Saturday, August 6, 2011

One More Gate



I built this gate back before we sold our house
 and you may have seen it in previous posts 
but I have never shown the whole project together.

The earlier posts are:



The stone wall and pilasters were already there so I built forms on top of the pilasters 
and poured concrete to hold the stone and ceramic part with the numbers.

I also set vertical 3/4" threaded rod in the center of the concrete 
to attach the roof supports,
 much as you might hold a newel post on a stairway.


I used thinset to put the Indiana limestone over the concrete.

The limestone was left over from a small pallet of 3/4" 
and 2" smooth slabs that I had had for years.

With a wet saw I cut the limestone into strips as wide as the number sections,
maybe about 3 1/4" wide.

This way I could use the wet saw to cut out the outline of the numbers,
which was a bit difficult but a good saw made it doable. 

I cut the red tile into very small pieces to set into the recess left in the limestone.

The corners were made by carefully cutting out a rabbet in a 2"x 2" piece.

A cap was applied to the top with mitered sections with a slight slope to shed rain.

I always use a grey grout in my tile work,
having been recommended by a tile setter
 as grey holds it's color better and is not as likely to stain.

The roof supports were set over the threaded rod and bolted down 
to make them very secure.

And looking up at the bottom of the roof
 I used a lot of small pieces to frame a miniature hip roof,
a great way to use up all those scraps that I save.

Top it all up with a formed sheet metal covering in a standing seam style.


On the inside I cut out diamonds where the numbers went on the outside.

Now to the gate.

I used mortice and tenon joints,
 glued and pegged, with three raised panels, 
made out of scrap wood left over from other projects,
finished with multiple coats of linseed oil.

The bottom and middle rails have holes drilled up through, 
to let water escape where the panels are let into them.

The key for the wood gate is having the overhead roof
 to protect from rain and snow.

The bottom of the gate should be high enough to open in snow
 but low enough to keep dogs in or out.

To finish it off, I was able to piece together the latch from
 old interior door latches that I had salvaged over the years,
and the lock even works.


These last two photos I have used before 
but I include them here to show other imaginative ways to protect a gate.

Above is a cactus and stone roof in Santa Fe, N.M....


and this one is in Patagonia, Arizona.

To see more ideas for gates see the LABEL on the right side bar
 for Doors Doorways  Gates And Entryways.