Setting gate posts plumb and in line

A gate that rubs the latch post and then bangs the hinge post on the way back is a measuring problem long before it is a hardware problem. The write-ups at gate installation austin three word wednesday keep coming back to it: gate installation in Austin, TX is decided in the first hour, when the two posts go into the ground. If they are not plumb and parallel, nothing hung on them will ever swing true.

Layout before any digging

The crew drives stakes at the hinge post and the latch post and pulls a string between them, checked against the fence line on Hyde Park and Tarrytown lots where an old run may already wander. The opening width is the clear gap the leaf needs, plus the thickness of the hinge hardware on one side and the latch on the other. A little extra room goes in so the frame can swing without touching the post.

Plumb on two faces

A post can look straight from the street and still lean toward the drive. A level is held on two adjacent faces, and the bubble has to sit centered on both. Square steel tubing makes this easy, because the flat faces take a level cleanly. A round post is checked with a plumb bob or a level taped to a straight board. The check repeats after bracing, because tightening a brace can pull the post a hair off.

Bracing while the footing cures

Wood braces, staked at an angle on two sides of each post, hold it still while the concrete footing sets. Nothing should lean on the post or bump it for a day. A string line is left in place, tied at the top of both posts, so any drift shows as the line sagging or shifting. Clay near Mueller can push on a fresh footing, so the braces stay tight and get looked at again after the first rain.

Swing clearance and the arc

Before the concrete is poured, the crew holds the gate leaf, or a template cut to the same size, in place and walks it through its swing. Swing clearance means the gate clears the post on the hinge side, the ground at the low corner, and anything the leaf passes over, like a slope in the drive. A swing gate that opens inward on a hill needs more room at the bottom than one opening onto level ground. Ground clearance is set at the lowest point of the swing, not the starting point.

Measuring twice, and again at the end

The last measurement is the gap between the posts at the top and at the bottom. Both numbers should match to within an eighth of an inch, otherwise the posts lean toward or away from each other and the gate frame will rack. A mismatch found now costs a few minutes with a bar. Found after the footing sets, it costs a day of digging.