A homeowner in Portland taught me more about gate sag than any YouTube video

I used to always just slap a T-hinge on wooden gates and call it done. Then a customer in Portland had me come back three times because his 6-foot gate kept dragging. He showed me how the weight pulls the hinge screws loose over time, and he wanted me to use a specific brand of strap hinge with a longer screw pattern. Now I never install a wooden gate without those longer strap hinges and a diagonal brace, and I haven't had a callback since. Anyone else have a customer teach them a better way to do something?

3 comments

3 Comments

park.iris1mo ago

Strap hinges with longer screws are the way to go for sure. T-hinges just dont have enough spread to handle the leverage a tall gate puts on them. For a standard 4-foot gate you might get away with it, but once you go up to 6 feet the math changes. I started using a diagonal brace from the bottom hinge side up to the top latch side and that solved the racking problem completely. Pre-drilling helps too, keeps the wood from splitting and lets you get the screw head fully seated without stripping it out.

faithg261mo ago

Hmm, idk if a gate dragging a little is really worth all that effort, seems like a lot of fuss for something that probably only happens once every few years. @wren652 I've just been using T-hinges on my own gate for like five years and it's fine, maybe it depends on the weather or something. A longer screw pattern could help but most people probably don't need to tear out their whole setup over it.

wren6521mo ago

Dig into the specific brand of strap hinge he recommended, was it one of those Simpson strong tie ones or something more obscure? I've been using the standard T-hinges for years and just accepted the sag as part of the deal, so hearing about a longer screw pattern actually solving it has me rethinking everything. Did he mention anything about pre-drilling versus just sending the screws straight in, cause I wonder if that changes how well they hold over time too.

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