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oops wrong fence post for gate

mikeyr

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2005
Messages
1,971
Location
Santa Barbara, CA
I am putting together my fence and have friends coming over this weekend to finish it. 380ft. of boards to nail up, all the posts are in :).

The gate is a metal gate with wood boards on it and I used 2 3/8" pipe for the posts BUT I screwed up on one gate and did not use what the fence company calls "structural pipe", the other gates I used the structural pipe as they recommended, I am guessing I screwed up and put in the structural one somewhere on the fence.

I have a few options here, remember my goal is to be fully ready for the morning when friends show up to board up the fence and drink beer with a BBQ to finish it off.

1. leave it alone, the pipe is still a good thickness and it does NOT sag at all right now, just worried about long term, like my wife says we can worry and replace it if it sags down the road.

2. Take the post out and replace it...that will be a ***** as there is a lot of concrete down there and getting the new post in exactly in the same position for the gate, etc.

3. I have some rebar left over from an other area, thinking throw a rod down the pipe and fill it with concrete, it sure wont sag after that :) That would stiffen up the pipe greatly and should be fine (Its also the easiest to do)

My question is, is it worth worrying? I really don't want the gate to sag down the road, its a 5ftx5ft gate made up of 1 1/2" square tubing welded up and has 5ft. 1x6 boards screwed to it. I am wondering if this structural pipe **** is just a way for the fence company to get a few extra dollars out of me or is it really needed, its thicker pipe but not that much thicker. This is a corner post by the way, not a true corner as the other side is at a 45degree to the gate so there will be some support from the other side of the post.
 
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rieferman

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Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2,586
Location
Collegeville PA (30 min west of Philly)
I think leave it alone. As you noted, it isn't sagging now and the pipe seems sufficient - the "structural pipe" may be even better, but since it's something you can easily repair later as needed, I'd try it out for a few seasons and see how it goes. Plus, there's always the easy later option of an anti-sag kit (basically a cable with turn buckle that connects from low corner away from the hinge, to high corner on the hinge side... tighten, and sag be gone)
 
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rsanter

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Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
18,514
Location
visalia ca
2 options I see
1
get some more pipe, metal, rebar, whatever and weld it from the top of the pipe/post that is holding the gate to the bottom of the next pipe/post over. this will prevent it from sagging as it will have to either scretch the metal or move the next pipe over.

2
get another piece of pipe or square tube, something that fits decent into the pipe you are using and slide it down in it

in short I would not pull it out now. either do a quick fix now or just leave it

bob
 

Bigrhamr

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
293
Location
North Idaho
I do ornamental iron fab for a living and your rebar and concrete inside the existing post will work fine. Years ago when I started I built a driveway gate 14' wide and about 400 lbs. Not knowing any better I cheaped out on the hinge post and the gate bounced up and down while the opener was pulling it. Pissed off customer wasn't going to finish paying me so I cut the post cap off, put a #3 rebar in 2 opposing corners and filled it with concrete. Worked like a charm, made that 4"x4"x3/16" wall post as ridgid as a 5x5"x1/4" wall
which is what I use now.
 
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