5 Things to Look for When Buying a Wrought Iron, Steel or Aluminum Driveway Gate
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
- How do you find a good, quality driveway gate at a fair price? Today, I wanted to go over 5 key things you should look for when buying an iron, steel or aluminum driveway gate to help make you a more educated shopper.
1 - The Gate Frame
One of the most overlooked, but important items when shopping for a driveway gate is this u-frame that goes along the bottom and up the sides of each gate leaf. A quality gate must have a u-frame to prevent sagging over time. Many of our competitors utilize what is referred to as an open bottom frame design where only these two side supports are present. This makes for a very weak frame. Any driveway gate that requires a horizontal brace going diagonally from the bottom to the top corner is a prime example of a more cheaply designed gate that will likely suffer from sagging issues over the years.
2 - Gate Construction
Our Stronghold Iron and Infinity Aluminum both come fully welded. The pickets, our mitered u-frame, the frame caps, rails and our solid finials are all welded together. What you want to avoid is a gate that is bolted or screwed together. While this makes for easier shipping and a lower price point, you are sacrificing quality and long-term performance.
Another quality construction item to look for is punched horizontal rails that allow the single piece pickets to be fed through and welded from underneath. The picket runs the full height of the gate from frame to the finial tip. Some gate manufacturers will utilize what’s referred to as a layover style where the pickets are laid on a piece of flat bar and welded on one side. This makes for one nice ‘face’ on the gate and one ‘ugly’ face on the gate. Its also a weaker construction technique that is inferior to having a one-piece picket fed through the rail punches and welded solid.
3 - Gate Component Size and Thicknesses
Thickness of materials is another area where gate makers can cut corners to offer a lower price. While you pay less for the gate, you end up with weaker materials that will not hold up to the test of time. Be sure to check the specifications of your gate to see what size and thickness of components your gate is utilizing.
Our Stronghold Iron gates have a heavy-duty 2”x2” 11ga thick steel frame with ¾” square 16ga pickets that are all welded together in a single piece. Our Infinity Aluminum gates features a 2” x 2” frame in a 0.125” wall thickness with ¾” pickets in a fully welded construction. We build our gates to withstand a lot of abuse.
4 - Gate Finish
What kind of finish does the gate have? Every gate looks nice an pretty when its brand new, but how is it going to look after 5-10 years of being out in the elements?
Look for a quality powder coat finish rather than paint. Painted gates are typically not properly treated and often degrade quickly. Powder coating is a much stronger and more durable coating, but you also have to make sure it’s a quality powder coating that is properly applied. Our Stronghold Iron and Infinity Aluminum gates utilize a high-quality TGIC powder coating with UV fade inhibitors. That TGIC powder coat resists cracking, spider webbing and peeling while also keeping your gate black with the UV sun protection.
Lastly, if you are looking for an iron and steel gate, be sure that the metal has an additional layer of rust protection under the powder coating. We hot dip galvanize all of our Stronghold Iron gates in addition to the 4-stage wash and preparation process to give it an extremely durable and rust-free finish.
5- Gate Versatility
While pre-drilled gates sound great for installation, they can present issues when the final installation comes into focus. We ship our gates blank. This means that you will be able to choose how your gate is mounted, which way it will swing and how much of a gap will be present between the gate and the driveway. These don’t sound like special features, but pre-drilled gates and posts take a lot of options out of your hands.
Not sure if you want your driveway gate to be manually or automatically opened? Not a problem. Our gates can be used in manual operation or with an automatic opener. You can even start out with the gate manually operated and convert it to an automated system down the line.
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I hope this video has helped educate you on what to look for in a quality driveway gate. There are a lot of options out there and we want you to know that the Stronghold Iron or Infinity Aluminum gate we sell are the highest quality options available at a reasonable price.
Jason Kauffman
Iron Fence Shop®
800-261-2729 Toll Free
sales@ironfenceshop.com
www.ironfenceshop.com
Thank for this I can't stop thinking about welding my own gate for my own house
Same I’m here to get ideas to weld my own gate While this guy is probably the 4th party. He take orders, go to gate builder to built it, then hire Mexicans to install then someone eles monitoring them. 😂
I enjoy all the important features to ordering a strong and attractive driveway gate for my home on Maui. Thank you for explaining what to look for in a good product.
Glad it helped!
Excellent Explanation!
Glad it helped!
Lots of good info...
great video
Super nice works great
Here in Alberta if you don't put drain holes for your pickets, condensation building up in hollow pickets will eventually be enough to freeze, distort, and eventually split the picket open usually about 2" high from the bottom. This is very common in staircase railings with the pickets and even 2x2 posts that don't have a drain hole in the bottom mounting plate. I am talking Alberta winters 25-30 below zero.
The pickets are open on the bottom of our pieces so even if they freeze, they shouldn't pressurize enough to split. As for the posts, it depends. We used to have weep holes drilled into them, but that typically became a rust spot so we stopped. The air escaping around the base of the cap is usually enough to keep it reasonably dry and not pressurized in those. However, I could see that if you have sustained negative 25-30 below that things not common further south could occur.
Thanks
Very educational video. Professionally instructed and shows all the critical facts. I am having a gate installed in TN and my gate met all your standards. Thanks for a great job.
