Gates

A garden gate or gateway is a point of entry or passageway to or from an enclosed space, typically walls, fencing or hedges.

Garden gates may prevent or control the entry or exit of individuals, or they may be merely used for decorative purposes.

Having a gate in your garden adds a sense of security by creating a informal boundary to your property.

Garden Gates are often found in places of high traffic to restrict access to those intended.

Typically, there are two main types of gates – a wooden gate or a metal gate, both of which fulfil the same purpose and benefits but offer different aesthetic qualities.

Our Decorative Gate range includes, Closeboard Gates, Tongue & Groove Gates, Picket Gates, Cottage Gates, Courtyard Gates, 5 Bar Gates – all of which are supplemented with the appropriate fixing posts, rails and ironwork accessories.

Garden gates are useful in keeping burglars, trespassers, and other such intruders away. It protects your home from being an easy target for thieves and creates a natural boundary.

A standard 900mm wide wooden garden gate costs between roughly £72 and £133 including VAT, depending on the style and build. Planed, heavier-framed gates such as the Elite Tongue & Groove Gate sit at the top of the range. Field and driveway gates are priced by width: a 5 bar St George gate starts at around £103 for 3ft. Posts and ironwork are sold separately.

Almost every garden gate in the range is 900mm (3ft) wide, so the choice is mainly about height. Low gates for front gardens and decking are 900mm high, with the Round Top Picket Gate also made at 1200mm. Full-height gates are 1650mm or 1760mm for closeboard, 1750mm for the Elite tongue and groove, and 1800mm for the tongue and groove and decorative-top gates. 

Measure the gap between the posts at the top, middle and bottom and work from the smallest figure. A 900mm gate needs an opening of roughly 920mm to 930mm, allowing about 10mm on the hinge side and 15mm on the latch side so the gate swings and latches without binding. If you are fitting new posts, set them to suit the gate rather than the other way round, because the gates are framed and jointed and should not be cut down. For a much wider existing gap, fit a new post or a timber packer, or move up to a 5 bar gate, which is sold in 1ft width steps. 

Closeboard suits side and rear access where you want a plain, sturdy gate to match feather edge fencing; it is the lowest-cost full-height option and is boarded one side with a capping. Tongue and groove gates have planed, interlocking boards for a smoother finish and more privacy, so they work well where the gate is on show, such as a path to the front door. The lattice and other decorative tops are the same both sides and let air through, which reduces wind load, so they suit exposed boundaries and any run of matching decorative panels. For front gardens and decking, the 900mm high cottage, picket and cross top gates keep the view open. 

Elite gates are made from planed timber with heavier framing and extra detail, which is why they cost more. The Elite Tongue & Groove Gate is built on 45 x 100mm framing with 30 x 95mm braces and a weather capping, against 38 x 63mm framing on the standard Tongue & Groove Wooden Gate. The Elite Picket Gate is planed with chamfered edges rather than sawn. The Elite Cross Top Decking Gate adds extra vertical bars in the top section for strength. All gates, Elite or standard, are pressure treated.

A 150 x 150mm (6 x 6 inch) pressure-treated post suits most pedestrian gates, and the Wooden Pyramid Top Gate Post is also made at 175mm and 200mm square for heavier 5 bar and horned gates. Gates are supplied without posts or ironwork, so allow for a post each side unless you are hanging against a wall, where a 47 x 100mm flat top gate post screwed to the brickwork acts as a hanging batten. For decorative gates a planed post looks better than a sawn one. Posts are set like any fence post with Postcrete, and the hinge sets are on our gate ironwork page. 

Yes. The Cross Top and Elite Cross Top Decking Gates are 900 x 900mm and made to match the cross top picket border panels used around decking, so the gate blends into the balustrade. They hang from a decking newel post or a 100 x 100mm post bolted through the deck frame, rather than a post set in the ground, so the fixing needs to go into the joists or a doubled-up frame member, not just the deck boards. The same gates double up as a short fill-in panel at the end of a picket fence run. 

Yes. The 5 bar St George gate has a universal design with two 75 x 100mm stiles, so any two can be hung as a pair, one from each post, to span an entrance of up to 24ft. The Horned gate is made left or right handed, so order one of each. Fit a dropbolt on each leaf to stop the gates twisting, and use 175mm or 200mm pyramid top posts because a pair puts more strain on the hinges than a single leaf. Two 900mm garden gates can also be paired for a 1.8m side entrance. Latching and bolting a pair is covered on our gate latches, bolts and hinges page.