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Gate From Hell
Repair gate on west side of house leading to
backyard
August 26 - 27, 2016 |
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August 26, 2016 - The gate on the west side of the house, that leads
to the backyard, has been a problem since we moved
in.
The wrought iron gate is eight feet tall
and was only supported by two bolt pivot hinges on
the lower half of the gate. Since there were
no hinges supporting the upper half of the door, the
door did not hang straight and would drag on the
ground. To open the gate you basically had to
lift it off the ground to get it to open. We
slapped a lock on it and rarely went through this
gate.
While working on the
rock wall in this area
this past Spring, I needed to go back and
forth through this gate. |
Gate into backyard on west side of house.
Spring 2016, before rock wall was worked on.
Note dragging gate edge far left. |
Having
to drag the gate open and closed, pissed
me off. So I tied a rope on it at the top and
used a U-bolt a couple feet lower to keep the gate
straight. This got it off the ground and made
it easier to open.
Of note....there is an additional metal
privacy screen zip-tied to this gate. The
gate would drag the ground whether the
privacy screen was on the gate or not.
Last week I decided to get this small repair done.
What I needed was someone to come and weld on some
hinges higher up on the gate.
Easy huh? Call someone up and they
would come and do the job lickety split.
Easy peasy.
Not so easy in El Paso, Texas.
1) The print version of the phone book only
listed a few iron workers. Not many
pay for this print listing service any longer.
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Gate after rock wall completed. Rope
(top) and U-bolt used to straighten out gate
so it could be opened. |
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The companies listed in the print
yellow pages basically don't do repairs like what I
needed.
2) Let's try the internet. A lot more
companies listed on the web. However, you have
to sift through these to make sure they do repairs.
For this type of work I needed a welder who works
with wrought iron.3)
Let's try calling them. This went on for a
week. These are the results:
a) Numbers no longer in service or their mailbox is full so you
can't even leave a message.
b) Half of the companies do not speak any English.
c) Three were too busy now, maybe in a couple of weeks.
d) Actually got hold of three that said they would come by and take
a look.....AND I did wait
around for them. All three no-shows.
Finally....FINALLY...FINALLY.....I
found a company where the company; 1) answered the
phone with their company name, 2) spoke English as a
first language, 3) was busy but would take the time
to swing by my house to take a look at what I
needed, and 4)
Actually showed up!!!!
I was so thrilled. I could not believe
it. After all of the calls and frustration I
finally got someone to show up and take a look at my
awful gate.
Danny from D.C. Mobile Welding showed up at my house
with his mobile unit the same day I called.
Danny and his assistant were friendly, helpful, and
efficient. They got the job done in less than
an hour. For $60 he took off the old hinges,
welded on new hinges raising the gate an inch so it
would clear all of the concrete, and put a new slide
bolt latch on the gate so it would be easier to
open and close.
I am now in heaven, released from my former gate from
hell. I can now go through this gate easily. |
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Old hinge on gate. Bolt in hole. |
New bat wing hinge |
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Instead of adding more hinges on,
Danny removed the two old hinges and added two bat wing
hinges. One at the top and bottom. He
explained that only two hinges would be needed
because the gate was light. (Hollow wrought
iron, not solid) |
The old tension style closure was
removed. It worked by pulling
back on the handle to remove the
iron rod from a groove. To
lock this gate we had two padlocks
on it. With one padlock going
through a hole we drilled on the
wall piece. Huh? Yea,
complicated sounding and hard to
open.
The newer slide bolt latch works a
whole lot easier and we now need
only one padlock to secure the gate. |
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New slide bolt latch |
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Old tension bar latch |
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Since Danny was the only
one that was willing to rescue me from my
gate from hell, he gets a shout out on my
website:
D. C. Mobile Welding
Danny Campbell
915-588-4895
http://www.dcmobilewelding.com/
Fabrication & Repair
AWS Certified |
Danny (left) and assistant working on gate |
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Danny
(left) and assistant working on gate |
The
repaired gate is pictured on the right.
I still need to paint the new welds,
touch-up the paint on the rock wall, and
re-attach the metal privacy screen.
The gate now opens either way without
scraping the sidewalk.
The gate is old and is bent in several
places but Danny got the gate hung straight
and working perfectly.
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Gate
with new hinges and latch. Before touch-up of
paint. |
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August 27, 2016 - Today
was "take care of details day" regarding this gate.
The new welds, some minor scrapes, and a little rust
were sanded down on the gate. The un-painted
areas were then given a fresh coat of paint.
Where the cement wall paint was marred from the
welding work, it was easily touched up with fresh
paint.
Along the brick wall where the new latch bolt hole
was drilled, there was a little more detail work to
do.
While the welder placed the latch bolt hole where
the gate would be straight. Kudos for that.
The crooked gate and sidewalk made the gate "appear"
as if it was not straight. I played
with the gate for a while and decided that moving
the latch bolt hole to the left an inch, would make
the gate "appear" more like it was straight when
closed. If I did not do this, it would bother
me every time I looked at the gate.
The other thing about this latch bolt hole that I
wanted to address, was the fact that a hole in
concrete only gets bigger over time. I wanted
to keep it from growing larger. I had a
grommet that fit the latch bolt, but I would of had
to make the hole twice as large to set the grommet
in flush against the wall. I went with a large
metal washer instead. I glued the washer over
the hole with construction adhesive (only thing I
had on-hand at this time). The first bolt hole
was filled with gray caulk.
The other area of this wall that needed touching up
was the area where the old latch had been attached.
There were two bolts cut flush against the wall and
some rust marks. I dabbed a little caulk over
the screws to hide the edges.
With paint I have that matches my bricks and mortar,
I painted over the damaged areas. The shiny
silver washer over the latch bolt hole was
camouflaged with paint to match the bricks and
mortar. |
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Brick
wall with new latch hole and
old latch screws below |
Brick
wall with latch hole moved to the left an inch.
Washer surrounding new hole, stuck on with
construction adhesive. Gray caulk used to fill in
first hole and dabbed around old screws |
Brick
wall painted with colors that match bricks and
mortar. Old screws and rust markings painted
over. Washer camouflaged to blend in with
wall. |
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New bolt
latch freshly painted and reinforced bolt hole
camouflaged with paint to match brick and mortar. |
I
reattached the metal privacy screen with zip
ties to the outside of the gate. The
new bolt latch prevented me from placing it
on the inside where it was before.
There is a hole in the privacy screen that
was cut out for the old latch. It is
noticeable close-up but not so much from a
distance. It will stay for now.
The new "Beware of Dogs" signed was placed
on. This sign is more rigid than the
floppy aluminum sign that was here
previously. It is bolted through the
wrought iron, so no more rattling in the
wind. |
Gate touch-ups complete |
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