Garden gate - what size T hinge to use?

[dmdwhite]

Hello, I’m in the process of making a gate (800mm wide, 1.4m high) out of some old hard wood timber decking. The gate is for access through a screened area to the underside of the house.  For the hinges I have bought the Zenith 200mm T gate hinge but I’m now wondering whether these hinges are big enough and sturdy enough for quite a heavy gate. I read somewhere that ideally the hinge should be half the width of the gate, so in this case the hinge should be 400mm long. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption or will the 200mm T gate hinge be sufficient? My gut feel tells me the 200mm wide hinge is not big enough but thought I’d check before heading to Bunnings to exchange for something bigger/sturdier. Thanks in advance for any advice and happy New Year.

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @dmdwhite. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about gate hinges.

A 200mm hinge on an 800mm wide gate would be considered a bit small. I'd suggest exchanging them for at least the Pinnacle 300mm Galvanised Scotch Tee Hinge. However, in all transparency, I've just measured the hinges I have on my SpecRite 1800 x 902mm 84/44mm Fence Panel Merbau Slats gate, and I've only used two Pinnacle 200mm Zinc Plated Tee Hinges. They appear to be holding up fine after a year or so.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and Happy New Year to you, too.

Mitchell

[dmdwhite]

Thanks Mitchell, that’s very useful. I went for the bigger (300mm) T hinge which looks much better, although I haven’t fixed the hinges in place or hung the gate yet. Thanks again, David. 

 

[MitchellMc]

That looks good, @dmdwhite. You can always add a third in the middle if you think those two are struggling.

Mitchell

[dmdwhite]

Job done to complete the under deck screen - not very professional but it’s always nice to be able to repurpose some old material. 

[EricL]

Hi @dmdwhite

Thank you so much for posting an update on your garden gate project. It's always great to see the final results of a D.I. Y. project. I believe your gate is very well installed. The door is in line with the other wall panels. The sliding padbolt is screwed on and is lined up neatly. How long did the gate take you to build? If you have any other projects on the go, please don't hesitate to share them.

We look forward to seeing your next project.

Eric

[dmdwhite]

Thanks Eric. It took about a week to complete the gate and screen, working at it on and off. Next project will be to fix up the steps to the RHS of screen and sort out the gutter down pipe.