Garden doors bracing

[Don1357]

I just picked set of cedar fence doors, 4' each to setup as a 8' wide double doors. They need some tender loving care; design flaws made them as stable as a two legged tripod... Well the expensive part is there, the wood; time to add the structural integrity.

Among other things I'm bracing them with a 45 degree 5" by 5/8" boards. The question is, should they run from the top of the hinge side to the bottom of where the doors meet, or from the bottom of the hinge side to the top of where the doors meet? I imagine that with the directional force of gravity that one way would be better than the other but as I look at pictures they are built both ways.

 

[Git]

The question is, should they run from the top of the hinge side to the bottom of where the doors meet

That is how I have always done it to prevent sagging

BUT there are those who say you run it from the top where the doors meet to the bottom hinge...

The ‘best’ way to brace a wooden door or gate

Got a sagging wooden door or gate? Building a new one? Not sure how you should brace it? Confused about the conflicting advice you may have read elsewhere? Read on. Wooden doors and gates come …

tp69.blog

 

[Don1357]

Thanks. Yes, that makes all sorts of sense. I started second guessing when I looked up doors and commercial ones were done either way.

Which shouldn't surprise me. I mean these ones were built to fail, with no regard for structural integrity.

 

[jack stand]

I believe it's splitting hairs.
As long as the "panel" is rigid, by means of diagonal bracing, it's all transferred to the post and hinges anyway. One direction the brace is under compression, the other, tension. I kinda like the look of 2 doors as shown above, a single door the other way.