How to make do-it-yourself wooden swing gates for home and summer cottages: Review + Video

Do-it-yourself wooden swing gates. A beautiful gate to the house is always needed, and it's great when there is money to purchase and order.

But you can save money and put your soul into this element of the summer cottage to make wooden swing gates with your own hands.

Tools and devices

To make wooden gates, you need

• Hammer.
• Adjustable wrench.

• Electric jigsaw.
• Electric drill with drill bit 3 and 10 mm.
• Brush.
• Hacksaw blade.
• Chisel.

• Plane.
• Square.
• Roulette.
• Screwdriver.
• Doorknob machine.

• Sandpaper.
• Plain and screw self-tapping screws. 4 acetone.
• Protective solution for wood.
• Two bars 5 * 5 cm.

• Several bars 7 * 5 cm.
• Board 10 * 2.5 cm.
• 4 garage loops.

Process

When everything is set up, let's look at where to start.

Installation of pillars

Since the gate structure needs to be installed and fastened to the pillars, the latter should be installed correctly, with reliable and rigid fasteners. Even the slightest sagging should not be allowed.

Pay attention, that you should pay attention to the perpendicularity of the pillars to the ground, otherwise the geometric shape of the wooden swing gates will be violated. When calculating, remember that each pillar should be covered in half a brick, and this width should be taken into account in further work.

1. First, you need to clear a place for installation and determine the place for the future pit.

   You can dig with a bayonet shovel or a small drill. The hole should be at least 1 m deep, and the diameter should be 12 cm larger than the diameter of the pillar, so that later this gap can be concreted with mortar.

2. Now you should cut the pipes with a grinder to the required length, and then insert into the dug hole. Fill the gap with rubble, and then check the verticality of all pillars using a plumb line, and if necessary, correct. Tamp down the rubble.

3. Mix the slurry of grade 300 cement and sand, the proportion should be 1 to 3. First, mix the mixture dry, and then gradually add water. When you get a solution of the required consistency, fill it with crushed stone and wait for it to dry.
4. Now you need to make the brick cladding. To do this, you can use the same solution with which the pipes were poured, but it should be brought to the consistency of thick sour cream.

Life hack: To prevent settling and simplify styling, you can add a little washing powder to the solution.

When laying, all the seams of the lower rows should be covered with the upper ones so that the order is as strong as possible. But at the same time, do not forget about the correctness of the angles - the same plumb line will help you with this. In order for everything to look aesthetically pleasing, and the drainage characteristics of the structure were increased, each post must end with a cap.They can be bought ready-made or cut from galvanized steel sheet.

Making the sashes

To make a beautiful wooden swing gate with your own hands, you first need to process the beams. Further, blanks of the required size are made from them. So, for a conventional double-leaf gate, you will need:

• Lower and upper horizontal bar.
• Two vertical beams.
• Two bars for the central headroom.

When the workpieces are cut, process their surface with a woodworking machine or plane.

We create the frame

The frame will be assembled using a one-sided tenon.

1. At all joints, drill two holes into which self-tapping screws will be screwed in or pins made of dried wood are inserted ...

   By the way, for reliability, you can first cover the pins with epoxy glue. This is necessary to increase the rigidity of the joints.

2. In the center of the frame, an additional lintel should be made to which the structure skin will be attached.
3. A jib should be installed at each corner. To do this, you need to take blocks 03-04 m long, and cut off their ends at an angle of 45 degrees.

   Use self-tapping screws to attach the jibs to the beams.

Note, that if the gate is, for example, 2 m in height, then the frame should be calculated in such a way that the boards protrude by 0.2-0 ...

25 m. From this it follows that the frame should be 1.6 m high.

Sheathing

1. Boards should be cut to the required dimensions, and then shave off on both sides until a thickness of 20 cm is obtained. The ends should be processed in the same way.

2. Now you need to attach the boards to the frame using self-tapping screws. For wooden swing gates, the boards can be placed end-to-end or with a small step - much depends on personal preference.

