Side Yard Gates on Narrow Austin Lots

Nothing about a side yard looks narrow until a gate has to swing through it. Older lots, and a good number of the bungalows in Hyde Park and Clarksville, were built with only a few feet between the house and the property line, and a gate planned from the street ends up fighting a wall, a meter or a window well. The measuring habits behind the work (the same ones noted on austin metal gate installation apollo pony) start inside that gap, not at the front of the house. A metal gate for a side yard in Austin, TX is mostly a clearance problem.

Measure the opening three times

The gap is almost never square. Posts lean, the wall bows, and the ground slopes toward the back. A crew measures the width at the top, middle and bottom, and builds the frame to the narrowest one, leaving room for the hinge and the latch.

Swing direction and what is in the way

A single swing leaf needs its full width of open ground to travel. In Bouldin Creek, where side yards often hold a gas meter, a hose bib or an air handler, the gate usually opens inward toward the back and stops against a post rather than a fixture. A dual swing pair is rarely worth it on a gap this narrow.

Post anchor in a tight space

A post anchor wants a hole, and a hole wants room for a digging bar. Where a footing would undermine a slab or hit a drain line, a crew can weld a plate and bolt it to the concrete instead, or tie the post back to the house wall with a bracket. Each answer is chosen after checking what is underground.

Material for shady, damp side yards

A side yard between two houses stays shaded and holds moisture long after the street dries out. Aluminum shrugs that off. Galvanized steel with a powder coat does well too, if the bottom rail is kept off the soil and the cut ends are sealed.

Latches and daily use

This is the gate used for trash cans, meter readers and lawn crews, so a latch that sticks gets fought with every week. A simple gravity latch with a pull on both sides outlasts a fancy lock here. A crew sets the latch height so a small child on the street side cannot reach it, and a gate that closes by itself saves a lot of forgotten trips to check the yard.