Mike Moore
Your bar centres are wrong. Gaps are bigger on each end of the gate. Rookie mistake. Great vid👍
Hi Christopher. We have to keep the 3.875 air gaps consistent through the middle of the gate to match our fence panels and other gates. Depending on the final gate width, some gaps between last picket and frame will be wider or narrower than that. Good eye!
Sir good
Thank you for sharing the info. Tips.
I live in duplex. Each side has two garage. I want to build the gates with two independent remote controls. This way each side/owner can access their own.
Can you please give ideas of how it would look like? Thank you
Hi Sinat. I would need you to give us a call to discuss in more detail as that's not a standard gate setup. However, if I'm understanding how you want to set it up, I do believe its feasible. 800-261-2729
@@Ironfenceshop in process of moving. I'll contact you later. Thanks
Pre-drilled posts require far more accurate post setting than the average homeowner is capable of. Even a great fence installer might be off 1/4-3/4" across a 16' span and that difference will show up when those double drive gates meet.
Then the posts are set, the hardware mounted, gates are hung. What do you do to remedy that error? Nothing...
Hi Lucas. That is why we don't pre-drill anything. You are correct that with pre-drilled posts you have to be on-the-money perfect. By setting the posts first and then drilling the holes in the posts for hardware, it allows for more accurate setting of everything.
lucas mccain I
I don't like the shiny black finish. How can I get a more weathered look like either a corten or verdigris look on a driveway gate?
We don't offer any different finish types, but we have had folks use our pieces and them coated in different colors or finishes at a powder coated close to them. Just be aware that would void any warranty on the finish.
Same i like a more rustic finish
What alloy is used on the aluminum gate?
Hi Luis. It varies by component:
- Pickets: Aluminum Extrusions of 6063-T52
- Posts: Aluminum Extrusions of 6005-T5
- Rails: Aluminum Extrusions of 6005-T5
- Gate Frames: Aluminum Extrusions of 6005-T5
What’s stronger? If I’m trying to make gates/ stair case bannister / balcony gate
Stronger as in thieves will struggle more to get in?
Also what’s less likely to rust ? Less maintenance ?
Steel and iron will always be stronger than aluminum unless you go with some crazy thick aluminum that will far out-cost the steel and iron. In terms of thieves getting in, a $40 harbor freight sawzall could cut through either if someone really wants in. In terms of maintenance, the aluminum won't rust like iron and steel if the finished is scrapped off, but you lose a lot of strength and bend resiliency going with the aluminum. There are trade-offs with both options.
If you looking to secure the home security directly on the home is best. Window guards and security gate.
If you looking to secure all the property than perimeter fence and driveway, pedestrian gate. And a guard dog doesn’t hurt
How do you install the driveway gate with the u-frame, do you have to trench out the driveway so that the lower frame is flush with ground? Thanks
No trenching through or under the driveway is required unless you are running a power line for gate automation. The U-frame (and gate in total) will be installed by you so that its 4-6 inches above the driveway or the height it needs to be to swing clear open and shut without touching the driveway. You want to keep things like snow compaction in mind too for the size of that gap between gate frame and the driveway if you live in an area that gets snow.
@@Ironfenceshop thanks for the quick reply, so installing the gate in that manner would mean you would drive over the horizontal frame, correct?
@@waltertobiasjr4305 Hi Walter. No the frame will be elevated off the ground. These are all swing gates that are mounted on posts. These are not roller/ slider gates. The leaf is just sitting on the ground in the video since its uninstalled in our shop. If you email us at sales@ironfenceshop.com, I can email you some pics of installed swing gates.
Doesn't Strong Hold company make welding tables ?
Stronghold Iron is the name of our iron fence line. Our company name is Iron Fence Shop. I could see the confusion though! We only do fences and gates. No welding tables.
I thought I wanted a single gate to avoid the hassles associated with aligning two gates and 2 openers. When I looked at your site, you don't sell a single gate wider than 12 feet. Is there a reason you don't make wider single gates. Farm gates are 16' and that'd be about the minimum I could do with a single gate.
We mainly stop at 12ft for shipping and weight/ leverage reasons. It s extremely pricey to ship anything over 12ft long and tough to offload it without equipment too. The wider that gate gets, the more weight and leverage force you are putting on the hinges and posts and it starts getting them too close to their rating limits.
How do you pull one of the little spears out
Everything is welded solid in the gate including those decorative iron finials on top of the picket. They gate cannot be disassembled like the cheaper ones on the market.
Best place to order gates where??
I have a bit of bias, but check out our gates from the video on www.ironfenceshop.com/driveway-gates or give us a call at 800-261-2729.
How to buy one
You can check our website out (ironfenceshop.com) or give us a call at 800-261-2729 to discuss your project.
"how's it going to look 5-10 years"
excuse me? how about 100 years?
Hi Justin. There is a 25 year warranty on the Stronghold Iron line and in the 10 years I've been working here, the only warranty claim we had was on one post out of 75 after 8 years that we replaced. As for 100 years, I can't help you there! With proper maintenance, the gates could last that long but could require re-coating after 25-50 years depending on climate, gate placement and care.
Re painting ya polishing carbon
interesting .. shame your in the US