaps usually does not exceed 180 cm. The gate consists of a pair of leaves and has a total width of 3-3.5 m. The width of the wicket door usually varies from 0.95 to 1.2 m.

Design features

If the length of the front part of the fence does not allow you to install both, you have to do only with a gate. A legitimate question arises: "What if there is a need to drive motor vehicles onto the site?"

So:

• In such cases, you can provide a dismountable span of the fence, allowing you to easily remove and also quickly and easily install it in place. A stone fence is, of course, not the case when something can be easily disassembled, because this is a capital structure and cannot be dismantled.
• Therefore, before you build it, you need to calculate everything in advance. One gate can be completely dispensed with when the site is small and the house is in close proximity to the fence. Then, in case you have to bring dimensional things into the yard, you can provide a wide gate - you can even, as in the photo below, a double wing (see Making double wing gates with your own hands).

• It is clear that the doors of the gate cannot be made of stone. Here, the palm behind the tree (see Wooden gate with your own hands - a few practical tips) and metal, but today you can more and more see fences and gates with gates trimmed with composite board (decking), as well as profiled steel sheet, the surface of which is stylized under the masonry.

Stone as a constructive material is used only for the construction of the foundation of the fence, supporting pillars, including framing aisles.

The greatest difficulty is the arch of the arch over the gate, but I must say that it is not a mandatory element. Much depends on the height and design of the fence: if it is low, columnar type, it is quite possible to do without an arch over the gate.

Stone fence with aperture

A gate made of stone, built with your own hands, allows you to get significant savings, because the complexity of the process is dictated by the cost of services of hired professionals, and it is quite high. The price of a stone depends not only on the breed, but also on the method of cutting and processing it.

There is nothing you can do about it - for that there is enough money, and that is preferred. In some regions with a predominant stony ground, stones are not a problem for the fence at all, you can type them, as they say, in the garden — not to use valuable rocks for this.

Note! The construction of the fence, like any other, must begin with a drawing. In this case, it should indicate the length and thickness of the fence, the location of the anchor points and aisles, the distance between the supports, as well as the width of the door openings and the gate. This approach will help with the greatest accuracy to determine how much and what material is needed, as well as calculate the cost of this structure.

• The technology of the construction of the fence and, accordingly, the gate in it is selected depending on the shape and size of the stone, the intended aesthetics of the structure. The easiest way to work with sawn stone, as it has flat edges and regular geometric shape. But this option is almost never used for fences.

Why buy an expensive stone, if you can get a similar result using a cheaper brick with imitation of a stone? Especially because boulders or river pebbles can often be dialed altogether for free.

For the construction of fences often use the so-called "broken" (wild) stone. These are various sedimentary rocks: sandstone, dolomite, marl — not processed, but in the form predetermined by nature.

Erection of supports

Arrangement of fencing, as well as any construction, begins with the preparation of the territory and performing marking on it. First of all, you need to outline the line of the fence, scoring pegs in those points where the supporting posts will be located.

If the fence is built on a strip foundation with shallow deepening, a trench is digging along the markings. Then, as it should be, formwork is put, fittings are laid, concrete is poured.

• If the construction of the fence is made of rubble stone, then it can be used not only for the construction of the ground part of the pillar, but also its foundation. Ragged stone is used only in the ground part of such a structure, and often only for laying out the front sides. The inner part of such a fence can be filled with anything: broken brick, coarse rubble, fragments of stones, sand-cement mixture.

The strength of the columnar type fence give vertical metal racks, zamololichnye in concrete. If the fence is solid, the grid is stretched between the uprights, to which stones are attached with anchors. But even in this case, in the place where the gate is located, there must be two supporting posts on which the shutters will be hung.

Foundation part

The technology of erection of column supports is as follows. A hole is dug in the ground, corresponding in size to the support section, - a depth of 70-80 cm is enough.

Of these, 25 cm will be spent on the preparation of the base: 10 cm - rammed sand pillow and 15 cm - crushed stone. Next in the hole set metal rack, and the free space is filled with concrete.

To prevent cement milk from being absorbed into the soil, the excavation is pre-lined with polyethylene. Concreting is performed to the level of the ground surface, after which the foundation of the column must be given at least a week for a certain set of strength. The verticality of the rack is adjusted immediately, until the concrete has hardened - so its position can be easily corrected.

Ground part

Further actions depend on what type of stone will be used for laying. If this is a bottle, which, as is known, has a rounded shape, around the stand you need to make such a formwork, as shown above.

Stones are laid around the perimeter of the formwork, and the middle of the pillar is simply filled with concrete. This method is called "laying under the bay."

So:

• The height of the formwork should not exceed 30 cm. It is removed after a few days, when the masonry mortar properly hardens, and rearranged above in order to fill the next row. This method of laying stone takes a lot of time, but at the same time the least time consuming and does not require highly skilled bricklayer.

• If the stone is tesovy, that is, it has at least two parallel faces, the laying will be more stable and can do without formwork. The method of its installation is called "under the blade." In this case, the stones are selected in size, try on dry, after which they are placed on the bed from the solution. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the seams between the stones do not coincide, but are staggered.
• They must be qualitatively filled with a solution both outside and inside. For the outer filling of the joints, you can prepare a separate solution by adding a color color there. In order not to disturb the masonry, the internal cavity of the column is poured after the masonry mortar has hardened.

• By the way, it is not necessary to use natural stone for laying pillars. On sale there are such volumetric elements of concrete, stylized under the masonry, which you see in the photo above. They are stacked on top of each other, replacing both the formwork and the stone, which greatly simplifies the work.

In the same way, their cavity is reinforced with a metal frame and filled with mortar. This design closes with a beautiful tip and looks ready and neat and quite respectable. But if you want an arched gate, you will still have to use natural stone.

Arch arch gate

The opening under the gate in the stone fence can be formed not only by two separate pillars. Thanks to the ordinary jumper, it may look like the letter “P”, but it looks like a rectangular opening is not as interesting as a blade or arched. Curvilinear lintels equip the formwork, which must have an appropriate shape.

• The arch is laid out from an odd number of knotted rows of bricks or stones having a similar shape. Why exactly an odd number? The fact is that the central row should be located strictly at the central point of the opening, and the extreme rows (heel) should rest on the column supports.

• The arched lintel formwork is made according to a given radius and is supported by support arcs, which are called roundabouts. The stone must be wedge-shaped and, if necessary, it is strewn. It is very difficult to lay out an arch from a rubble stone, and it doesn’t look so elegant, so an arched lintel made of bricks may well be present in the stone fence.
• By the way, a wedge-shaped brick is made for this purpose. The stone can also be cut by the manufacturer in the form of a wedge, but it is much easier for the master to support the one from which he is building the fence. The arch is laid out evenly on both sides, from the heel to the top. A brick or stone of similar shape is placed on a narrow edge. Accordingly, the thickened face will be at the top.

• The seams between the elements of the arched lintel should be properly filled with mortar. The pattern of ligation of the seams, as well as the correctness of their direction, should be given special attention. The control is performed using a cord and a special pattern, made in accordance with the radius of the arch.

Her vault spread as quickly as possible, the masonry mortar should not harden until the moment when the circle is weakened. The formwork is removed not earlier than in a week, provided that it is warm and dry outside. Otherwise, much more time is needed.