A Lattice You Can Live With
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| Photo Credit: © Pennystone Gardens |
| Our old double-wide gates just didn’t cut it any longer – it was time for something better to guide us into the garden. |
Battered by wind and weather for nearly 10 years, our old picket-style front gate was drooping, about to fall apart and definitely unsightly. It was time for a fresh new look.
The circumstances of this entry gate have evolved over the years. It’s part of a deer fence to keep a marauding herd out of the garden, and it originally had two halves that straddled a wide concrete sidewalk. Between them, it was wide enough to accommodate a garden tractor with a 48-inch mower deck.
Both halves opened in. Because keeping a gate closed in deer country is important, our gate was set up to auto-close via substantial screen door springs. That banging, combined with wind that would blow it open and smack it closed, regularly popped the screws right out of the three big T-hinges on each gate. Opening only inward was also annoying if you were on the way out the gate with an armload of something – not to mention the fact it confused visitors. Finally, when the concrete sidewalk was replaced with a narrower line of pavers, the old gate had to go.
Our first goals were to narrow the opening to a single gate, as well as make it much lighter – and definitely stronger. There’s a lot of leverage on a 4-foot-wide gate, straining every joint that forms a square. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: © Pennystone Gardens | | A strip of vinyl lattice, front and back, ties old and new posts together and gives the gate some visual heft. |
The local home center had a new-technology answer for us: vinyl lattice. Lattice has a nice cottage-garden flair to it, but it’s also a pain to keep painted. Vinyl, which comes in both pure white and a light brown, was the perfect maintenance solution. We bought two 4x8 sheets (and were impressed with how lightweight they were).
The solution to our old swinging gate problem came from a company specializing in every imaginable kind of hinge. They offered reasonably priced exterior double-swing hinges. We chose primed steel for our project. These are actually two hinges in one: The side nearest the gate opens out, and the side nearest the post opens in. They’ve got hefty springs, which means the gate will always close to its center point. Best of all, they take a 35-pound load in stride.
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| Facts |
- Vinyl lattice can be found in home centers near the fencing and deck materials. It’s usually around $19 a sheet, extremely lightweight and very flexible.
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| Tips |
- A run of exterior wire through a 1-inch plastic pipe and into a hollow core post is a simple way to get post lighting to be an integral part of a fence-and-gate project. Even better is to use double pole switches so you can turn it on and off from either the house or the garage.
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| Faqs |
- Q: Is one saw better than another to cut vinyl lattice?
A: Cutting lattice to any shape is easy, but use a band saw with a quarter-inch blade instead of a saber saw – which caused the edges of our lattice to pearl slightly, so they needed sanding. - Q: I live in windy area. Is there anything I can to do strengthen a gate like this?
A: If prevailing winds rattle your gate, set up a simple locking mechanism like a hook and eye that can easily be reached from either side. It’ll add that longevity you’re looking for by reducing the rattle.
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| Tools |
- This is a project where power tools really help. Precision cutting of the grooves for the lattice and holes for lags and screws is important. The alternative would be to make a sandwich with thinner stock or plywood on either side of the lattice.
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Page 1 of 2
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Next Steps
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