What is a beautiful fence in our garden or patio without a matching fence gate? We all want our fence gate to look great but they need to be functional also. In this article we will show you how you can easily make beautiful small fence gate without spending a lot of money. This project is so easy that every DIY or woodworking beginner can make it without any problems. It doesn’t require any special skills or special tools and it is finished in one afternoon.
First we have to decide where to put our new fence gate. You can put the hinges directly on the fence pole or you can put them on a supporting plank which you then attach to the fence pole. We used the supporting plank, but if you decide to put the hinges directly on the fence pole then skip this step. The length of the plank is determined with the height of your fence pole and the desired size of your fence gate. We used 1,75 x 1 inch plank 40 inches long with a set of strap hinges.
Screw the hinges on the supporting plank with wood screws and then take the plank for the frame of the gate and put the hinges on it. It must all be aligned like in the picture below. We advise you to do that in the beginning because it is really difficult to align the hinges when the gate is finished and the hinges are already on the fence pole.
Drill two holes in the supporting plank and screw it on the fence pole. We advise you to use nuts and bolts rather than wood screws because the plank is holding all the weight of the door. Keep in mind that the bottom of the plank will be the bottom of your fence gate, so don’t put it too low to allow the gate to open.
When you finished with setting the supporting plank you can now start with the frame of the fence gate. We will use biscuit joints for the frame. These joints are very simple, just make a piece of thin plywood in shape of a small biscuit and two small cuts in the pieces that you are joining, put wood glue on the biscuit and holes and join the pieces together like in the picture below.
You will need four planks for the frame of the fence gate. We used two planks 40 inches long and two planks 25 inches long, but you can adjust the measurements according to the size of your fence it is really up to you. Use wood glue to attach the frame. Don’t save on wood glue, you can easily remove the excess glue after it is dried.
After the glue is dried it is time for painting. Use exterior wood paint for painting the frame and be sure to remove the hinges before painting. After you painted the frame use corner braces to secure the frame.
Use three 40 inch long and 1 inch wide planks and two 25 inch long and 1 inch wide planks to complete the design of the gate. Secure the three longer planks with wire nails or wood screws and glue the two smaller planks to the frame with wood glue. Paint all the planks in the color of the frame.
Your fence gate is now finished and it can be mounted and put to the use, but before you do that we advise you to put some kind of locking mechanism. We used a barrel bolt lock on the bottom with a piece of 2×4, but you can use whatever locking mechanism you like the best.
After mounting a locking mechanism you will have a fully functional and nice looking small fence gate.
As you can see, this project is easy and can be done by everybody. This fence gate are made from light materials because their purpose is mostly decorative. If you need a sturdier fence gate you can always use thicker wood and you can always make smaller or bigger gate, just keep the scale as ours.
