HOW TO BUILD A SIMPLE FARM-STYLE WALKWAY GATE

Recently I built a new doggy area in our back garden by enclosing a big patch of grass with a farm-style fence. The rest of the garden is used as a veggie growing allotment with a few seating areas. This meant the easiest way to be able to get around the whole of the garden was to make sure that the doggy area had gates in x3 different places.

In this post, I’ll cover how I made simple farm-style walkway gates for the x3 gateways in the fence.

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THE PLAN 

I made the fence using some scrap 2×3 and 1×3 inch wood. I wanted the gates to match the fence so I decided to use the same wood sizes to make them. To give them that farm look, I added spaced horizontal planks and a cross beam to help hold everything together. 

MATERIALS & TOOLS REQUIRED

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STEP 1: CALCULATING SIZES OF WOOD REQUIRED

The first step to making these gates is figuring out what sizes to cut the wood down for.

First, the 2×3 inch pieces. I wanted to make double gates for my openings which meant each opening needed x4 pieces of the 2x3s. The length of each of these planks is just the height of the gates required. I wanted my gates to be quite a bit higher than the ground and level with the top of my fence so I measure what that distance was.

Next are the 1×3 horizontal pieces. As I’m making double gates, there would be x6 of these cut in the end. To figure out the required length I did the following:

1. measure the total gap for the gate, e.g. 100cm
2. measure the combined width of the x4 2×3 pieces, e.g. 7.5cm x 4 = 30cm
3. take this number away from the total gap, e.g. 100 – 30 = 70cm  
4. take away an additional 2cm to give some movement room to the gates (I didn’t want them too tight together), e.g. 70 – 2 = 68cm
5. divide this number by 2 to get the length of each of the x6 planks, e.g. 68 / 2 = 34cm

I didn’t try to calculate the crossbeam size – I worked this out later on.

STEP 2: CUT THE WOOD DOWN TO SIZE

I decided to cut the parts I measure before assembling the gates. First, I cut the 2×3 wood to length and sanded it down a bit as it was really quite rough.

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Next, I cut the x6 horizontal pieces and measured up 3 of them by the 2x3s.

STEP 3: SCREWING THE GATES TOGETHER

I used very long (100mm) screws to attach the horizontal pieces to the 2x3s. First, I laid the 2x3s on an even surface and put the bottom horizontal piece in between. It has to be right at the bottom of the gate and sit flush with one side on the 2x3s. I pre-drilled the screw holes to prevent the wood from splitting and then put the screws in to secure the piece.

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Then I put the top horizontal piece in. I measured the same distance from the top of the 2x3s and screwed the piece there. I measured the distance between this piece and the bottom piece to calculate where the centre is and screwed the third piece here. 

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STEP 4: CUTTING AND ATTACHING THE CROSSBEAM

The final step was attaching the crossbeam. This is quite tricky to measure. I found the easiest way is to lay the piece of wood to be cut across the gate, in the exact position it will be. Then mark where the wood needs to be cut on the edges. Then join the markings with a line and cut. 

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Once I made the single gate, I made the second one to create a pair. I made sure to run the crossbeam the opposite way on the second gate so that they made an upside down ‘V’ when hung together. I also stained the gates before hanging. 

THE RESULT

The result is an awesome gate pair that look like they belong on a farm and match the fence perfectly. I chose the black cast iron look hardware to match the farm style. The overall result is perfect and keeps the dogs out of my veggie beds!