Gate repair welding in Meridian, Idaho

Why gates sag

A gate is a lever. Every pound at the latch end is trying to pull the top hinge out and push the bottom hinge in. Four things fail, in this order.

• The hinge weld. Factory hinges are often tacked on. The top one lets go first.
• The hinge pin. Wears egg-shaped, and the gate drops a quarter inch, then a half.
• The diagonal brace. A lot of gates never had one, or had one running the wrong way. Without a brace from the top hinge corner down to the latch corner, the frame racks into a parallelogram.
• The post. If the post is leaning, no hinge fix will hold. Sometimes the answer is a bigger post, set deeper, before I touch the gate.

What I do on a repair visit

I take the gate down if it's still hanging. I cut off the broken hinge and grind the post clean. I weld on a heavy weld-on hinge, usually a bullet or barrel hinge sized for the gate's weight, and I set it so the gate swings level and clears the ground. If the frame has racked, I straighten it and add a brace so it stays square. Latches get rebuilt or replaced. Then I hang it and adjust it until it closes with one hand.

Pipe gates and ranch gates

A pipe gate that met a cow, a horse or a truck bumper is usually bent, not broken. I straighten the rails, replace a cracked one, and re-weld the hinge lugs. If the hinge lugs tore out of the post, I'll cut new ones. I carry pipe on the truck for exactly this. Around Kuna and Caldwell this is a weekly job.

Gates with openers

An automatic opener puts new loads on an old gate. If the gate is sagging, the opener is fighting it and will burn out. I fix the sag first, then reinforce the mounting point where the opener arm attaches, because that's where the next crack starts. If you're adding an opener to a gate that wasn't built for one, I can build the mount.

Repair or replace

If the frame is straight and the steel is sound, repair. A hinge and a brace cost a fraction of a gate. If the rails are rusted through or the frame is too light for the span, I'll say so, and a new gate built to fit is the better spend. Either way you get a straight answer from the photo before I come out.

What it costs

Visits start at $95. One hinge on a walk gate is about that. Two heavy hinges and a brace on a 16-foot driveway gate is more. Send a photo of the whole gate and one of each hinge and I'll give you the number. Gate work is part of my welding repair service and it's all done on site.