Fences and Gates - installing prefab gates with prefab wooden fence panels

We have purchased the post, prefab 6x8 dog earred fence panels and prefab gates from the store. We are having a difficult time figuring out how to install the gates. The prefab fence panels have 3 struts running horizontal that the slats are attached to. To install these the struts abut the outside of the post and are screwed in. This leaves the panel about 2 1/2 inches protruding from the post. We then have gates that we want to install. The gates are to be installed on the inside of the post. Problem is that the fence panel on that post sticks out and the gate is flush with the post. The appearance isn't right and the gate won't open correctly if we install this way. Any suggestions on how to install this correctly?

Welcome to the world of pre-fabbed fencing and the problems that you encounter using it!

If you use a 1-7/8" steel post for your gate post you can attach the fence panel to it using a Simpson PGT1.5. You can then use frame of a chain link fence gate to attach your gate panel to, and adjust it so that it is flush with the fence panel.

Please help me vision this one ok... Correct me where I may be wrong...

You have a 6x8 solid fence. You have prefab gates that are supposed to fit between posts that you must have given an inside dimension to your lumber supplier and they cut you up and made a gate to fit?

You are intending to install the fence with the good side facing out. The posts being behind the sections and you would be nailing/screwing through the face of the section,, through the picket, through the backrail (struts) and then into the face of the wood posts?
The gate is intended to swing into the yard? And the gate is attached to the posts, not the sections of material?

The extending of the sections of material ... you say they extend past the gate posts?

If I am correct with all that I typed above the solution is easier installed than imaginable.

The sections extending past the post is so that you are allowed the opportunity to cap off the posts. Kind of like you enclosing them completely with a picket.

The gate must swing into the yard with this type of installation.

If you need the gate to swing out , away from the yard and in the direction of the face of the material you would have to cut that excess off both sides of the fence. You would have to do this while at the same time not losing the look of the dogear cut on top.
With that I would suggest you take that cut off the other end. The end that is going into the second posts on both sides of the gate. At least then the cut will not be as noticable.

This is difficult in doing because most times the gate is the last item to be installed. And if the gate is a custom sized gate the gate is the last order that goes in. This way the gate opening is what you have not what you have to make it be.

If I am on key with my description of what I think you have, you would need to use T Hinges to mount this gate on the post.
If you decide to attach the gate to the face of the material and swing the gate out instead of in, you could use strap hinges instead. T would work too, but you would have accomodate the back of the post with additional wood for the lag bolts to be drawn into.

Good luck.

Greg,

The way I'm reading it, the fence panels are being installed to the face of the posts ("This leaves the panel about 2 1/2 inches protruding from the post."), and they are trying to install the gate panel between the posts ("the gate is flush with the post.")

That's certainly not going to look good!

Lefty ,

If what you are saying is what he has then the the good side of the fence is facing out, and the gate is meant to be on the good side facing out. Thus the gate was intended to be put in line with the rest of the materials instead of being countersunk into the gate opening. That of which I thought the post was suggesting.

If what you say is correct then the installer should use strap hinges, installing the gate directly in line with the rest of the fence and the strap hinges would be lag bolted down into both the back rails of the gate panel as well as the back rails of the rest of the fence material. This is a very common practice in the north eastern states.

In the application where the fence and gate are flush with each other "T" hinges can also be used if the use of custom posts are used for the gates. Or if you choose you could always use 4x4x 9' wood posts, sinking the post 6 inches more down as well as keeping the top of the post just about another 2 inches over the top of the highest picket. This giving you enough room to cap the post with a custom routed cap.
In the case where you would want to use custom posts the post would have to be in line with the very outside of the fence, and the rails would have to be toe-nailed or screwed into the sides of the posts.
This too is a very common practice and it looks very classy to put together for a gate opening.

But again , in this post it seems that the sections of material, the gates and the gate opening is already predetermined.

Greg,

You are exactly right. If the installer is going to install the panels on the face of the posts, then he needs to install the gate panels in a manner so that they are visually the same. There are only a couple of ways to do that -- using strap hinges as you suggested, or changing the gate posts to metal posts and using chain link hardware for the gate as I suggested. Either way works. Before deciding on which meathod to use, the installer needs to determine if there are limitations about which direction the gate can be opened. IF there are limitations -- i.e. it can ONLY swing in or it can ONLY swing out -- the the decision is made for him. Strap hinges will allow the gate to only swing out, and the chain lionk hardware will allow it to only swing in.

I have gone both ways with both types of installations over the years. If this installer would be using wood posts or steel posts He/She could use either a steel gate frame attached to a wood gate as you suggested, thus using male and female hinges.
Use of steel posts works really good especially where the size or the weight of the gate exceeds normal expenctency of what a wood post can hold without having too much stress. As per another post we are responding to in case where someone's gate post twisted, use of a steel post would work well in never having a problem with a post twisting or bending into or away from the gate opening.

Thumbs up for going the extra mile and using steel posts over the wood given the circumstances where it applies.

The installer could do that or they could use a 9' or longer wood post that is set slightly higher than the sections of material to the left and right... This giving the opportunity of a "Ornamental T hinge" to be used.
If a stock 4"x4"x 9' or 10' post is used, the post would have enough material to go above the fence panels. Just 2 inches is enough to allow for most custom post caps. This type of installation is very nice in detailing the gate as being the opening or in some cases it is considered to be the majestic opening because of the higher detailed post caps at an entranceway to a yard.
Also , using this higher post allows for the gate to be swung into the yard.
Using the higher post and modifying the prefab sections of fencing by cutting back on the section and toe nailing/screwing the section into the side of the post as I previously explained allows for the gate to swing in one direction or the other,,, depending on which way is preferred or permitted.

Note:
Ornamental T hinges are readily available in most hardware stores as well as your local HD, Lws or even your neighborhood lumber yard. Typically they cost under $20.00 for a full set of hinges as well as small latch .
I would suggest not using the small latch that is sometimes supplied with the hinges. The latch works, but there are better latches on the market that take more abuse than those little ones.

Good luck ,,, Feel free to come back with any other questions.

Gregs Fence~