Important! If you decide to leave small gaps between the boards, then use a template for this - a wooden batten, and its length should be equal to the length of the sheathing boards. In this case, the thickness of the template should correspond to the step with which you plan to fasten the boards.

When the fixing is complete, the top of the boards should be cut in a straight line, and the cuts should be well cleaned with sandpaper.

Installing the gate

First, hinges for swinging wooden gates should be attached to the leaves, and screwed into the bars with screws "wood grouses". Sash to the posts should also be fixed with "wood grouses".

Do not forget that before fixing the "wood grouse", it should be drilled in the right places to a depth of several cm. The hole diameter should be slightly smaller than the thread. Thanks to this trick, screwing in the screws will be much easier.

1. The distance from the bottom edge to the ground should be at least 5 cm.This is explained by the fact that in the future you may want to make a new pavement, and thanks to the presence of such a gap, you will not have to do anything ...
2. Attach a metal pin / padlock to secure the closed doors.

   The special coating should be applied after installation.

Coating with mortar

When the wooden swing gates are ready, they will need to be processed, and for this we will use varnish and a primer.

Please note, that when buying a varnish, you should study its application areas, and precisely the possibility of using it outside. In addition, check the label for the maximum permissible operating temperature.

• First, sand the surface with emery paper or using a grinder with a special attachment.

  If "shells" are found, you need to seal them with a special putty for wood, and when everything dries out, you should repeat the grinding.

Use coarse sanding paper the first time and fine sandpaper the second time.

• Now we need to tint the wood . This will give it a unique texture and desired shade. When the tinting is dry, the surface should be sanded again with 100 grit paper.

Do not forget that the application of a primer is mandatory, otherwise some parts of the gate may not be painted over, and they will start waves and bubbles form.

• After priming, apply the first coat of varnish . According to the instructions, you can determine the approximate drying time. After this time, apply a new layer.

You can often see that wooden swing gates are decorated with iron forging - so the gates become more beautiful, look richer.

If you plan to use this element to decorate your gate, then take care of it in advance, even before sanding and painting. At the same time, during work, the tree should be covered with thin sheet metal to protect it from possible damage.

For tightness, seal the joints between metal and wood with sealant after the second varnish application, sometimes it is impossible to achieve tightness, and such measures will help prevent moisture penetration. Hurray, the wooden gate is ready! It remains to make a wicket.

Creating a wicket

Wooden wicket - what do we need?

Before you start make a wicket, you should prepare in advance, since a lack of materials can stop or even spoil the entire process technology.

So, you will need:

• Mounting Level.
• Sandpaper.
• Hammer.
• Hacksaw for wood.
• Rope.

• Pencil.
• Plane.
• Electric drill.
• Screwdriver.
• Chisel.

• Electric jigsaw.
• Iron Corners.
• Picket fence, boards.
• Self-tapping screws.
• Hinges, latch, handle.

Wicket creation technology

First, determine the distance between the supports. If you do everything correctly, the wicket will pass unhindered.Wooden posts or metal pipes can be used as a support (as described above).

Between the supports, the distance should be fixed with a piece of wire lying on the ground and fastened with something.

1. The supports must now be installed.

   The technology is the same as for wooden gates.

2. Next is the door. To do this, take 4 boards and connect them at right angles using metal corners. After that, you need to attach hinges to the finished surface and check the gate for how it enters the opening. If all is well, you can start sewing up the frame with a picket fence.

   From above, the wicket should be cut with a jigsaw in a straight line (or in the form of a wave, go in a zigzag, at your discretion). The door handle and lock are cut in last.

3. At the end, the wicket door can be hung on the hinges and again check how freely the door opens / closes. To fix the wicket in the closed position, rubber can be nailed to the end.

Congratulations, the wicket is ready!

Conclusion

As you can see, in order to make a wooden swing gate or a gate, you still need some skills in working with wood, so if you have neither the tools nor the skills, it is better to pay the work of a good specialist, since it is the gate that is the face of the house.

But if you know how to work with wood a little and want to do everything yourself, we wish you creativity and good luck!