I have a driveway that is about 5 meters wide where there are currently two old stone pillars. I have a small child who likes to run out onto the road all the time, so now I've built a temporary barrier to stop him from running out, see picture. However, we are getting tired of this when we go in and out and are now thinking of building a proper gate.
The problem is that the driveway slopes a bit because the road outside slopes slightly. I will need to support the pillars anew with concrete at the base as they lean a bit, but getting them to the same height I don't think is possible because, as mentioned, the road slopes.
How do I build a gate here in the best way? Is it considered very ugly to build a sloping gate? In the picture, our temporary solution stands evenly between the pillars (i.e., a bit slanted) but I don't think it looks particularly strange, right? But the gate can't be completely rectangular, something needs to be adjusted, and the gate mustn't "fly up in the air" when opened either. It should open inward, where there is also a slight slope into the yard.
How about this one...
I’ll keep the gates' construction normally perpendicular but mount them at an angle on the stone posts. You can't attach them at an angle in the existing holes, but if I attach a long angle iron along each post, which is slightly angled against the post but straight in relation to the sloping gate pair, then attach the gates to the angle irons. Hopefully, it leans so little that the angle iron/gate frame doesn’t need to stick out beyond the post but hides (from the road view) behind the stone post.
See the image to see what I mean. Well, what do you say now?
Spontaneously, it feels like the left gate becomes self-opening and the right self-closing, quite impractical and perhaps also an increased risk of injury to people, animals, and belongings?
Aesthetically, I also don’t believe in a straight gate mounted at an angle. An alternative could be trying to get the top level at a decent height and perhaps compensating with a slanted bottom towards the road to avoid escapees ☺.
The best option is probably to adjust the posts so they stand at the same height and simultaneously take the opportunity to adjust the ground heights so it becomes horizontal closest to the gate on the inside. It’s a fairly big job, but you will likely be more satisfied with such a solution as I suspect you also have some doubts about a slanted gate since you started the thread.
It's hard to see how much it slopes, but I probably would have tried to level out the slope too.
On the other hand, I have my gates closed or opened and fixed in both positions, so maybe still.
Another alternative is gate automation. Then it would work as you planned.
Thank you, yes you might be right. I will go out tomorrow and see how much the height difference is. The gate is at least a meter from the road, so digging down a little on one side and filling up or placing the post a little higher on the other side might still be possible without creating too much of a level difference against the road. The posts need to be aligned and stabilized with concrete anyway, so one could try this beforehand.
Tips: Build a model from cardboard, tape, and wire so you can see how your proposed solution works.
I believe that the best solution is a combination of "non-rectangular" gates and "non-vertical hinges," but exactly how it should look to work as intended I can't figure out on paper (but with a model you can try, in the model you can exaggerate the angle a bit to see more clearly).
The hinges may need to tilt in more than one plane (in your picture you tilt them along the side of the post, but consider that one of the mounts might stick out further than the other as well).
The first thing I think of is a baby gate, one that doesn't have a diagonal brace and therefore naturally becomes "askew", so when you open it, it will skew and rest on the ground. Then some stone or something in the middle with two holes that metal pins from the gates fit into, and some fitting that holds them together at the top.
I'm not sure if maybe you should have some washers between the horizontal and vertical planks so it can easily skew..
Yes, it reminds me that when I was in Italy, I was fascinated by how they enclosed their houses with high walls/fences and gates. If you traveled along a road, you almost only saw walls and roofs... So they probably have many variations on gates
