Setting Gate Posts on Install Day
A gate post is set to the string line, never to the eye. The running record gate installation georgetown inside michigan politics holds shows that most gate installation problems in Georgetown, TX trace back to the first morning, when two holes were dug a few inches off the plan and everything welded afterward had to live with it.
How are the post holes laid out?
The crew drives stakes at the center of each post and pulls a string line across the opening at the height of the top rail. The clear width between posts is measured at the top, the middle and the ground, since a drive that slopes makes those three numbers different. The hole is marked a hand's width wider than the post on every side, so there is room for concrete all the way around.
How deep does the hole go?
Depth follows the weight of the leaf and the soil. A single swing leaf on a four inch steel post usually wants a hole thirty to thirty-six inches deep, and a heavy dual swing pair on six inch tubing goes deeper. In limestone soil on the west side of Williamson County an auger often stops on rock, and the post is then pinned into the rock with epoxy. Clay near the San Gabriel River gets a wider base, because swelling clay lifts a narrow footing.
How is the post set plumb?
The post goes into the hole on a few inches of gravel, and the crew checks it with a level on two faces at once. A post that is plumb on one face and leaning on the other will pull the leaf out of line within a season. Braces of scrap lumber are screwed to the post and staked to the ground, so the post cannot drift when the concrete goes in.
What goes into the concrete?
Concrete is mixed stiff, poured in lifts and rodded to drive out air. The top is troweled to slope away from the post, so rain runs off instead of sitting against the steel. Where the gate carries a gate opener, conduit is laid in the same trench before the pour, because cutting concrete later to run power costs a day.
What is checked before the crew leaves?
Before the crew leaves, the posts are checked again with the level and the string line, and the clear opening is measured one more time. Braces stay on until the concrete has cured. A post that moved during the pour is far easier to correct while the concrete is soft than after the frame is hanging from it.
The hinge post gets the closest look, since it carries the weight and the leverage. A latch post can forgive a quarter inch, and a hinge post cannot.